In our previous article, we emphasised the negatives and difficulties of giving up smoking, but there are positives which far outweigh the bad things.

After that initial three months, when you will probably cough more than ever before, you will find that you will wake up in the morning with a clear chest and without that hacking cough so typical of the inveterate smoker.

When you’re still struggling with the giving up process, it is a good idea to get all your curtains and soft furnishings laundered or dry cleaned to get rid of the smell of smoke. The cost of this will make you think twice about smoking in that room again and the added benefit is that when you walk into your lounge in the morning, you will be able to sniff the air and think “Thank goodness, the whole place doesn’t reek of smoke”. You won’t have filthy ashtrays to wash either.

Along the same lines, either wash or dry clean all your suits, trousers, skirts, jackets and jumpers because although you probably didn’t realise it, they smell horrible. Give your colleagues a treat and don’t go to work smelling of an old ashtray, even though you’ve actually stopped smoking. Soon enough, they will start to comment on the newfound freshness of the atmosphere and you will realise what it was like for them, smelling your second had smoke every day.

When you go to work, it will no longer be you who needs to be escorted outside for a cigarette when visiting another company’s premises. It won’t be you standing outside your own office block having a quick puff and it won’t be you about whom your colleagues complain when you take a cigarette break, although no one else gets to leave their desk at that time.

When you go out for a social occasion, particularly at someone’s home, you won’t be the lone smoker attracting disapproving looks. It will no longer be you asking your hostess if she minds you smoking and receiving a refusal and it won’t be you standing outside on your own having a solitary puff, while the others eat, drink and make merry. Social alienation ends here!

The chances of suffering from lung cancer, breast cancer and heart disease will decrease with every month that you don’t smoke and eventually, your likelihood of contracting any of those will be back where it was before you ever smoked.

When you play tennis, squash or football with your friends or at your club, you will suddenly find that you no longer puff and pant when you have to run one width of the court. Your opponents will realise that they can’t be careless with the ball and rely on your lack of fitness any more, in order to win the point or score that goal. You will actually feel better after exercise, not worse.

Last of all, you will have more spare money than you know what to do with. In the UK a packet of cigarettes costs approximately £5 at the time of writing (more than $9 US and over 7 Euros), so if you were a twenty a day person, you were spending £1,825 a year on cigarettes, probably more. That’s a lot of money and it might serve as further encouragement to stick with your resolution, to calculate at the end of each week, how much money you’ve saved so far. You could even open up a separate savings account and put the money in it with a view to taking a nice holiday or revamping your kitchen.

No matter how hard it may be to stop smoking, be assured that the benefits far outweigh the pain.

Michael Russell

Your Independent Stop Smoking guide.

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Quitting Smoking

Your resistance is diminished after a couple of drinks - so ask your drinking friends not to offer you cigarettes, and try staying away from alcohol for a week or two.

Cigarettes help us to relax - cigarettes are a stimulant, and it may feel like they help you to relax, because they satisfy the craving. Learn to relax properly and do some self-hypnosis on yourself by listening to a stop smoking CD. Sit down somewhere comfortable, and tense, then relax your muscles, and breathe deeply.

You love the first cigarette of the day, with your tea or coffee - at these times gargle with mouthwash and clean your teeth. Have a glass of fruit juice when you wake up, and notice the fresh feeling in your mouth.

Stopping Smoking - Comparison of the Different Technique

1. There are specialist smokers’ clinics, and support groups, which can improve your chances of stopping smoking. These clinics and groups generally run over a period of about six weeks, and take you through the different stages of smoking cessation.

2. Hypnotherapy helps a large number of smokers to quit - it is one of the most effective ways to stop smoking. In 2005, a study of 72,000 smokers from Europe and the US, reported in the Journal of Applied Psychology, showed that hypnosis came top as the most effective therapy in helping people to stop.

Hypnotherapy takes away the urge to smoke - instead of making you feel you are giving something up.

Hypnotherapists generally have a success rate of 75% with smokers who seek treatment - often in a single session of 90 minutes.

