Does The “Smoker Personality” Resist Common Stop-Smoking Approaches?

By Wendy N. Lapidus-Saltz

If you’re a smoker, and people around you know it, you’re probably barraged by demands to stop. Some are caring and kindly. Others abrasive, even disgusted. Do the people you love quote scary facts and figures at you? Does it make you want to stop? No? Thought so.

Or maybe you yourself want to stop smoking. You may even be heard to say that you desperately want to stop smoking. Uh-oh. Desperation may make it harder to stop.

So is there no way out? Nothing you can do? There is something. And it’s startlingly simple. Here it is: Let smoking cessation be a desire for you. Something you want—and choose—to do.

Even if your doctor, your spouse, and your best buddies say “You absolutely must stop smoking!” make it that you want to stop smoking. It’s a desire. Desires are more compelling than orders, aren’t they? That’s because orders make you angry and you want to ignore them.

Give an adult an order and he or she quickly reverts to a willful five-year-old. “I will NOT!” The voice may have gotten deeper but the attitude stays the same.

What if you were ordered to eat your favorite cake? Maybe you’d eat it. Maybe not. But most certainly it wouldn’t be as fun as choosing to eat your favorite cake.

Desires, rather than orders, threats, or commands, are alluring. Desirable. Seductive.

They invite you to do something, and let you know it’s what you’ve wanted to do all along. So invite yourself to be a nonsmoker, the way you’d invite someone special to a lovely dinner party. How to do that?

First, think of what it would be like to be a nonsmoker. Might your hair smell fresher? What about your breath and clothes? Might your teeth look whiter without nicotine to stain them yellow and, eventually, brown? Would you prefer to keep your teeth as you get older instead of succumbing to gum disease and tooth loss, as many smokers eventually do?

How about fewer trips to the dry cleaners to keep your clothes odor-free? What would you do with the savings? After some years, they could be substantial. And would you enjoy having fewer age lines, and fresher, clearer skin as you age? Does improved breathing sound good to you? It should because it can mean appearing younger, walking and running easily, and having more stamina for most activities, including sex.

Here’s another benefit you might enjoy: lower insurance costs. Extra money to put toward a vacation or your next shiny, new car. Why lower insurance costs? That’s because many insurance companies penalize smokers because they’re statistically likely to run up higher health-care bills. And if we’re talking about life insurance, nonsmokers tend to live longer and healthier.

But if you’re considering just lying about being a nonsmoker, beware. Yes, beware. Because if your insurance company were to discover that your illness was caused or exacerbated by your smoking, and their records show you claimed to be a nonsmoker, they might choose to fight against paying health care costs. Is it really worth all that just to put a white stick between your lips and inhale tar and other poisons?

But that white stick seemed to do something for you that we haven’t taken into account yet. Fair is fair, so let’s make a list.

It gave you something to do.
It made you look like you were doing something so you didn’t seem lonely.
It helped you avoid snacking, so you think it kept your weight down.
It let you disconnect from others when you wanted to.
It helped you connect with others. Other smokers. You hung out together outside once
no-smoking laws forbade you to smoking indoors.

Fair enough.

The important question is: do you prefer to avoid early aging, smelly hair, yellow, brown or missing teeth, not to mention the serious illnesses caused or made worse by smoking— or do you prefer to smoke?

Another good question is: Can you get something to do, look like you’re doing something, choose healthier, low calorie snacking to stay lean, and find other ways to connect and disconnect from others as you choose? If you can, you simply don’t need to smoke.

But smokers like to smoke because when they were young, they learned to connect it with independence. The Marlboro Man looked pretty independent, didn’t he? Maybe, but not as much when he was hooked up to oxygen so he could breathe.

So if you love independence and doing what you want to do instead of being told, the answer is simple. You can choose independence from cigarette companies, restaurants that ban smoking, friends who urge you to smoke with them and friends who nag you to stop smoking. You can just choose to quit smoking. Simply because you—and nobody else—said so. And that’s that. Feels pretty powerful, independent, and freeing—doesn’t it? Copyright 2007 by Wendy Lapidus-Saltz. All rights reserved. 

