Archive for June, 2009
Why Most People Fail at Quitting Smoking
Quitting smoking isn’t easy. Getting hooked, yeah, that’s a walk in the park, but dropping the habit is probably one of the hardest things you can do.
This isn’t because it’s actually a difficult process, however. It’s hard because nobody really knows how to do it. Most people think that you can cure a smoking addiction by taking some sort of magic pill (be it in the form of a gum, patch, doctor-prescribed thing, or otherwise), but nothing could be further from the truth. Let’s examine a few of the wrong ways to go about quitting:
1. Nicotine Replacement Therapy
Nicotine replacement therapy works by giving you a supply of nicotine that you don’t need to smoke to get. While this seems like a great idea, it doesn’t curb your want for cigarettes, it merely stops your want for nicotine. When you want a cigarette, you don’t tell yourself that you want some nicotine, you want a smoke!
2. Nicotine Blocking Medication
Nicotine blocking medications work by preventing your body from receiving the enjoyable effects of smoking a cigarette. This has a leg up on replacement therapy because you can still smoke, but it doesn’t stop your want to actually hold the cigarette and go through the smoking process.
So, What Does Work?
In order to properly quit, you need to break the mental ties that bind you to cigarettes. You need to stop the connection between, for example, hanging out at the bar and lighting up. Once you break those simple ties, smoking is merely a thing of the past.
Several hours from now, you will be completely cigarette free, and never want to go back again! To find out how, click right here Why most people fail at quitting smoking Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/why-most-people-fail-at-quitting-smoking-977893.html
Nicotine Gum – Does it Really Work? (If Not, How Can You Quit Smoking?)
There’s a lot of hype built up around nicotine replacement products, like nicotine gum. Plenty of people swear by them, and just as many are just as adamant against them.
Nicotine gum treats the physical symptoms of a smoking addiction. Instead of craving the nicotine spike from smoking a cigarette, chewing nicotine gum gives you the same delivery of nicotine without all of the cancer-causing bad stuff.
Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? There are two major problems with it, though. First, people end up addicted to nicotine gum, which puts you in a similar boat to smoking. Granted, you don’t have all of the health problems, but you still end up addicted to something, and nicotine is bad for your body.
The second and far more important problem is that nicotine gum doesn’t treat the real cause behind smoking addiction: mental addiction. As a smoker, you are trained to want cigarettes based on certain mental triggers, such as when you’re out with your friends, when you’re stressed, etc.
Nicotine gum doesn’t do anything for the mental addiction, which is why nicotine gum doesn’t end up working. To actually quit smoking and not look back on it, you need to tell your mind that it doesn’t actually want cigarettes, not just replace them with something else.
If you don’t solve the mental addiction behind smoking, you’re never going to quit smoking. Everyone says that quitting smoking is hard for a reason: very few people actually stop smoking and become non-smokers. Most people become smokers that just aren’t smoking because they’re denying themselves cigarettes, which is why so many people relapse into smoking.
You don’t have to spend a massive amount of time taking classes or talking to people about quitting smoking, though. I quit smoking in just an hour (and I read slowly!) with this guide on curing the mental addiction of smoking. Does nicotine gum really work? Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/nicotine-gum-does-it-really-work-if-not-how-can-you-quit-smoking-977906.html
Quitting Smoking Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
Really, quitting doesn’t have to be hard at all. Smoking, like all bad habits, is easy to quit once you learn just how to do it. Problem is, what people generally think of as the right way to do it is completely wrong.
You’ve probably seen advertisements for nicotine patches and phone therapy programs. You don’t want quitting smoking to turn into an alcoholics anonymous type deal, you just want to stop the whole mess so you can go on with your life.
As great of an idea as those programs might sound to the people who create them, they fall a bit short when it comes to actual results. Nicotine replacement doesn’t work because it doesn’t actually help you stop your urge to smoke, it just gives you the byproducts of smoking to try to help you cope.
Phone programs and online programs make you feel like there’s something terribly wrong with you, and that’s not the case. You’re able to quit smoking any time you want, you just have to know that you want to quit smoking.
Remember, you don’t smoke because you want nicotine, you smoke because you enjoy smoking and that’s the critical flaw with all of these programs. The way to make quitting easy is to discover that, in all reality, you don’t like cigarettes. They aren’t enjoyable, it’s just something that you’ve been trained to do with time.
You aren’t going to spend the same amount of time weaning yourself away and retraining your mind, however, because there’s a very simple way to quit that doesn’t involve any sort of therapy or snake oil.
All you need to do is read this book. It only takes a few hours, and you can even smoke (it tells you to!) while reading it! You can read more about it by clicking right here! Quitting smoking doesn’t have to be hard Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/quitting-smoking-doesnt-have-to-be-hard-977917.html
What Nicotine Replacement Therapy Methods Are There?
Nicotine Replacement Therapy is one of the many quit smoking methods that available today. It consists of three main types, the patch, gum, and inhaler. Read on to find out more about each!