Hypnotherapy is now very common, and is readily accepted. If you approach this treatment with a genuine desire to stop, the programme will work for you.

We all know consciously that we should stop smoking, and by using visualisation, post hypnotic suggestions, hypnotherapy and a CD of the session - it helps take away the need to smoke, and most people only need to visit us once.

3. Nicotine replacement therapy, such as patches, gum, nasal sprays or inhalators, used properly, can double your chance of stopping smoking. The idea is that replacing nicotine in the body, will allow the smoker to be weaned off cigarettes.

4. Zyban - 2 months course. This works on the brain to help break the addiction. It is in tablet form, and is not suitable for people who suffer from, or have ever suffered from fits. You should always go to your doctor and ask about this treatment.

5. Acupuncture is also a technique widely used to help people stop smoking - it can be very effective.

6. Nutritional supplements help support the system and can make quitting cigarettes easier. Take 1,000 mg of vitamin C and 100mcg of chromium picolinate each day.

If you feel you are dependant on nicotine and want to stop smoking, you can use a variety of approaches and strategies, however we urge you to consider hypnotherapy - as it’s a very safe, relaxing, and powerful approach.

To learn more about stop smoking hypnotherapy please visit the HypnoSpot web site: http://www.HypnoSpot.co.uk

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Are you ready to Stop Smoking?

There are many different ways to stop smoking, and hypnosis is one of them.

If you want to quit, a hypnotherapist can usually help you in a single session - with one and a half hour’s hypnotherapy, and a Stop Smoking CD.

There are no miracle cures, but making a commitment is a big step forward.

Why do you want to Stop Smoking?

. Improve your health
. Smoking is too expensive
. Stop smelling so foul
. Frightened of getting cancer
. Want to see your children grow up

So, why do you Smoke?

Smoking is a way of dealing with tension, and it is sometimes of way of rewarding ourselves, a habit, pleasurable relaxation or psychological addiction - However, There are two important provisos to stop:

1. You must have a strong motivation for stopping the habit, its not enough that you have been told you must stop - you must want to stop of your own free will.

2. You must be prepared to stop smoking altogether - unfortunately very few people are prepared to stop completely - they only want to cut down. However, once you put a cigarette in your mouth, you will have to start again from the beginning.

What are the Dangers of Smoking?

Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in many countries. Smokers under the age of 65 are about twice as likely to die of coronary heart disease as non-smokers, and heavy smokers are roughly three times more likely to die.

Disease of the arteries of the legs, is even more closely associated with smoking -95% of the people with this disease are smokers, it often results in thrombosis of the leg, leading to gangrene through poor circulation and can end with amputation of the leg being necessary.

Respiratory Problems

Chronic bronchitis and emphysema are responsible for thousands of deaths each year in the United Kingdom - they are a big cause of illness, absence from work and disability. Severe emphysema is very rarely found in non-smokers.

The Heart

Nicotine causes a rise in blood pressure and an increase in the heartbeat - this happens because the blood vessels become narrower because of the action of the nicotine - the heart is required to beat faster and work harder to pump the blood around the body, putting the heart under strain.

Smoking effects physical fitness - carbon monoxide impairs the functions of the heart, lungs and blood - however, when you stop smoking, you prevent the damage becoming worse.

Ulcers

Gastric or duodenal ulcers are twice as common amongst smokers compared to non-smokers - it is believed that smoking delays healing of the ulcers.

Pregnancy

Nicotine and carbon monoxide in the blood of pregnant woman can enter the unborn baby’s circulation and interfere with its development. Stillbirth and death in the first week of life is 30% more common in babies of mothers who smoke during pregnancy.

Surely, these are enough reasons to stop smoking immediately.

Don’t wait until it’s too late - if you stop smoking before you get cancer, bronchitis or heart disease you are likely to remain healthy. The danger from smoking builds up, so the sooner you stop the better it is.

To learn more about stop smoking hypnotherapy please visit the HypnoSpot web site: http://www.HypnoSpot.co.uk

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