Tuesday, March 27, 2007

I Need To Stop Smoking

What smoker has not at some point tried to flip a cigarette out of a closed car window? There you are, trying to fish it out of your lap without burning yourself or the seat, and even worse, trying to maintain control of the vehicle if you are the driver. The only consolation in this case is that maybe you are the only one in the car witnessing the crazy antics.

Combined with the times your cigarette has accidentally dropped off a balcony, singed your good clothes, or almost set your long hair ablaze, you may be starting to realize how lucky you are that these incidents have not yet resulted in much greater damage and cost to you or someone else. Is it time to quit smoking? You are not alone, each day thousands of people make the decision to quit, and succeed.

The decision to quit smoking can be successful, if you have will power, determination, and for many it helps if you have something to replace the cigarettes with. From alternate sources of nicotine, to the real or imagined reward of being able to kiss someone without tasting like smoke, there are many different methods that have helped people make this transition.

Whether you decide to stop smoking for the sake of your own health, or out of concern for your loved ones, there are many resources available to help you quit. Patches, gum, herbal cigarettes, toothpicks, straws or cinnamon sticks have all been found useful by some former smokers. Others recommend learning an instrument, meditation or hypnosis. Because smoking involves physiological, habitual and psychological factors, you can approach quitting from any of these directions, or ideally, some combination.

If you turn to snacking, remember to choose healthy snacks to avoid gaining weight and trading one unhealthy habit for another. Sunflower seeds, carrot sticks, licorice, pretzels or unbuttered popcorn are all relatively low-fat snacks to soothe your oral fixation. Other healthy replacements include drinking water, going for some exercise, or distracting yourself with some mental or physical activity. While many of the tricks used involve keeping your mouth busy, some find it equally important to occupy their hands with something, from a stress ball to playing cards, or knitting.

For additional help, do some browsing online, learn from others, join a support group, check out an anti-smoking agency, and evaluate your options. What works for some does nothing for others, but you are sure to find a method to quit smoking that works for you. Cold turkey or slow and gradual, do not give up. Better health for you and an improved quality of life for you and your loved ones is in sight.

Meditation to Stop Smoking

There are a number of drug-free methods to help you stop smoking, including hypnosis and meditation. Meditation is something you can learn on your own, using books or recordings, or with instruction by a qualified teacher. It may be helpful in a number of ways as you learn to relax deeply, thereby calming any discomfort or anxiety you may be experiencing during the withdrawal process, and combating underlying stress that has contributed to your smoking habit in the first place.

Meditation primarily uses deep breathing techniques and guided imagery to calm a variety of physiological processes and promote a sense of inner peace and well-being. Some forms of meditation use the repetition of a phrase or mantra, others just focus on emptying the mind of all thought. The health benefits are numerous, as stress related conditions are at the root of many health problems. Some yoga and meditation teachers believe that learning to meditate even without focusing on quitting smoking will naturally alleviate the need to smoke, simply by calming and bringing balance to the body and mind.

The mind-body connection is one that has been studied in eastern medicine for thousands of years and is becoming increasingly accessible in the west, with growing interest in holistic and herbal health, acupuncture, acupressure, yoga, tai chi, and so on. Because smoking has social, psychological, behavioral and physiological components, it makes sense to incorporate different approaches into a comprehensive stop smoking plan.

Successfully quitting smoking is a different experience for everyone and will depend upon your preferences, determination and preparation. If other methods have not worked, don't be afraid to try something new, and keep trying until you achieve your goal. With meditation, the benefits are so widespread that your health is sure to experience positive results and contribute to your efforts to quit smoking one way or another.

Consult with a professional to learn more about the applications of meditation to stop smoking. You may find that visualizing your way to success is easier than you would have imagined, and learn relaxation skills that you can use throughout your life to help you achieve optimal health in all areas. Information on meditation techniques can be found online, at the library, or through local practitioners. Look forward to becoming free from addiction and exploring all that life has to offer. Combined with other lifestyle changes such as healthy dietary choices and adequate rest and exercise, you can develop new habits to last a lifetime, and enjoy a quality of life that exceeds anything you've previously experienced. Find out what kind of natural highs you have been missing, and inspire others to do the same. You deserve the best in life.

Make Quitting Smoking A Reality

Quitting smoking is an art. Making quitting a reality is not far once you earn a strong and sincere will to stop smoking.

I will share a real story of one of my close friends who at last succeeded to cease cigarette smoking. Often he used to argue, If everybody quits smoking, what will happen to the tobacco industry? Millions of employees will be retrenched!

