Quit Smoking

Most of us know that smoking is indeed a habit that can have many serious implications on our health, but there’s a tendency to view the problem lightly. It’s important though, that every smoker be aware of the facts concerning smoking. So here are some eye openers for you…The World Health Organization has been studying smoking trends and statistical patterns across the globe and has come up with the following statistics:

A good deal of variation exists from one part of the world to another. Many more women smoke in Eastern Europe than in East Asia and the Pacific Region. Eastern Europe itself has a particularly high rate of smoking, with up to 59 percent of adult males smoking.

As with other substances of abuse, such as alcohol and cocaine, the global frequency of tobacco use varies by social class, historical era, and culture. Historically, smoking had been a pastime of the rich. This trend has changed dramatically in recent decades. It appears that economically advantaged men in wealthier countries have been smoking less. The more years of education you’ve had, the less likely you are to be a smoker.

Most smokers begin early in life, before they are 25 years old. According to World Health Organization studies, the majority of smokers in affluent countries begin in their teens. A decline in the age of starting smoking has been observed worldwide.

As a wannabe quitter, you’re in excellent company. People all over the world are trying to quit and stay away from cigarettes. There appears to be a correlation between a country’s standard of living, level of education, and income and the number of people who have quit smoking. The more and better-informed people are, the more likely they are to quit smoking.

Current estimates are that over 1 billion people in the world smoke. (In other words, approximately one in three adults on the planet smokes.) The majority of these smokers reside in countries on the low end to the middle of the socioeconomic spectrum. Of this majority, about 80% live in low and middle income countries. The total number of smokers worldwide is expected to keep increasing.

But are things in the USA any better? Not really, as you can see for yourself in the figures of National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics

In the United States, an estimated 25.6 million men (25.2%) and 22.6 million women (20.7%) are smokers. These people are at higher risk of heart attack and stroke. The latest estimates for persons age 18 and older show:

• Among whites, 25.1 percent of men and 21.7 percent of women smoke
• Among black or African Americans, 27.6 percent of men and 18.0 percent of women smoke
• Among Hispanics/Latinos, 23.2 percent of men and 12.5 percent of women smoke
• Among Asians (only), 21.3 percent of men and 6.9 percent of women smoke
• Among American Indians/Alaska Natives (only), 32.0 percent of men and 36.9 percent of women smoke

Studies show that smoking prevalence is higher among those with 9-11 years of education (35.4 percent) compared with those with more than 16 years of education (11.6 percent). It’s highest among persons living below the poverty level (33.3 percent).

And These Figures Spell Death…

· One out of every five deaths is caused by tobacco

· An average of 400,000 Americans die each year from tobacco

· Tobacco is blamed for many serious pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases

· Tobacco and nicotine are some of the most potent carcinogens and are to blame for a majority of all cancers of the lung, trachea, bronchus, larynx, and esophagus

· Tobacco use also produces cancers in the pancreas, kidney, bladder, and cervix

· Impotency is sometimes to blame from addiction to nicotine because of its ability to reduce blood flow

· Smoking is an important risk factor for respiratory illnesses, causing 85,000 deaths per year from pulmonary diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia

· Children and adolescents who are active smokers will have increasingly severe respiratory illness, as they grow older

· Smoking during pregnancy causes about 5-6% of prenatal deaths, 17-26% of low-birth-weight births, and 7-10% of pre-term deliveries, and it increases the risk of miscarriage and fetal growth retardation

· Cigarettes are responsible for about 25% of deaths from residential fires, causing nearly 1,000 fire-related deaths and 3,300 injuries each year

So, are you ready to try and quit smoking now?

Visit http://www.health-and-fitness-information.com/Quit-Smoking/ to learn how you can finally quit smoking fast, easily, and all naturally!

About the author:
© 2004 Kathy Burns-Millyard and The Health and Fitness Information Network

This article is provided courtesy of http://www.health-and-fitness-information.com- You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.

Whether you are using Nicotine Replacement Therapy, Hypnosis or just Cold Turkey, these strategies and hints for aiding you in stopping smoking are sure to assist. It is up to you to ensure that you do these things to really enhance what you are doing, the more effort you put into these exercises, the easier it is to stop smoking for good.

Powerful Hint 1.

Being a smoker is like cycling with stabilisers attached to the wheels, you can find it hard to be balanced without smoking. Now, when you cycle freely again, the natural balance returns.

When people smoke, more than half of what they breathe is fresh air - pulled through the cigarette right down into the lungs. So if you feel any cravings you can instantly overcome them by taking three deeper breaths. Imagine breathing from that space just below your belly button. Whenever you do this you put more oxygen into your bloodstream. This means you can use deep breaths to change the way you feel instantly and give you power over the way you feel and help you let go of those old cravings and thus making it easier to stop smoking.