Patch
The nicotine patch is applied directly to the skin, and contains a pre-measured dosage of nicotine that is absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream, satisfying the body’s need for nicotine. It comes in 21, 14, and 7mg varieties, and the intent is to slowly step down from your initial dose (21 or 14mg, depending on how much you smoke) until you no longer need the patch. They are applied generally once every 24 hours. Applying the patch immediately before sleeping supposedly works to prevent cravings upon waking.
Gum
Nicotine gum is chewed periodically throughout the day, and comes in 4mg and 2mg doses, the former being for smokers who smoke over a pack a day (sometimes listed as 25 cigarettes or more). The nicotine is absorbed through the gums and into the bloodstream, and the number of pieces chewed throughout the day is decreased over time.
One downside to the gum is that you need to be religious with your adherence to dosing times or else you decrease its effectiveness.
Inhaler
The inhaler, generally only available by prescription, works to kill your craving for cigarettes by giving you a metered dose of nicotine to keep levels up in your blood. Its prescription only nature and inconvenience generally make it less effective than the above methods, which generally can be taken anywhere.
At the end of the day, however, you’re still trying to cure your nicotine addiction by supplying yourself with nicotine. To find out if this actually works, take a look at my article, does nicotine replacement therapy work for more info. What nicotine replacement therapy methods are there? Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/what-nicotine-replacement-therapy-methods-are-there-977698.html
The First Things You Need to Learn Before Quitting Smoking
Quitting smoking isn’t the easiest thing in the book. Quite frankly, it can at times be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be if you arm yourself with the knowledge and preparation for what lies ahead.
First, you’re going to feel regret. Cigarettes have become, in a strange way, like your best friend. You’ve always been able to rely on them when you need a little break, and by giving them away you will feel an emptiness. You need to fill this emptiness with something positive, preferably something that you wouldn’t be able to do while smoking. Exercise would be a great example: as your lungs are healing, you can move up from walking to jogging to running. Physical exercise also releases endorphins which make you feel a lot better and will help you forget those pesky cigarettes.
Second, you will become irritable. This is not a mental thing as much as a physical effect of nicotine withdrawal. Explain to the people around you that this will happen and to not be offended by it. Make sure that you have a few people that you can talk to when you’re feeling upset or else you will find yourself turning to cigarettes once again.
Third, you may become depressed. This is a combination of the causes for the first two points (emptiness and physical withdrawal). Again, make sure to keep someone to talk to to help you through this.
While it may seem daunting at first, take every day at a time, develop a good support structure, and you will find that it will be one of the best decisions you have ever made for yourself.
If you need extra help with learning how to quit, take a look at this article on how smoking addictions work to gain a better understanding of cigarette addiction and how to free yourself from it. Happy quitting! The first things you need to learn before quitting smoking Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/the-first-things-you-need-to-learn-before-quitting-smoking-977702.html
You’re the Only Person That Can Help You Quit Smoking
Every smoker has a few friends that like to constantly remind them about how bad smoking is, how much it costs them, and all kinds of other garb that is really annoying and, frankly, ineffective. The only person that can help you quit is yourself, and here’s why.
When other people tell you that you need to quit smoking, all they’re doing is fueling your want to smoke even more. Smoking makes you feel kind of like an outlaw, so to speak, brash in the face of societal norms. The more it’s looked down upon, the more attractive it seems.
However, when you don’t actually want to smoke, it doesn’t have the same punch. If you were to tell yourself that smoking is bad for you, it would have an actual impact. Your realization of the negative effects of cigarettes is what will help you get to the point where you want to quit.
This is also why people whose girlfriends or wives tell them to quit never actually do. You go out with your friends, have a few smokes, and feel great because not only did you smoke, but they didn’t know about it. It reinforces your want to smoke instead of suppressing it.
Again, only you can make yourself quit smoking. All the doctors, friends, and other well-meaning people in the world can’t, because of how smoking works in your mind. If you’re truly committed to quitting smoking, though, there are a number of extremely easy ways to quit.
If you’ve made the decision for yourself (not when someone else has for you, when you have for yourself), you can learn how to quit smoking right now by clicking here and breaking the habit once and for all! You’re the only person that can help you quit smoking Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/youre-the-only-person-that-can-help-you-quit-smoking-977710.html
How to Avoid Nicotine Withdrawal (And What Really Causes Smoking Addiction)
Fear of nicotine withdrawal is one of the major reasons why people don’t quit smoking, along with the delusion that they enjoy it. Understanding nicotine withdrawal makes dealing with its symptoms a lot easier.
First, it’s important to remember that smoking is more in your mind than in your body. Before you start laughing at me for that statement, think back to a time where you had to be, for an extended period of time, somewhere you couldn’t smoke. If you were involved in what you were doing, you weren’t bouncing off the walls wanting a cigarette.
You knew, in the back of your mind, that you would have a cigarette whenever you were next able to. That’s a mental addiction, not a physical one. If it were physical, there would be no way to go without a cigarette on, say, an airplane.
The actual physical symptoms of nicotine withdrawal are a lot less severe than the mentally-induced cravings, and generally aren’t directly pinnable on smoking. Irritability is the classic one (I went through it, that was not fun at all) that everyone attributes to nicotine withdrawal, but there are a few other ones that result in general poor feelings. If you experience them, you can’t be completely sure that they’re smoking related at all.