Electronic Cigarettes - A Healthier Alternate To Smoking

By john26 sina

There is a brand new creation that everyone who smokes ought to know about. It's termed the digital cigarette, also identified as a smokeless cigarette or e-cigarette, and it is changing the legal landscape for cigarette smokers all around the earth.

The patented Digital Cigarette presents to proficiently simulate the knowledge of smoking an actual cigarette, devoid of any of the overall health or legal issues surrounding standard cigarettes.

Though Electronic cigarettes search, experience and flavor considerably like traditional cigarettes, they operate really in another way. You see, digital cigarettes do not in fact burn up any tobacco, but relatively, when you inhale from an e-cigarette, you activate a "flow censor" which releases a h2o vapor made up of nicotine, propylene glycol, and a scent that simulates the taste of tobacco. All of which just means that electronic cigarettes permit you to get your nicotine fix whilst avoiding all of the cancer resulting in agents found in classic cigarettes these kinds of as tar, glue, hundreds of additives, and hydrocarbons.

In addition to staying healthier than conventional cigarettes, and maybe most importantly of all, is the fact that digital cigarettes are absolutely legal. Due to the fact Electronic cigarettes do not involve tobacco, you can legally smoke them anywhere that standard cigarettes are prohibited such as bars, restaurants, the perform area, even on airplanes. Furthermore, electronic cigarettes allow you to smoke with no fears of inflicting damage on other people because of to unpleasant second hand smoke.

The refillable cartridges occur in a multitude of flavors as nicely as nicotine strengths. You can get common, menthol, even apple and strawberry flavored cartridges and nicotine strengths come in total, medium, light, and none. While electronic cigarettes are technically a "smoking alternative" fairly than a cigarette smoking cessation unit, the assortment of nicotine strengths gives some clear prospective as an support in the ones attempts to quit cigarette smoking and appears to be to be proving well-known in that marketplace.

The nice point about digital cigarettes as apposed to say, nicotine patches, is that e-cigarettes create the very same tactile sensation and oral fixation that people who smoke motivation, even though fulfilling ones tobacco cravings as properly. When you just take a drag from n digital cigarette you in fact feel the your lungs fill with a warm tobacco flavored smoke and when you exhale the smoke billows out of your lungs just like normal smoking cigarettes, however, as mentioned, that smoke is truly a significantly more healthy h2o vapor that promptly evaporates and consequently does not offend anyone in the speedy vicinity.

Although electronic cigarettes have been all-around for an although in different incarnations, it has been modern advancements in the technologies as effectively as ever increasing limitations from smoking that have propelled the e-cigarette into a new located attractiveness. If you are intrigued in a healthier option to smoking cigarettes, or if you merely want to have the flexibility to smoke wherever and when you want, an digital cigarette may well be the option you've been wanting for.

Smoking Cessation - Tips and Hints

By Richard Johnstonn

Cigarettes are smoked by more than a billion people worldwide. It causes many health problems, some of them potentially fatal - for example lung cancer and heart disease. It is also an expensive habit. How many more reasons do you need to give up? Here, anyhow, are four tips that could help you to kick the habit.

Tip 1: Rise above the cravings

Many of us use cigarettes as crutches, "something to do with my hands". You need to visualise yourself in everyday situations without a cigarette in your hand, this is a simple technique that can really help. You should also try taking deep breaths when you are hit by cravings, and keep busy. Sort out all those household or office tasks that you have been putting off, and you will have less time to think about smoking.

Tip 2: All the reasons to quit

You need to work out why you want to quit, what the benefits of giving up smoking would be, and write it all down. Maybe you don't like the smell of stale smoke on your clothes. Maybe you are worried that your children will follow in your footsteps. Whatever it is, put pen to paper and then keep a diary of how you are feeling, this will help you to view the situation in an objective manner.

Tip 3: The good, the bad and the ugly

Similarly, make a list of what will happen if you don't quit. You could suffer from ill health or maybe cancer. Premature death and debt or being socially ostracized by your non smoking friends can also happen to you as well as having bad breath and yellow teeth. No matter how trivial or how momentous, write it down. Once you've done this you should also remind yourself of the benefits of giving up.

Tip 4: Break time!

