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How do I Stop Smoking?

August 14, 2009 by admin Comments Off

Once a person decides that it’s time he or she quitted smoking, it is better to begin sooner rather than later. However, how do you stop smoking, when you have been smoking for a number of years? Smoking is an extremely difficult addiction to break as tobacco contains the compound called nicotine which is addictive to both the mind and body.

Recent studies have shown that every time you smoke a cigarette, it costs you about five to twenty minutes of your life. Apart from weakening the body, smoking leaves a person with bad breath, yellow teeth, wrinkles, lower bone density, fertility problems that will inevitably affect the sexual health of both men and women and a higher risk of being infected with deadly diseases such as lung cancer. Smoking is costly and can shorten one’s life by about ten years or even more.

Methods to stop smoking can be found in many places and there are also various types of medication that can be prescribed. Some smokers are given nicotine replacements such as nicotine gums, nicotine patches, lozenges, inhalers, etc. But the real problem with all of these is that they mainly treat the physical aspect of how smoking affects the body. The truth is that more than the body, it is the mind that becomes addicted to smoking.

The hardest part of stopping smoking comes when trying to deal with the mind. A smoker’s mind frequently becomes convinced that their happiness, enjoyment and leading a stress free life, all depend on smoking. Understanding the fact that this is just not the case is one of the pivotal issues in quitting smoking.

One of the most important things to keep in mind when trying to stop smoking, is the breaking of such connections in the mind. Smokers believe that they need a cigarette to help them cope with daily stresses. Once you are able to overcome this dependency, in time your mind will learn to deal with daily problems without requiring a cigarette.

A good piece of advice when trying to stop smoking can be to go to counselling sessions and get advice from someone who is an ex-smoker, ie a person who has undergone similar experiences. Talking about your fears about quitting smoking and thereby relieving the doubts you have by attending such sessions can be helpful to anyone who is trying to stop smoking.

If you have decided that you should to quit smoking, don’t hesitate, grab the bull by the horns and start stopping now. You will soon start to notice the difference to your health. You will find that exercising will be easier, your fitness level will rise dramatically, food will taste far better and your mouth will be fresher.

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Why Should I Quit Smoking?

July 1, 2009 by admin Comments Off

Giving up an addiction that you’ve had almost all of your life can be very difficult. Many smokers who want to quit their unhealthy habit hesitate because they feel that it’s too late or it’s too hard for them to quit. Luckily this is not the case. It’s never too late to change a bad habit.

The whole process of stopping smoking will probably take a long time and will require dedication and will power on behalf of the smoker. However, although at first it may be painfull to stop being addicted to nicotine, as a smoker who wants to quit, it is best to focus on the long-term benefits of quitting smoking.

It’s a known fact that smoking causes all sorts of cancers and illnesses. Experts say that each time a person smokes a cigarette, he or she will be losing part of their life span, health, money and also respect. We live in a world where there are so many anti-smoking agencies and institutions working against smoking and for this reason, smokers are generally not seen in a respectful light. So why not start to think about the benefits of stopping smoking and stop being addicted instead of losing all these for the sake of a cigarette?

Health is wealth. One of the most important benefits of quitting smoking that anyone can achieve is to live a higher quality of life. It does not matter if you’ve smoked for a few years or have been a chain smoker all your life. What matters is that you have decided to quit. Starting from that point, you will be able to live a better life with fewer infections meaning less time in hospital.

The benefits of stopping smoking are not only the increased health and an increase in life expectancy, but it can also have a positive effect on social life – you will have more friends and more (self) respect. When a smoker quits this deadly habit he or she will run less risk of developing cancer or heart disease and it will also mean that the ex-smoker will breathe fresher air instead of air polluted with cigarette smoke, which will mean far less coughing and breathlessness.

The benefits of stopping smoking are almost boundless. For instance, smoking can have an adverse effect on sexual health, quitting the habit would mean an increase in fertility rate. Moreover, unlike previously, you’ll have whiter teeth, fresher breath and a higher energy level. Furthermore, family and friends will have fresh air to breathe at last. Another benefit is the savings in your purse. Cigarettes are very expensive, therefore, quitting smoking would mean that the money that was used for cigarettes could be used for other good reasons such as treating yourself to a little bit of what you fancy.

The benefits of stopping smoking are indeed many and the plus-points of smoking are yet to be discovered. Sure, it brings in a lot of tax revenue and keeps some people in gainful employment, but then smokers also take more time off sick and spend more time at the doctor’s than their non-smoking colleagues. Smokers reply that it soothes their nerves, but so would other relaxation techniques such as yoga even sitting down. Let’s face it, public opinion has moved against smoking with smokers more often than not being vilified and pitied these days. Smokers also look rather silly nipping out of the office, restaurant or pub for a cigarette every hour or so, don’t they?

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