Blame and Shame of Smoking Cigarettes

Just recently I visited Sri Lanka. It was surprising to see that very few local people smoked cigarettes. The people that smoked were mostly overseas visitors.I asked my guide “why” so few Sri Lankan’s smoked. He told me that several years ago the government had launched a campaign to shame and blame smokers and that it had been very effective. Whilst I don’t advocate such a program I wondered why their quit smoking campaign had been so effective. The only thing that seemed logical was the culture of the people and the country. The government is listened to and it […]

Are You a Good Role Model for Your Children?

Are You a Good Role Model for Your Children?

One of the many reasons why people decide to quit smoking is they are worried they are not being a good role model for their children.

Children look up to their parents and mimic what they do. I have lost count of the number of people who have come to quit smoking because their child has been seen pretending to smoke cigarettes. Young Kids think everything you do is right and acceptable!  For the first seven years of their lives your child has no filters, what you do, say and teach them is ‘right’!  it builds the foundation of who they […]

Study finds tobacco taxes reduce smoking

Raising tobacco prices through taxes could help reduce tobacco consumption in low and middle-income countries, a study published in the Tobacco Control journal has found.

The study compared cigarette prices in 15 low and middle-income countries, including bidis (small, hand-rolled cigarettes in India and Bangladesh). They found large price differences – indicating opportunities to raise tobacco prices through tax adjustments.

A uniform high excise tax ensures a higher price for tobacco products and can reduce the range of tobacco prices available in countries. It’s been found that higher-priced tobacco products result in less tobacco consumption.

Key findings from the study are:
• The average […]

Emotional Smoking

Stress. Woman stressed

One of my clients came back the other day as he had started smoking. He started smoking within 48 hours of doing the quit process. When this happens, it usually happens for one of two reasons: you don’t want to quit or deep in the unconscious mind, there is a feeling that there is a benefit.
After some questioning, it transpired that the client thought that he wanted to quit smoking, but deep in his unconscious mind was an emotional tie to smoking. You see, the client was spending all his money and energy on bringing up […]

Smoking Is My Friend

I’ve recently had a few people that have come to me to quit smoking in 60 minutes in Capalaba that have told me that smoking is like a friend to them. It is always there, and they can get comfort from it.
This is seriously flawed thinking. Smoking will shorten your life, it is often a slow and miserable way to die, it increases your chance of stroke, it increases your chance of cancer and heart disease, plus many other things. If you knew someone that would slowly and surely kill you, would you be friends with them? Of course, the […]

Set Yourself Up for Success

People who want to quit smoking often want to set themselves up for failure, this may be consciously or unconsciously.

When people come to me at Quit Smoking in 60 Minutes in Capalaba, they can tell me all the reasons why they want to quit smoking but very few reasons why they cannot quit smoking.

In their minds, they see smoking is a crutch or a friend. Many people see that smoking as a way to help them destress. Many people from the Cleveland, Wynnum and Manly areas say they cannot handle a stressful situation without smoking. The answer is that you […]

What is Nicotine and Why is it hard to Quit Smoking?

Most regular smokers will agree that a cigarette after a meal is one of life’s simple pleasures. Same with the wake-up smoke, the work-break smoke, the stress smoke and the morning coffee smoke. While smokers will list a variety of reasons why they continue to smoke despite the fact that half of them will die younger because of it, the real truth can largely be boiled down to one fact — they’re addicted to nicotine. Most people know the word, but many may not actually know what it is. Here’s the skinny: Nicotine is a naturally occurring colorless liquid in […]

Cigarette Cravings and the Brain

Within the mind of every smoker trying to quit rages a battle between the higher-order functions of the brain wanting to break the habit and the lower-order functions screaming for another cigarette (Science Daily, Mar 2007)
Brain scans reveal three specific regions deep within the brain that appear to control dependence on nicotine and craving for cigarettes. These regions play important roles in some of the key motivations for smoking: to calm down when stressed, to achieve pleasure and to help concentration.
“If you can’t calm down, can’t derive pleasure and can’t control yourself or concentrate, then it will be extremely difficult […]

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