What a perverted style of argument! I used to reply.

One day when he told me his newfound quest to quit smoking I asked him- What happened? Why do you want to quit smoking? Why are you now thinking about the reverse gear, all of sudden?".

After hearing him, I analyzed his situation. Perhaps numerous smokers all over the word who smoke have common reasons for smoking and quitting. When they start it, they do so perhaps due to the pleasant pressure put on them by their peer group. They never think that the matter could go that far! And finally after years of tobacco smoking, when the family doctor warns about the worsening condition of their heart, it shows the strains of crack. The pain faced might soon become a mild attack of stroke. So they decide to be very careful now!

After this encounter with the heart specialist, quitting smoking is more than a passing thought in the mind, but becomes a sincere goal to accomplish! All smokers have heard about nicotine, but only after spending their years in the company of cigarettes do they realize that it can cause this much damage to them!

Hearing all this, now you might be amazed and sorry to know that nicotine is not an ordinary addictive- it is as a hard and damage-causing enemy as heroin and cocaine.

Do not get frustrated and desperate should be the number one rule in your efforts to quit smoking because nicotine is a very powerful enemy and after years of smoking it gets deeply entrenched in your blood cells. Therefore, be ready for its counterattack! Be ready to face and tackle dizziness, depression, irritation, frustration, anger, headache, restlessness, trouble in reading and concentration. But your efforts to quit smoking, is worth its weight in gold. For apart from the attack you had, you have suffered enough on account of nasal irritation, running nose, watery eyes, sneezing, throat irritation, coughing and much more.

So you have a brilliant thought within you to quit smoking! Well, the entire society of millions of smokers is waiting for you to give them the lead.

Have a happy ending to your quit-smoking resolution which is going to become a reality this time, hopefully.

You Won't Get Fat When Stop Smoking, If You Don't Overeat

Another frequently-repeated rationalization for the cigarette habit is: "I'd like to stop smoking, but every time I do I gain weight. And it's worse to be overweight than it is to smoke."

The good news is, not all smokers who stop smoking gain weight. Even if weight gain was inevitable, the average gain is only between 6 and 8 pounds. Not too much of a big deal now, isn't it?

It isn't the fact that a person has stopped smoking that may cause him to gain weight. It's the fact that he substitutes the habit of overeating for the habit of smoking.

In the belief that he needs something tangible to relax tension (which he previously achieved by the mechanical movements of lighting a cigarette) a "reformed addict" may take to eating candy bars or nibbling on sweets . . . something to do, anything to do, in other words, to take his mind away from the pressing problems, and to get back some of those old, familiar gestures that are part of the habitual pattern of smoking.

The gesture of reaching for something, and picking it up, and then placing it in the mouth. The gestures and muscle movements of the lips, mouth and jaws: as many of the gestures of smoking as can be achieved, in other words, without a cigarette. You'll soon see that this isn't necessary either.

Do moderate intensity exercises on a regular routine. Examples are to go swimming, jogging, playing a sport or aerobics.

Cut down on unhealthy snacking. If you feel like munching, grab something healthy like a diet bar or a fruit.

Avoid alcohol or limit yourself to 1 drink a week. Alcohol can make you fat too.

Instead of having 3 main meals a day, spread them out to 6 small meals throughout the day. This can help you maintain a high metabolism throughout the day and you burn more calories.

Avoid eating past 9pm. The body's metabolism slows down at night so food consumed past this hour will take longer to digest.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

With All These Aids To Stop Smoking Why Do People Still Smoke?

Smokers today have access to different types of stop smoking help: nicotine replacement therapies; drugs, such as Zyban; counseling; and self-help materials. Mark Twain is paraphrased as saying it best, "Stopping smoking is easy. I've done it a thousand times." However, Mark Twain did not realize he was fighting a battle against nicotine, not stop smoking a cigarette. Today, we know to successfully stop smoking, this dependency on nicotine needs to be addressed first.

Psychological and emotional addictions are hard to break, especially while maintaining friendships with those who are still smoking. In cases like this, a useful help would be free telephone-counseling services, run by different states. Statistics show excellent results in this type of counseling, as smokers who counsel through the telephone services stop smoking twice as fast as those who do not.

Successful efforts to stop smoking are not about the smoker alone, but also about the encouragement and support shown to them by their family members, friends, co-workers, the stop smoking support team, and the counselors and medical teams. Many smokers say they would never have accomplished their goal to stop smoking, if not for this support. Smokers can get information about support groups from hospitals, local groups, health insurance companies, or even from their employers. However, the most useful help comes from skilled counselors, guiding the smokers in needed areas.