Luckily, none of them are permanent, and none of them are very severe. Keep yourself involved in work or your family, and you will barely notice them passing. Make sure to let your family members know what you’re doing, just in case you end up being snippy towards them.
With physical addiction out, you might be wondering why smoking is considered so addictive. Smoking is a mental addiction that we have been trained to believe helps us cope with all kinds of stresses during the day. Nothing could be further from the truth, however, as this site shows. How to avoid nicotine withdrawal Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/how-to-avoid-nicotine-withdrawal-and-what-really-causes-smoking-addiction-975719.html
How Cigarette Addictions Work and Why They’re So Profitable For Tobacco Companies
We all know that cigarettes are expensive. Ridiculously so. Here in Maryland, you’re usually looking at about $6 per pack, and if you’re really trying you can spend over $9 per. That’s not all of how smokers line the pockets of tobacco companies, though.
Once you’re tired of coughing up stuff that looks like it came from an oil derrick, you get to give those same companies even more money by buying nicotine replacements to give you the same nicotine high that cigarettes do. Am I the only one that finds something wrong with the idea that the same company is selling you an addiction and a cure for it?
The biggest part of cigarette addictions isn’t because of the nicotine, though. It’s because of how much your mind is wrapped up in the concept of smoking. Direct advertising is mostly banned, but you still see people smoking in movies. It’s quite funny when you notice how much that kind of thing makes you want to smoke. I remember seeing some movie where this lady was smoking the same kind of cigarettes that I usually smoked. I paused the movie, went to the store and bought a pack just because of it.
We’re also completely overlooking the fact that even the good-hearted people who want you to smoke are making it harder for you. Any time someone tells you that quitting smoking is going to be hard, it actually makes it harder for you to go through with it, because it gives you something easy to fall back on.
When you’re ready to quit, you can take a look at this article on how to quit smoking to see how easy it is for you to quit right now, without even leaving the computer!
4 Great Reasons to Quit Smoking Right Now
As a smoker, you are constantly told about the millions of reasons why you need to quit smoking. I know that when I smoked, I was always being reminded that I was going to have a million strokes, high blood pressure, and all kinds of other bad things. Thinking back, it was really stupid of me not to listen to people, as these are the reasons why I don’t smoke any more.
Blindness: Studies have shown that smokers are at a vastly increased risk for loss of eyesight. Turns out that smoking is around on par with moonshine for smart things to do for your vision.
Heartburn: I’ve seen research about this, but I didn’t really need to, having experienced it myself. Before quitting, I smoked anywhere between one and three packs a day. I remember regularly waking up to severe heartburn.
Impotence: There are several studies out there showing a correlation between smoking and impotence. That should be enough to make you want to quit smoking right now if you’re a guy.
Depression: Sure, depressed people are supposed to smoke. That’s what you always see in the movies. It becomes self fulfilling, though, as being a smoker keeps you depressed and makes it even harder to enjoy life.
Of course, in addition to these three are the slew of well known health risks, ranging from emphysema to lung cancer. We all know how hard quitting smoking is supposed to be, but it’s well worth it if you want to live a happy life.
Like all smokers, you’re constantly reminded of all the bad points of a cigarette addiction. You don’t want to know about how horribly you’re going to die if you keep smoking, you want to know how to kick the habit! Take a look at www.howiquitsmoking.net to learn how you can stop smoking today! 4 Great Reasons to quit smoking right now Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/4-great-reasons-to-quit-smoking-right-now-975766.html
Smoking Cessation Tips – How to Quit and Not Hate It
Quitting smoking can be one of the most difficult things one can experience. The way that everybody makes it out to be impossible, combined with horrific-sounding nicotine withdrawal, makes it not sound like something anybody would want to do. Luckily, these smoking cessation tips can help take the edge off!
First, you should know that almost every nicotine withdrawal symptom will drive you to want to smoke, without you really knowing it:
- Irritability. Nicotine withdrawal will make you irritable, and you will lash out at other people. Generally, immediately afterward you’ll want a cigarette to calm down. Don’t give in!
- Depression. Two or three days after quitting, you’ll feel depressed and regretful. You won’t quite be able to pin it on something in particular. I felt like my life was completely pointless. If you’re thinking that this will drive you back towards smoking, you’re right!
You’ll also feel a number of fun physical symptoms, which will in general make you feel like crap for a few days. The important part, though, is that it all goes away after the first week! Once you’ve gone through that week, you never have to deal with those horrid symptoms again, and you’ll have your life back.
Depending on how you’ve quit smoking, that first week can be the only difficult part of quitting that you will need to deal with. The first few times I quit, I ended up relapsing during those few days (and once or twice after the first week) because, despite living through the physical symptoms, my mind still wanted me to smoke.
You don’t have to deal with both the mental addiction of smoking and the physical one at the same time, though. The way that I finally quit was with the EasyQuit System which unraveled the connections in my mind between various events and smoking. Smoking cessation tips – how to quit and not hate it Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/smoking-cessation-tips-how-to-quit-and-not-hate-it-975767.html