24 Hr Fitness

Stopping smoking is easy. Loads of people have done it. I’ve helped loads of people to do it. But the interesting thing is, that not one of them has arrived at my office thinking it’s going to be easy.

The biggest barrier to stopping smoking is fear.

The fear has several components:

• Fear of failing.
• Fear of the ‘pain’ i.e. withdrawal.
• Fear of removal of the only pleasure in life.
• Fear of the removal of a crutch i.e. I smoke when I’m worried.
• Fear of over-eating
• Fear of succeeding temporarily and then ‘relapsing’.

None of these fears has any substance when you look at it closely, but as a mythical beast - a scary shadow on the wall, they all have tremendous power.

Failure

In most areas of life failure is seen as an opportunity to learn to do it better next time. Smokers tend to see it as the end of life as we know it. Better not to try than to fail. And what will people think. It will be obvious that I’ve failed.

Pain

There is no clinical evidence for addiction to nicotine. This is a myth. But because the Mind is a powerful beast, it can make an illusion real. If you don’t believe me, think of a lemon, think of cutting it in half, think of that lemony smell wafting gently and cleanly into your nostrils, then pick up one of those pieces, open your mouth and squeeze the juice out until it fills your mouth. Now notice the saliva content of your mouth and see if you can maintain your belief that illusion can’t have a real physiological effect on your body.

Pleasure

Cigarettes poison your body; increase your blood pressure; increase your likelihood of severe and disabling diseases; reduce your stamina; impair sexual function and pleasure in both males and females; age your skin; and damage your voice box. If this is pleasure

Stress

When I’m worried I have a cigarette, it reduces stress. Nicotine increases blood pressure by vaso-constriction and releases adrenaline. So smoking a cigarette increases physiological stress. What it actually does is create distraction. All the fumbling with the packet and the lighter and the sucking (security of a nipple from childhood) takes the mind away from the problem for the length of time it takes to smoke a cigarette. Sucking a pencil, or chewing gum would have the same effect.

Food

People think they will over-eat when they stop smoking. Hypnotic suggestion takes care of this with direct suggestion to ensure that nothing is substituted for cigarettes.

Success then Failure

A lot of people give up for a while and then start again - usually at a moment of crisis in their lives. The fear of failing at being successful prevents them even attempting to give up. Success is easy. If you fail you just give up smoking again knowing that you’ve done it already it will be even easier next time. If you have this attitude you will succeed forever first time.

Because all of these fears are very real to smokers wanting to give up, there is a way that makes it even easier. Use a hypnosis CD. The benefit of a CD over a one-to-one treatment is that you can listen to it over and over again. And if you obtain a Stop Smoking CD that is designed for frequent use then giving up smoking successfully is almost guaranteed.

You see with this gradual approach, there is no real moment when you become a non-smoker, in the way that there is with a one-to-one treatment. Because choosing when and where to listen to the CD is under your control, and you can do it as often as you like, you will find that all those fears mentioned above become irrelevant.

They become irrelevant because, although you’ve chosen to give up, although you’ve chosen to become a non-smoker, you’ve chosen to do it at a gradual rate - a rate that you can modify and adjust on a daily basis.

The CD will help reduce the desire to smoke, and it will help you to see yourself as a non-smoker and because you listen to it regularly the message of the CD is reinforced and becomes stronger each time you listen until finally you realise you’ve smoked your last cigarette.

Michael J. Hadfield MBSCH is a registered clinical hypnotherapist, with many years’ experience in the treatment of smoking, weight problems, stress, anxiety, phobias, and other psychological problems. If this article interested you then visit http://www.hypnosisiseasy.com for more details about stopping smoking and treatment for a variety of other problems.

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Remember the Marlboro guy? You don’t see those sorts of ads promoting tobacco products on TV anymore. Back in the day, it used to be cool to smoke. Today we know, more than ever, the many health problems that are associated with smoking a tobacco product. It is finally being seen as a bad habit, perhaps a socially unacceptable one by a few. But, why do so many people start smoking then? Each year millions of people will light their first cigarette. Will it be you this year?

Why We Smoke

Fitting in- In many schools, smoking is a large problem. Yes, it is still peer pressure that forces many teens to light up. Whether caused by the bully or the “come on, are you cool or not?” routine, smoking still happens quite a bit in those younger years. The best way to prevent your child from smoking is to talk to them about what it is, what it does to them, and the need to avoid it in the first place.

The partner does it- This is another large reason why people begin smoking in their young adult years. As they begin to date and hang around a group of people, they may just learn to smoke. Even if the non-smoking partner is never asked to take a smoke, it often happens that he/she gives it a try. At other times, people start it because it’s easier to make conversation at bars or clubs.

Stress relief- Many people know that those who are smoking are relieving stress through it. So, if your life gets overloaded with anxiety and worry, maybe smoking a pack will help you to deal with it. Atleast that’s how many individuals start smoking. Like other addictions, these feelings simply serve as a short-term escape from reality.

All of these reasons to start smoking do not have any real merit. After all, who really believes that it is cool to have tobacco yellow teeth? Nevertheless, thousands of people make the decision to start, pressured or not each day. Will you be one of them? You may want to realize, too, that if you never do start to smoke, you’ll never have to fight the battle of quitting, a task that is harder than most problems of our daily life.

Mike Singh is the publisher of http://www.my-stop-smoking-zone.com/ On his website he provides articles about tips on stopping smoking and side affects of zyban.

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There are hundreds of reasons why you should quit smoking. Each year millions of people are becoming sick, and even dying because of cigarette smoking. The problem is that often time’s people are given an abundance of information, sometimes conflicting information that is hard to make sense out of. This article offers a few easy ways to quit smoking while you are still healthy.

Working out is one way to help quit smoking. Allowing yourself to test your health on a regular basis, like going for a jog, will keep you physically aware of the dangers of smoking. While your body is still able to perform basic tasks, during rigorous workout routines the smoking that causes you to be short on breathe can be seen as not worth it.

Read about what smoking has done to others. Research the dangers of smoking, and what the key ingredients are in cigarettes. Through researching the health risks of smoking you can become more sensitive to its dangers. Often many smokers turn a blind eye to health reports, operating under the rule out of sight, out of mind. You wand to break this mold and educate yourself on what your body is inhaling every time you take a drag of that cigarette.

Share with others your wishes to quit smoking. Peer acceptance can be a great thing, if you share with your peers you want to quit, than you don’t want to look like you can’t stick to your word. By showing others that you don’t want to smoke anymore, you create an audience for your cause. Be sure to be frank with people, and tell them you want to be held accountable for quitting now.

Find natural relief to help calm the cravings. While most of what you will do to quit smoking involves will power, you want to also have some smoking suppressing natural alternatives as well. One example is NicoDrops (www.nicodrops.com), the natural herbal drop that helps you keep your cravings in check. Or try a gum like Nicorette (www.nicorette.com - although this isn’t all natural).

Finally keep a record of all the days you go without a cigarette. If you can make it a few short months you should be in good shape.

Nicolas Gremion is a health buff, business consultant and apparently a part-time writer. His latest venture is a Canadian mineral exploration company called IQ Mining Inc. (http://www.IQmining.com)

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