I feel like an outcast!

These days it’s getting harder and harder to smoke. Not only are there regulations on where you can smoke but society itself regards smoking as seriously anti-social.

More and more people are shying away from people that smoke, almost as if they are outcasts. This attitude is having an impact on smokers in two ways;

They are quitting smoking as they feel left out. It’s quite ironic because usually people started smoking to fit in.
They ignore what society is saying and continue to smoke cigarettes as an act of defiance.

Although smoking is a bad habit I don’t always agree with the way […]

Do you subconsciously want to quit smoking?

The cause and the benefit of your smoking habit reside in your subconscious mind. The reason why hypnosis is so successful in helping people to stop smoking cigarettes is that it addresses the programing in the subconscious mind.

It has been my experience that everybody starts smoking to fit in. This desire stems from the fact that there is safety in numbers and this leads to the subconscious mind thinking that smoking cigarettes is associated with safety and survival.

Interestingly as more and more people quit smoking there is now a subconscious urge to stop smoking cigarettes because you do not fit […]

Quit Smoking and Nicotine

Nicotine is produced by the tobacco plant and can be regarded as a biological pesticide. The tobacco plant produces nicotine in the roots and then exudes it from the leaves to prevent insects from eating the plant.

When tobacco is smoked, nicotine is absorbed through the wall lining of the small air sacs in the lungs. When sniffed or chewed, it is absorbed through the mucous membranes of the nose or mouth. Nicotine can also be absorbed easily through the skin which is the main cause of second hand smoking.

Regardless of how nicotine is absorbed, it enters the bloodstream where it […]

Can smoking cigarettes lead to cocaine abuse?

It has long been thought that nicotine in tobacco products can act as a gateway drug, increasing a person’s likelihood of abusing cocaine and perhaps other drugs as well.
Most drug users report smoking cigarettes or alcohol abuse before trying drugs. This model has been very controversial as to whether smoking, alcohol or marijuana leads to later drug use.
In a current study by Columbia University, New York it was found that mice exposed to nicotine showed an increased response to cocaine. Researchers also studied humans to see if the results from mice paralleled the effect on humans. It was found that […]

Is what they say about quitting true?

Just recently I came across this blog;

“When we quit smoking, most of us go through a fair amount of junkie thinking – the internal battle between our addiction and ourselves. Early on in smoking cessation, the dialogue can seem relentless. It’s often persistent, annoying and exhausting. It is however, temporary, and the less attention you give to unhealthy thoughts of smoking, the better. Thoughts of smoking just one cigarette have been the ruin of many good quitting efforts. It’s important for you to realize ahead of time that these mental contortions are a normal part of the recovery process.”

There are […]

Be grateful for what you have

I was listening to a cd the other day when the speaker said, “be grateful for what you have and work with it”. After reflection I thought that it was a very true and profound statement.

How many of us ignore what we have, to live in the past and the future. In our rush to do this we ignore what we have and keep on yearning for the “good old days” or “if only I had this I could”. The reality is that we all have a set of tools that we can use to make our lives the way […]

I’m Afraid

I had a client the other day for quit smoking cigarettes that burst into tears when I asked him if he really wanted to quit smoking. He said that he did but he was afraid that he would fail. He had tried in the past and he had failed.

Many people who come to see me have failed to quit smoking and then succeeded. The point is that you do not need to be a victim of your history. So called failure is just feedback and you learn from feedback. If you look at your life you will see that you […]

I just can’t Quit!

I have had many people come to me for quit smoking and have said that they have given up drugs, some of them quite hard drugs, but they can’t seem to quit smoking.

I believe that this comes down to the fact that our brains are extremely primitive. As wonderful as the brain is there is still a lot of it that acts as if we are in the caveman times. If you are being chased by a great big sabre toothed tiger then your chances of survival are much better if you are in a group. Because of this there […]

The benefits of nicotine

Scientists have found in the last few years that nicotine may be an effective drug for relieving or preventing a variety of neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Tourette’s and schizophrenia. It might even improve attention and focus enough to qualify as a cognitive enhancer. These results have been found when nicotine has been delivered to the body as a patch or a gum and not by cigarettes or chewing tobacco. 

One of the biggest uses for nicotine has been for quitting smoking and in fact it has been found that nicotine for this is a dismal failure. […]

Does smoking cigarettes help with stress and anxiety?

Many people think that smoking helps when they are stressed or anxious. Is this true?

The answer is yes and no. Don’t know about you but that is not a very helpful answer. Let’s look at this in a bit more detail to understand it.

When you smoke a cigarette the nicotine in the cigarette causes the blood vessels to constrict. This interferes with the blood circulation and your blood pressure goes up. This in turn causes stress in your body so smoking adds additional stress to an already stressful situation. When you quit smoking cigarettes your circulation improves and your body […]

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