Powerful Hint 2

Next, think now of all the reasons you don’t like smoking, the reasons that it’s bad and the reasons you want to stop smoking. Write down the key words on a piece of paper. For example, you experience breathlessness, it’s dirty, filthy and your clothes smell, your friends and family are concerned and it’s expensive, unsociable and so on. Then, on the other side of the paper, write down all the reasons why you’ll feel good when you’ve succeeded in stopping. You’ll feel healthier, you’ll feel in control of your self, your senses are enhanced, your hair and clothes will smell fresher and so on. Whenever you need to, look at that piece of paper.

Powerful Hint 3

Next, we are going to programme your mind to feel disgusted by cigarettes. I want you recall 4 times when you thought to yourself “I’ve gotta quit”, or that you felt disgusted about smoking. Maybe you just felt really unhealthy, or your doctor told you in a particular tone of voice ‘You’ve got to quit’ or somebody you know was badly affected by smoking. Take a moment now to come up with 4 different times that you felt that you have to quit or were disgusted by smoking.

Remember each of those times, one after another, as though they are happening now. I want you to keep going through those memories and make them as vivid as possible. The more vivid you make those memories, the easier it will be to stop smoking. See what you saw, hear what you heard and feel how you felt. I want you to take a few minutes now to keep going through those memories again and again, overlap each memory with the next until you are totally and utterly disgusted by cigarettes.

Powerful Hint 4

Have a think to yourself about the consequences of you not stopping smoking now, if you just carry on and on. Imagine it, what will happen if you carry on smoking. What are the consequences? Imagine yourself in 6 months time, a years time, even 5 years time if you do not stop smoking now. Think of all the detrimental effects of not stopping right now and how a simple decision you make today can make such an impact on your future.

Next, imagine how much better is your life going to be when you stop smoking. Really imagine it’s months from now and you successfully stopped. Smoking is a thing of the past, something you used to do. Keep that feeling with you and imagine having it tomorrow, and for the rest of next week. In your mind, imagine stepping in to that non-smoking version of you and feel how it feels to be a non-smoker.

Powerful Hint 5

Also, your mind is very sensitive to associations, so it’s very important that you have a clear out and remove all tobacco products from your environment. Move some of the furniture in your house and at work. Smokers are accustomed to smoking in certain situations. So, for example, if you used to smoke on the telephone at work move the phone to the other side of the desk. Throw away ashtrays, old lighters and anything that you used to associate with smoking. Make your environment conducive to stopping smoking.

Powerful Hint 6

Smokers sometimes use their habit to give themselves little breaks during the day. Taking a break is good for you, so carry on taking that time off - but do something different. Walk round the block, have a cup of tea or drink of water, or do some of the techniques on this programme. In fact, if possible drink a lot of fruit juice. When you stop smoking the body goes through a big change. The blood sugar levels tend to fall, the digestion is slowed down and your body starts to eject the tar and poisons that have accumulated. Fresh fruit juice contains fructose which restores your blood sugar levels, vitamin C which helps clear out impurities and high levels of water and fibre to keep your digestion going. Also try to eat fruit every day for at least two weeks after you have stopped.

Also when you stop, cut your caffeine intake by half. Nicotine breaks down caffeine so without nicotine a little coffee will have a big effect. Drink 8-10 glasses of water (ideally bottled) to help wash out your system.

Powerful Hint 7

You were used to using cigarettes to signal to your body to release happy chemicals, so next we are going to programme some good feelings into your future. Allow yourself to fully remember now a time when you felt very deep ecstasy, pleasure or bliss, right now. Take a moment to recall it as vividly as possible. Remember that time - see what you saw, hear what you heard and feel how good you felt. Where abouts in your body were those feelings, imagine turning them up and spreading them through your body to make them more intense.

Keep going through the memory, as soon as it finishes, go through it again and again, all the time squeezing your thumb and finger together. In your mind, make those images big and bright, sounds loud and harmonious and feelings strong and intensified. We are making an associational link between the squeeze of your fingers and that good feeling.

Okay, stop and relax. Now if you have done that correctly when you squeeze your thumb and finger together you should feel that good feeling again. Go ahead do that now, squeeze thumb and finger and remember that good feeling.

Now we’re going to programme good feelings to happen automatically whenever you are in a situation where you used to smoke but now you stop smoking.

So, next I’d like you to squeeze your thumb and finger together, get that good feeling going and now imagine being in several situations where you would have smoked, but being there feeling great without a cigarette. See what you’ll see hear and take that good feeling into those situations without a need for a cigarette.