Many smokers stop for a cigarette so that they can take a break. You can still take breaks during the day, it's good for you, but do something that is positive, that is good for you. Eat fruit, drink water, take a walk, stop to talk with (non smoking) friends. All of these activities will have a beneficial effect on your physical and mental health and can help to strengthen your resolve to quit.

Richard has worked in the health industry for over 4 years now and loves to write about health.  Richard also has a website dedicated to looking at renewable energy stock on his renewable energy website at:
http://renewablehomepower.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Johnstonn 

Smoking Cessation Laser Therapy - Is it Effective and Safe?

By Dave Gwueddy

The smoking cessation laser therapy is one of the many methods to stop the bad habit of smoking. Each and every person knows that smoking is the biggest health hazard. If you calculate the amount of money spent in cigarettes, it is much higher than the cost of quit smoking treatments. Nowadays, smoking is unaccepted by the society and therefore many no smoking zones are declared by the government. In spite of all this, the smokers are unable to give up smoking as it is a very difficult thing to cope up with.

The way the acupuncture is done in our body, the laser treatment is done on similar lines. Low level laser is given in the areas of acupuncture. The result will be stimulation of the nerves and that will produce endorphins. This will further reduce the cravings for the nicotine and therefore makes a great stress reliever. Many developed countries have accepted the laser therapy and the same have been successfully put into practice. With the stimulation of the points, the actual nicotine urge is removed from the body. One can also find too much of relief in the withdrawal symptoms. Is the smoking cessation laser therapy actually worth it?

There have been mixed opinions on smoking cessation laser therapy and many individuals truly feel that laser therapy has worked wonders for them. The main setback is that there's no reasonable evidence to prove that the therapy is good. It is basically considered as a scam and therefore, many smokers utilize the other procedures to stop smoking.
A case was filed against five companies that they were making tall claims about the laser therapy. On this, the FDA has ordered these companies to discontinue the marketing for this therapy. The reason for discontinuation is given by the FDA who has stated that the relief is only momentary in nature and does not work in the long run at all.

These companies are just not bothered whether the laser therapy has been proved successful or not. Again, the reviews are not done so no one knows whether the laser is a winner or a loser. Since there is no proof of anything, all you can do is take the risk and try out the smoking cessation laser therapy and see whether it is effective or ineffective.
In major health conditions, the laser procedure is not advised. The health related issues could be cancer, pregnancy, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, sclerosis, implanted defibrillator, etc. For these patients, a quit smoking timeline will be beneficial.

There are some benefits as well like no medications required, no nicotine replacements, and no oral supplements and so on. If one has severe nicotine addiction, then the smoking cessation laser therapy is the best one and offers relief in the cravings of cigars, cigarettes as well as dipping.

Dave Gwueddy demonstrates the necessary steps to quit smoking. Read about Stop Smoking Help at his website quitsmokingtimeline.net.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Gwueddy 

Smoking Cessation - How You Can Quit Smoking Today

By April Kerr

Many smokers promise to kick their bad habits and finally put a stop to smoking. However, come days or several weeks later, they're back to smoking. Smoking cessation is really hard to do, and it takes a lot of willpower, positive thinking, and support from the right people, in order to stick with the decision of quitting.
Smoking cessation is the smoker's effort and attempt to quit smoking tobacco products. But this isn't as easy as it sounds since nicotine, which is a substance found in tobacco products, is addictive, most especially when inhaled. Below are some quick tips on how you can quit smoking for good.


Reasons Why People Should Quit Smoking
Smoking cessation is just about the greatest gift one can give to himself and his loved ones. When smokers quit smoking, they'll live much longer and healthier, as well as the people surrounding them. It decreases the chances of getting a stroke, heart attack, or cancer. Furthermore, when pregnant women decide to quit smoking, it will mean giving the baby a chance at living a healthy life. Also, the savings people can get from not purchasing any more tobacco products mean they can invest it in other worthwhile products.


Planning and Preparations
The first thing to do in smoking cessation is to set a quitting date. Once the person has made the decision to stop smoking, he should immediately change his environment and get rid of all tobacco and tobacco-related products in his home, place of work, car, and others. He should stay away from people who are smoking. Most of all, he should resist the urge to smoke even a single puff, because once it's started, it'll be hard to quit and before one know it, he's already given up even before he started smoking cessation.


