People can act really stupid when they’re young. A classic example: convincing yourself that smoking cigarettes is cool. You start with one stick until you eventually graduate to smoking two to three packs per day. Cigarette addiction soon develops.
Must Have A Quit Smoking Plan
One Navy guy (Wil Dieck) smoked nonstop for 10 years and had a serious cigarette addiction. It all stopped in 1978. He left the Navy smoking two packs daily. Then, some six months after getting out, he realized risking his health for several minutes of pleasure from smoking didn’t make sense. Even though he exercised, he knew his strength and stamina weren’t what they used to be. He came to the conclusion that a quit smoking plan was in order – one that would get rid of the nasty habit permanently.
These days you can quit many different ways, but back in the day, smokers relied on hypnotherapy for smoking, coupled with a good dose of willpower. The Navy man slightly deviated from the usual and used a variation of the two methods.
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The reason I wrote this article is because, if you’re a smoker, after reading this I hope it cause you to want to quit smoking. You see, everyone takes breathing for granted. That is everyone except those for whom it’s a daily struggle. That effort can be a result of a range of lung diseases, many of which are self inflicted. The problem with these diseases is a cure is often difficult to come by.
Probably the best known lung disease is lung cancer. Thankfully people are better able to survive this disease today as a result of improved treatments. These relatively new treatments make it one of the few conditions that can actually be cured. Using a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, a person can emerge from lung cancer with excellent prospects of a somewhat normal lifespan and lifestyle.
One of the best reasons to want to stop smoking is COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), a lung disease that affects millions of people. From chronic bronchitis to emphysema there are many various forms of COPD. The problem with these, or any of the lesser known obstructive lung diseases, is there is no known cure for them yet.
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Many smokers tell me that the reason they smoke cigarettes is to deal with stress but they still want to quit. They also tell me that no matter what method they use to try to quit smoking, the act of quitting increases their level of stress. For many people this double-whammy makes it doubly hard to stop. So if this is you or someone you know, understanding what creates stress and finding healthier ways to deal with it will help in that struggle.
First let’s analyze why cigarette smoking can seem pleasurable. At low dosages, nicotine, the main chemical in cigarettes, is a stimulant. Using nicotine increases your heart rate and raises your blood pressure. Those biological changes in your body interact to produce psychological ones in your mind. At certain levels the reactions to nicotine are perceived as pleasurable. At higher levels, nicotine seems to induce a relaxing state.
Both of these effects can appear to alleviate stress. The stimulation of nicotine generates alertness. This can be associated with a positive feeling. Of course this feeling is actually induced by the dopamine generated in your brain, which causes other changes to its pleasure centers. This release of dopamine has a clear and direct influence on your stress level. An easier and healthier way to create dopamine in your brain is to exercise.
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Today everyone knows the effects of cigarette smoking so why don’t people just quit? Over the years I have interviewed hundreds of people that tell me that they want to quit smoking but they just weren’t able to do it by themselves. After their interview, many of these people were able to stop smoking using Total Mind Therapy. Let’s examine the reasons they said kept them smoking.
1. I’m too stressed out to quit. The biggest reason people say they continue to smoke is because of the stress in their lives. In fact people blame stress for continuing in almost any type of negative habit you can imagine, from smoking to heroin addiction. As a society we have made stress the bogeyman to dump much of our personal responsibility on.
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Are you starting to decide what you are going to make for your New Year’s Resolutions yet? For smokers, one of the biggest ones is, “I want to quit smoking this year.” When January 15th rolls around and a friend asks “How is it going?” most say something like, “well I quit for a day,” or “I’m just too stressed to quit right now. I’ll have to do it later,” which of course means they will make the same resolution next New Year and have the same results.
Why People Who Want to Quit Smoking Don’t
So why don’t people just quit smoking? Here are the top two reasons people tell me that keeps them smoking:
1. I smoke because I’m stressed out. Stress is actually one of the biggest reasons people do any kind of negative habit. “I yelled at my kids because I was stressed out.” I eat chocolate when I’m stressed out.” “I use pain killers because I’m stressed out.” I’m sure you get the point. Stress is a great way to dump your responsibility about almost anything.
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A while ago I posted an article titled 8 Stop Smoking Tips that Work. Some people have asked me if I knew another method or two to help them quit smoking and I do. Here they are:
1. Start an exercise program. When you exercise you put your body into motion. Getting into motion is an excellent way to remind you why you want to quit smoking. An added benefit of exercise is that it can reduce your stress and help you relax, which is often an excuse smokers will use to continue smoking cigarettes.
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Although it’s the most important reason, health isn’t the only factor people should consider when they quit smoking. The facts are that cigarette smoking is just plain expensive! The cost of smoking has a direct impact on a smoker’s way of life. Smoking costs adds up and can really subtract from the amount of money they can contribute to the living expenses to your household.
Smoking is a very expensive habit. It’s even worse when you smoke more than one pack per day. Most smokers start out smoking relatively few cigarettes per day, but as they become more accustom to smoking, the number of cigarettes they need to use each day to feel the same type of mood enhancement increases, as does the cost of their habit. This can continue to spiral upward until they make the decision to that they want to quit smoking.
Let’s do some simple math. Right now, let’s calculate how much money you spend on cigarettes.
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You may be a highly disciplined person in most areas of your life, but when you decide to quit smoking, it can be quite a challenge.
It’s easy for people who have never smoked to say “What’s the big deal? You know why you should quit. All you have to do is decide to quit and then do it!”
For a smoker, this sort of statement can be not only irritating, but downright discouraging. People who smoke know that it’s not so simple, and many try to quit smoking many times.
Now, with the recent addition of hefty taxes on tobacco products, and with more taxes on the horizon, smoking might have finally become financially unfeasible. What I hear from my clients is that if they can buy a pack for a few pennies less than $5 they think they are getting a good deal.
Statistics have shown that more people succeed when they have access to a support group. While there are groups that want to quit smoking that you can attend locally, they don’t usually have daily meetings. Another problem with local support groups is that you’ve got built-in excuses not to go. Excuses like “it’s raining, I’m tired, low on gas to drive there, etc”.
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Most smokers will tell you that they want to quit smoking. Now if you’ve never smoked you might think it’s as simple as throwing them in the trash. However, if you have never smoked you don’t understand the facts about cigarette addiction. Cigarettes’ main ingredient is nicotine and it doesn’t take long for it to make you want more of it, and getting away from it can be brutal. For someone who wants to quit smoking it can be a long hard road.
The good news is that it is very possible to for you to find a method to quit smoking that works for you. Understanding how nicotine affects you can help you quit smoking when you put this information to use.
One thing that most people don’t understand about nicotine is that nicotine is not what makes smoking bad for your health. It is not good, of course, but it is not really what can go on to cause cancer and other smoking related conditions and diseases. The nicotine is not the problem. What causes the most damage in the lungs is the tar that comes from the cigarette, and also, the other chemicals that tobacco companies add, most off which you may not be aware. If you really want to quit smoking look up information on tobacco products online, you will find out a lot more about those chemicals.
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Cigarette Smoking is the number one cause of preventable deaths in the world today. The good news is that there are a number of methods to quit smoking available if you want to quit smoking.
As a martial artist I have had my share of bumps and bruises so over the years I have regularly gone to an acupuncturist. I have found that acupuncture is an excellent method for healing these types of injuries as well as helping me when my energy is low or my stress level is high.
If you want to quit smoking, acupuncture can be an excellent alternative method. I have talked with a number of people who have used this method to quit smoking successfully. I realize that some people might be skeptical about using acupuncture as a way to quit smoking but research shows that it can be very helpful for some people.
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