Individual or group counselors can help the smokers recognize nicotine withdrawal problems, or psychological and emotional issues that arise when they begin to stop smoking. It will not be easy, as nicotine is the strongest addiction there is. Once a smoker stops smoking, the nicotine is strong enough to stay present in the smoker's body for about three to four days. After that, the nicotine withdrawal symptoms will take over, and last for about two days to several weeks.

The counselors and group support teams assist the smoker once this level is reached, or the smoker may return to the habit of smoking to relieve the withdrawal. Studies show that smokers who attend a specialist clinic are four times more likely to succeed in giving up smoking than those who rely on self-control alone. The latest statistics show that trying to quit on your own was the most popular strategy to stop smoking, yet seemed to be the least successful.

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is a therapy to help a person quit smoking and relieving any withdrawal symptoms. Different types being used are skin patches, lozenges, nasal spray, inhaler, chewing gum, or tablets and pills – all providing small doses of nicotine to the system. These help smokers relieve withdrawal symptoms but work best if used with some form of behavior change program at the same time. If both forms of assistance are used, NRT can double a smoker's chances of quitting smoking, as compared to those who use no therapy.

A drug that is gaining popularity is the non-nicotine pill, Zyban, also known as "bupropion hycrochloride." It was the first non-nicotine prescription medication approved by the FDA in 1997, also sold as an antidepressant under the name of Wellbutrin. Smokers begin treatment one week before quitting smoking, then the treatment will continue for 7 to 12 weeks. All smokers can quit smoking if they want, because of health reasons or health reasons. How they quit will depend on the smoker, as there are many options available to help them to stop smoking.

Hypnotherapy Stop Smoking Only for Future Non-smokers

Hypnotherapy stop smoking techniques are for those of you who've made the decision to quit smoking for life. You've chosen a quit smoking technique with a 97.2% success rate. Why so high? Keep reading...
Firstly, making up your mind to stop smoking is 90% of the battle. The last 10%, the hardest part - is actually making the decision final. Using the powerful and proven methods of Hypnotherapy, you can reprogram your mind and body to let go of your habit once and for all, permanently and painlessly! Furthermore, unlike other methods that you may have tried before, hypnotherapy stop smoking will help you stop instantly... and there are no withdrawal symptoms, no anxiety, and no weight gain either.
As a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist (C.hT) specializing in Neuro Linguistic Programming (THE NUMBER 1 CHANGE TECHNOLOGY IN THE WORLD), I help patients quit smoking everyday for life in my Toronto office.
I am going to reveal some SECRET information that the tobacco companies DO NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW. They want you to believe quitting smoking has to be a painful and a long drawn out process.
The truth is, the smoking habit has no power at all. It never was any benefit to you. It never had the power to give you the things you believed it did: the confidence, the focus, and the street smarts. It was a lie. The creators of the habit invented the lie. If you don't feed it, all that will happen is that it will die. The scratching and screeching was all fluff, the habit had you fooled. The danger to you was in feeding it and keeping it alive. On it's own it's a dead habit, it can't do any more harm than it's already done. You should be happy when it is scratching, because that's when you are in front. The harder it scratches and screeches, the nearer death it is, it will become quiet then, and die. There's nothing more harmless than a completely dead habit. The only way to kill it is to refuse to feed it.
How You're Feeding Your Smoking Habit

Habits come from thoughts. Below is a list of researched examples about how are thoughts are created from our brain frequencies.

People who meditate have been found to alter Alpha/Theta brain frequency according to their depth of meditation, reports Japan's leading Neuro-physiologist, Dr. Tomb Hirai.

He has correlated brain-wave patterns with certain stages of meditation. And according to Dr. Hirai, "Meditation is not merely a state between mental stability and sleep, but a condition in which the mind operates at the optimum. In this condition the person is relaxed but ready to accept and respond positively to any stimulus that may reach them."

Research now confirms that brainwave rhythms correspond to certain states of consciousness, and this suggests that individuals capable of altering their brainwave patterns can have significant control over other mental and physiological functioning.

As Elmer and Alice Green of the famous Menninger Institute first reported in the mid-70's, "...simply causing your brain to generate theta activity for a few minutes each day seems to have enormous benefits, including boosting the immune system, enhancing creativity, and triggering integrative experiences leading to feelings of psychological well-being."

Even more astonishing are the findings of a study conducted on a group of chronic alcoholics at a University in Colorado. After 13 weeks the group that learned to generate theta and alpha brainwaves, showed a far greater recovery rate, and a complete transformation of personality.