Form a Support Group
Many studies have shown that smokers are more successful in quitting smoking when they have someone who supports and encourages them. Immediately after deciding to quit, the person should inform his family, friends, and colleagues of his decision. It also helps to get into a counseling group and program, where one can get together with other smokers who are trying to quit. The members of the group can give each other support and encouragement, and will be a great source of motivation. These programs are usually given in local health centers and hospitals.


Learn New Abilities and Skills
Distraction is very important to smokers who are trying to quit. As much as possible, they should keep busy in order to resist the urge of smoking. One way to do so is to acquire new skills and abilities. He can enroll in a language class, take another sport or hobby, or simply do simple things around the house, such as reading a book, exercising, walking the dog, and others.


Acquire and Use Medication Properly
There are certain medications that can help diminish the smoker's urge to smoke. Among these include nicotine patch, nicotine nasal spray, nicotine inhaler, nicotine gum, and others. The person should approach his doctor or health care provider before taking any of these medications, to be fully aware of its proper usage.


Preparing for Relapses
Many smokers who are trying to quit fall into relapses in difficult situations. It helps to prepare oneself for this type of dilemma, so one wouldn't feel discouraged when this happens.
April Kerr owns website Health Refresh which is all about how to quit smoking cigarettes and has details of natural ways to stop smoking and natural ways to stop smoking.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=April_Kerr
http://EzineArticles.com/?Smoking-Cessation---How-You-Can-Quit-Smoking-Today&id=1702783 

Laser Smoking Cessation... Please Pass The Light

By Robin J. Derry

For 45 million American smokers, lighting up while driving, after eating, when nervous or bored, talking on the phone or like a film star after sex is a calming act that you train yourself to expect...and enjoy.
Smokers can hardly avoid the pleasure side of tobacco, as it settles into brain receptors and triggers natural pleasure feel-good endorphins. The problem with modern tobacco, as every quit smoking campaigns attests, is that the other chemical baggage includes toxins and carcinogens that impose huge health risks on the smoke.
Laser smoking cessation treatment, commencing in Canada in the 1980s, offers smokers another tool to eliminate or minimize their tobacco addiction. Laser smoking cessation therapy lacks scientific results proof and FDA approvals, however thousands of smokers are popularizing this new therapy, voting with their feet and their pocket book.


Smoking Cessation Laser Therapy - What's Involved.
Sitting back in a comfortable chair, you feel virtually nothing. However, the qualified laser technician is directing a controlled beam of infrared or red spectrum "cold light" onto points around your body normally associated with acupuncture therapy. Center of your wrist...on your ear...on your nose.
Utilizing the focal points associated with 3000 year old Chinese acupuncture, laser therapy aims to trigger a bodily response variously described as "Qi", yin-yang balance or in technical parlance hormonal endorphins. Here's what happens when you smoke. Inhaling tobacco smoke triggers your body's release of endorphins, these unique system-calming hormone stimulants. The more you smoke, the more "addictive response" you create, where specific neural receptor sites become agitated...you experience "craving" and then settle the matter by reaching for your cigarettes.
Smoking cessation laser treatment mirrors the smoking process, allegedly stimulating your body's endorphin response. Result? You get the same endorphin-like calming effects without the need of smoking.


Anti Smoking Laser Treatment - Doctor's Visits And Costs.
Smokers and non smokers should always approach intervention therapy cautiously. You have psychological, physiological and emotional risks to balance. After your interview and health screening, you'll set up 1 to 3 laser appointments as part of your smoking cessation therapy plan. Each appointment lasts 20 to 40 minutes. You'll be comfortable throughout the session. No pain and no after-effect worries. Costs vary but expect $300 or more for 1 or several sessions. These smoking cessation laser treatments are 'elective' and won't be reimbursable from your health benefits plan.