Imagine being in a situation where someone offers you a cigarette and you confidently say ‘No thanks, I don’t smoke’. And feel fantastic about it!

Powerful Hint 8

Get social support. Your commitment to stopping smoking for the rest of your life can be made much easier by talking about it to friends and family and letting them support you. They will congratulate you on doing so well too! You really did stop smoking.

Powerful Hint 9

Be aware of making excuses for yourself. Some people talk themselves into smoking, especially if they encounter a stressful situation and in the past they used to deal with it by smoking. If those old thoughts pop into your head, shout the word “STOP” in your head, to stop the thoughts from progressing. Nicotine just stresses your body more and is like that itch that can never be properly scratched; the more you smoke, the more you have to. So say “STOP” and steer clear of old slippery slopes.

Powerful Hint 10

Reward yourself. Congratulate yourself. Treat yourself each time you get past a certain milestone; the first week or first month, the six month target. Let yourself know that you did something really special here.

Keep on using your brain, stretching it and helping your self, by running through these exercises time after time; you are sure to be able to make it easier and easier and successfully stop smoking for good.

About the author:
Visit Adam Easons website today for a free mini series on how to stop smoking delivered to you by email. You can also sign up for his free bi-monthly newsletter because it is packed with insightful tips, latest techniques and insightful strategies for personal development and receive a unique and amazing hypnosis session for free. http://www.adam-eason.com

When you decide to stop smoking the most difficult part is
to resist the urges. It doesn’t matter that each craving
lasts only 3-5 minutes. It’s still the whole 5 minutes to
battle with your willpower! These 7 tips will help you to
resist the urge to smoke one urge at a time.

1. Remind Yourself Why You Quit

Every time you experience a craving remind yourself why
you quit. It’s the excellent idea to take a blank index card
and list all the reasons why you decided to quit smoking.
List as many as you can, the more the better. If necessary,
take the second index card. Carry them with you all the
time. Every time you feel the urge to smoke take the index
card and slowly read all your reasons why you decided to
stop. After you finish reading your urge will pass! (If not,
read them one more time or come up with more reasons.)

2. Reward Yourself.

Make it a habit to reward yourself at the end of each
nonsmoking week. Think of something you want (it doesn’t
have to be something expensive, a nice home made meal
or hot bath will work). Take the index card and write down
what would you give yourself at the end of the week.
When the urge comes take a look at the index card with
your reward. Isn’t it worth coping for 3 minutes?

3. Be prepared for your urges!

Get yourself prepared for the urge to smoke in advance. In
most cases something triggers the craving (certain
feelings, people, or places). You have to know what
triggers the urge.

Lets do a really quick exercise. Take a blank piece of paper
and divide it into 2 columns. On the one side list your
triggers (like “stuck in traffic”, “drinking morning coffee”,
“arguing with colleague”…) and in the second column write
down the alternative course of action.

For example, instead of smoking while drinking your morning
coffee you could read a newspaper. Instead of smoking
after the hot argument with your colleague you can take a
walk around a block or write down everything you think
about this person, then tier this piece of paper in shreds
and throw it away. Don’t be lazy, write it down! This
exercise really works!

4. Call your friend.

This method works great. Call someone who can support
you, who can talk with you for a couple of minutes. You
can call your nonsmoking friend, or someone who’s trying
to quit smoking too.

5. Distract yourself with a quick task.

Think of a small task you have to do, something what
would take you 5-10 minutes. Make a call, send a fax, make
yourself a cup of coffee, water the plant in your office.
Anything! Your task is to distract yourself until the urge will
pass. (Hint: Try to find activity that makes smoking
impossible!)

6. Drink a Glass of Water.

Take a glass of water and drink it with a straw. First of all
having something in your mouth to chew on will help,
second it will take you a couple of minutes to drink the
whole glass and the urge will pass. Plus, don’t forget that
you’re supposed to drink 8 glasses of water every day!

7. Power Tip.

That’s the disgusting one, but it often works. Print a small
picture of smoker’s lungs (you can find one here:
http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/lungphotos.html ) and
put it somewhere in your wallet. I know the view is not
pretty, but something like this can stop you dead on your
track from lighting up. Take a look! Really! THIS could be
your lungs! You love yourself, and you respect your body.
Why harm yourself?

About the author:
Arina is the owner of http://www.how-to-quit-smoking.net-
the website where you can learn how to Quit Smoking – for
life - without patches, pills and gums! Fully guaranteed by
one of the most trusted entrepreneurs on the Internet (and
a former 39-year smoker who quit by using this very program)!