Hypnotherapy Alters Brainwaves

Hypnotherapy is a 25,000 year old Chinese art that clinically allows people to alter their own "alpha/theta" brain frequencies and assist individuals to quit smoking.

What exactly is stop smoking hypnosis?

Hypnotherapy is where the Hypnotherapist only uses words to talk directly with and to your nervous system to allow your own nervous system to re-program yourself at your nervous systems level of operation to assist you in becoming a non-smoker.

There are zero side effects. It is 100% safe and effective. It is all-natural. It is often done in 2 or 4 sessions. Depending on how good the Hypnotherapist is and/or the creator of the audio hypnotherapy stop smoking program.

Not only do hypnotherapy stop smoking techniques make changes to your physical dependencies towards smoking, it also erases all emotional issues relating to smoking. This frees up your body and mind to easily and effortlessly let go of smoking permanently.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming is the science of how language affects our lives. Neuro-Linguistic Programming known as (NLP) has a 97% success rate in assisting individuals to permanently quit smoking.

This field is so far reaching and powerful that since the creation of NLP in 1973 any books written about Hypnotherapy have included some material about the field of NLP in them.

Basically most of the skills used in NLP are the same or similar to many hypnotherapy exercises and techniques.

Combining both hypnotherapy stop smoking techniques and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, have demonstrated to be the best way to quit smoking in my clinic and with my colleagues.

These two combined techniques, by far produce the most effective method ever invented to assist individuals to permanently quit smoking with over a 97.2% success rate in 1 to 2 sessions.

I hope this helps you in uncovering the mystery in evaluating stop smoking hypnosis. If you want to ease your smoking habit, seek out a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist (C.hT) and Master NLP Practitioner or a good audio stop smoking program created by one.

Choosing a Hypnotherapist to Stop Smoking

There are a multitude of hypnotherapists out there, so how do you find one that works for you when you want to stop smoking?

When Should I See a Hypnotherapist?

If you are struggling with giving up smoking and feel you need a helping hand, then hypnosis may well help you. If you feel you just need that little bit extra to quit and become free from tobacco, then this could work for you. Will It Work?

No hypnotherapist can guarentee you that the session will work. Unfortunately, hypnosis is not a replacement for the desire to quit smoking. If you are going along looking for the hypnotherapist to make you stop smoking then save your money.

Hypnosis will only work to supplement your willpower and help you to give up. If you go for hypnosis because you feel you ought to or because your partner / family are pushing you to, then again, save your money and stay at home.

If you genuinely want to give up smoking and are willing to use some willpower then hypnosis will more than likely work for you.

Where Can I Find A Hypnotherapist?

There are a number of ways you can do this:

* Contact a professional hypnotherapist body to find some in your area * Look in the yellow pages * Look in the local papers * Ask friends / co workers for personal recommendations (this is the best method)

What Can I Expect?

A stop smoking hypnosis session will last anything from an hour to two hours, depending on the therapist. They will use a variety of different techniques and processes on you. Usually it will involve hypnotic trance. This is a simple process where you relax as if you were almost asleep. In hypnosis you are in control the whole of the time, which is why you have to want the result. No hypnotherapist can make you do anything you don't want to do.

What Will They Charge Me?

The price varies greatly from therapist to therapist. It is probably a good idea to contact a few in your area to determine pricing. In the UK it can be anywhere for £40 to £500 and beyond. However, the price is no indication of quality in this case. Anyone can charge any figure you want, which is why personal recommendation is always best.

How Will I Know They Are Good For Me?

Most hypnotherapists will offer you a free consultation before going for therapy. Use this to ask questions and to get to know the therapist. If you are not comfortable with them, then move on and find a different. Some questions you might want to ask are:

* What success rate have you had in the past? * What follow up's do you offer?

And anything else you feel you need to know in order to be comfortable proceeding with the therapy.

What Qualifies Them?

There are three types of hypnotherapists:

1. Those who have done a correspondence course 2. Those who have solely trained in stopping smoking (sometimes they will have trained in weight control and stress management too) 3. Those who have taken a full training course, including practical experience

If possible, find one that falls into the third category. No disrespect to the first two, but hypnosis requires interaction with people, so how can you learn it properly by post? As to the second category, sometimes the desire to smoke may be due to other issues in your life and as such, they will not be able to help you with anything else. Often this type of therapist will be inflexible in their approach due to their limited training.

You can always check the therapists qualifications with the appropriate professional bodies if you are in any doubt. Remember though that personal recommendation is the best possible way forwards with hypnosis.