Health Benefit Of Smoking Cessation.
Market facts continues to deliver a brutal truth. Over 400,000 Americans die annually in tobacco-related deaths, theoretically preventable. Smoking is the #1 killing preventable disease. Nearly 90% of all smokers "experiment" with smoking before age 18, reflecting the naturally rebellious anti-authoritarian nature of youth. About half of the "Johnny Rebels" cave in to tobacco addiction and join the other 45 million full time smokers.
If staying alive longer...enjoying a cleaner healthier lifestyle and quality of life...avoiding the out of pocket cost of buying tobacco...not spreading carcinogens and second hand smoke to family and friends are the obvious health benefits of smoking cessation, then why don't more people catch-on? Clearly, addictive diseases like smoking or alcohol or any other drug create difficult-to-unravel complex of bio-chemical and behavioral dependencies that will not simply "go away".
Straight Talk On Smoking Cessation Laser Treatment Results.
British scientific research failed to disclose any significant and measurable results associated with laser smoking cessation therapy. Indeed, monitoring over 20 studies British researchers concluded that laser treatment is no better nor worse than any sham treatment nor simple advisory-consultative service nor better than a simple placebo for smokers involved in the test.
In the USA, the FDA has not added laser acupuncture to its approved list of smoking cessation treatments which now includes nicotine patches, antidepressants, and certain unique target drugs like Chantix which targets receptors in the smoker's brain associated with the "landing spot" for nicotine.
Smoking cessation and laser treatments may offer part of your solution. Learn more about brain health and tools to a healthy “clean side” recovery from tobacco addiction.

Brain Health Tips: http://www.wise4living.com/hfvit-brain/

Promoting Overall Body Health: http://www.wise4living.com/hfvit/

Author Robin Derry is publisher for http://www.wise4living.com/ a specialty information site that gives solutions to

health, household, sport, travel and legal needs.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robin_J._Derry 

What is the Best Method to Stop Smoking

By Collin Solomon

In the old days she explained that she could go into hospital with no worries as you could then smoke in the day rooms.

Now she has since missed 2 operation dates as she fears of not being able to smoke.

She was so over the moon with joy that at last she can stop smoking cigarettes and stay stopped for good using this LUCI Electronic Cigarette. She told me that no other NRT has worked from the doctors, NHS meetings or hypnosis. As she explained that the habit is still continued with the supply of nicotine this e-cigarette offers along with the smoke effect it mimics a real cigarette so well that even the taste of nicotine is present as is the light on the end by the ash when you take a drag or pull on the e-cigarette. She cant wait to tell her doctor and let him test her carbon monoxide level as it will be like a non smoker.

As a sufferer of smoking related illnesses, she is thrilled to be able to give her body the break from all the toxins from cigarette's at last.

As each nicotine cartridge last the equivalent of 10 cigarettes, they work out good value for money as a pack of 10 cartridges of any strength (100 cigarettes) is only £12.50.

Spare parts are also available for the electronic cigarette should you need them.

Details are available on link below

A question that most smokers who are considering quitting smoking ask is "What is the best method to stop smoking?" There are millions of people who want to stop smoking. The health problems that smoking can cause are well known, but people are not able to quit because of the highly addictive nature of nicotine, which is in tobacco. Common quit smoking aids which replace the nicotine without smoking, include gum, lozenges, and patches. These aids which are referred to as " Nicotine Replacement Therapy Products" do help satisfy the craving for nicotine.

The problem for many is, the habit of smoking is an overall "experience". It's not only the nicotine. The act of smoking gets linked to a pleasurable experience like having a smoke with a good cup of coffee, or after a good meal. The "experience" along with the nicotine, make cigarette smoking an extremely difficult habit to break.

There is a fairly new product on the market that is gaining in popularity. It's called an electronic cigarette and I think it makes a lot of sense as a method to stop smoking. The LUCI Electronic Cigarette is a battery operated cigarette that gives smokers the feeling of smoking a regular cigarette without all the harmful toxins. The electronic cigarette looks and feels very similar to a regular cigarette. It has a chamber that turns pure liquid nicotine into a puff of vapor giving the sense of smoking a regular cigarette, without all the chemicals that are present in regular cigarette smoke. Smokers get the nicotine and the smoking "experience" without all the health risks of cigarette smoking.

LUCI Electronic Cigarette contain nicotine cartridges which are interchangeable and available in different strengths. This allows a person to gradually reduce the amount of nicotine they consume by switching to cartridges with less nicotine content. The cost of electronic cigarettes is much less than regular tobacco products.