Old Habits Die Hard

Smoking is a habit and not an addiction. It’s often a strong habit as it is often associated with fitting in and survival. Pavlov was a Russian psychologist that trained dogs by ringing a bell when he fed them. Eventually, he got to the stage where when he rang the bell, the dogs would salivate and expect food. You see, he trained them well.
As a smoker, this is exactly what you have done. You have trained yourself well to smoke with certain circumstances and triggers. You have trained yourself to smoke when you get stressed, drink alcohol, after meals etc. […]

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Why Shock Does Not Work

At Quit Smoking in 60 Minutes in Capalaba, I have been carrying out my own survey on the effect of the horrible pictures that they put on cigarette packets and the cost of smoking. Both these measures have been implemented to reduce the number of people who smoke.
In almost 100% of the people that I have surveyed, the picture on the pack has made no difference at all. I ask people if they know what the picture is on the pack and does it make them want to give up. In just about all cases, the person does not know […]

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What Do You Want and Why Do You Want It?

If you want to quit smoking or you are considering quitting it is wise to be very clear on why you want to quit and what you want by quitting. At Quit Smoking in 60 minutes in Capalaba I always take time to find this out as it helps to keep you focused on quitting smoking.
I suggest that before you come to a quit smoking session you first write down a list of why you want to quit. This will give you greater clarity and resolve. It is surprising the number of people that come to me to quit smoking […]

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What You Think Is What You Get

What you think is definitely what you get. I often see this when carrying out quit smoking at Quit Smoking in 60 Minutes, Capalaba.
As with all things, what you think can be positive and negative. It amazes me how the majority of clients think negatively when it comes to quitting smoking. Things such as; I’ll have cravings or I can’t deal with stress. If you do think like this, then it is highly likely you will have cravings or won’t be able to deal with stress. When you change the habit of smoking in the subconscious mind, there are usually […]

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Your Smoking Supports Me

I recently had a woman who came to see me to quit smoking. She was prone to skin cancers and had decided to quit smoking. She quit by willpower and chose not to be around her husband when he smoked. Usually, they would go outside and talk and smoke together, but now she chose not to go outside with her husband and smoke.
Her husband had countered this strategy by saying that by not smoking with him, she was not supporting him; he said, “how can you give up smoking when I am so stressed”. The reality is that many of […]

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Sleep Problems

We all know that each person needs to get at least 6 to 8 hours of sound sleep. Sleep is an important factor in our lives. It helps us to rejuvenate our bodies, soothe our tired and aching muscles, as well relax our thoughts, and allow us to wake up fresh and energetic the next day.

It is estimated that 50 per cent of people in Australia, UK and US are sleep deprived to some degree.

At some time, most of us have experienced what it’s like to have trouble falling asleep, to lie awake in the middle of the night listening […]

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Do You Want To Quit ?

Love of Smoking  :

At one stage you probably loved smoking, this love affair might still be strong or you may have realised that you don’t really love it any more.
Your love of smoking may be so strong that you can’t free yourself from it. People love, or think they love all kinds of people, substances or ideas that undermine or help to destroy them.
You may now hate smoking but you have been so locked into the habit that it is just to hard to give up. It’s easier to continue with the old and familiar.
I’m going to make a suggestion […]

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Plain Packaging of Cigarettes

Since the 1st December 2012, all cigarettes in Australia have to be sold in plain packaging.

First impressions in Australia indicated that smokers feel that cigarettes taste worse in plain packaging – an unexpected side effect. The tobacco industry acknowledges that packaging is an important part of the sales of cigarettes. Still, it seems this packaging gives some preconceived ideas of how cigarettes taste.

Studies comparing existing branded cigarette packs with plain cardboard packs bearing the name and number of cigarettes in small standard font found plain packs significantly less attractive. Additionally, research that asked young adults to use plain cigarette packs […]

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Smoking

Die-hard cigarette users claim many benefits to smoking, some are the following:

Peer group acceptance if peers smoke
Performance enhancement in tasks
Concentration
Stress Relief
Some smokers enjoy the taste
Smoking is like a friend

There are issues with most of these perceived advantages. If a smoker attempts to change peer groups, they could find smoking to be a barrier to acceptance. The performance enhancement is minimal after the first few cigarettes a smoker has in their lifetime; from that point on, it is just a perception of enhancement based on the memory of those initial cigarettes. Weight loss and stress relief could be as effectively obtained […]

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Smoking Gun

I came across this story that was in the news.

Two drunks were messing around when one challenged the other to shoot him with cigarette butts. He wanted to see what it would feel like! His friend loaded an antique rifle with cigarette butts, placing black powder behind the butts so that they would be fired from the rifle. He then shot his friend from a distance of 2 metres. The butts penetrated the ribcage of the person who wanted to experience being shot by cigarette butts. He died of three cigarette butts penetrating his heart.

Fortunately, we do not use this […]

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