How to Stop Smoking Easily
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Why You Want to Quit Smoking NOW
Be honest with yourself - smoking isn’t just a habit, it’s an addiction. If you’ve tried to quit and failed, then you have proven the addictive hold of nicotine on your body and your brain.
You hear a lot about the harmful effects of smoke inside your lungs, but an even greater damage occurs in your brain cells. You can stop smoking and reverse the harmful effects of these toxins.
Nicotine is a psychoactive stimulant that impacts brain cells the same way that cocaine or other illegal drugs do. As for the physically painful consequences of nicotine withdrawal, it’s as ugly for your body as detox from alcohol or heroin.
Inhaling carbon monoxide in a closed garage is deadly, yet smokers suck carbon monoxide into their bodies where it joins with red blood cells to diminish the oxygen supply. Smoking is also linked to atherosclerosis, lung damage, cancer, cardiovascular disease, cataracts, pneumonia, reproductive disorders, depressed immune system and hastening the aging process.
Among the 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, each of them separately and collectively is harmful. The harm isn’t just to the smoker. Over 3,000 non-smokers die every year from lung cancer that is a direct result of inhaling second hand smoke. If smoking is deadly, so is living with a smoker.
Is It Possible to Stop Smoking Quickly and Easily?
The longer that a person smokes, the harder it can be to quit. The typical smoker attempts to quit three times before succeeding. Fortunately, there are several options for support in the battle to break free from nicotine addiction.
Nicotine patches are readily available over the counter. These patches are worn on the arm and used to deliver an ongoing amount of nicotine which is gradually reduced over several weeks.
This method can be easier on the body than the “cold turkey” approach to quit smoking. A similar way to get measured doses of nicotine is to use an inhaler or nicotine gum. Both of these methods deal with the oral gratification aspect of smoking.
The inhaler lets the smoker carry on familiar hand to mouth motions. The nicotine gum is less noticeable and easy to use. A similar concept that is gaining attention is nicotine lozenges.
The inhaler, gum or lozenges give the taste directly in the mouth instead of going straight into the blood system as the patches are designed to do.
Some smokers say that the best quick fixes are with alternative therapies like acupuncture, acupressure or massage. Hypnosis has long been used for smoking cessation and works in one session for some people.
You Know Smoking Isn't Smart...
Quit Smoking Aids – What Works Best?
Smoking cessation the cold turkey method is both difficult and potentially shocking to a body that is addicted to nicotine. In fact, it could cause additional physical consequences. Consider that smoking addiction builds up over years and it will take some time to break that addiction.
The quit smoking aids come in several forms and they can be expensive, but not nearly as expensive as the physical damage to the body from smoking. Which method works best? That depends on the person. The research on nicotine replacement (patches, inhalers, gums or lozenges) is erratic at best. Some of the alternative therapies like acupuncture, acupressure or hypnosis work well for some people and not as long lasting for others. Smokers say they would quit if only they didn’t like it so much. For some smokers, changing their beliefs about smoking could be the key to smoke cessation. That would be accomplished with psychotherapy or stress reduction and relaxation training. These methods of cognitive restructuring change the beliefs about needing or wanting to smoke as a way to cope with life stress or as a reward. And it changes a person’s identification as a smoker who spends time and money on smoking as a false necessity.6 Shocking Tobacco Facts:
- Over 50,000 people die in America from SECOND-HAND smoke each year.
- You know those toxic chemicals they use in hair removal products? They're in your cigarettes, too! They also have ammonia in them. Whale vomit is another additive they sometimes use.
- Tobacco kills 36,000 people monthly.
- 1 out of every 5 deaths is a result of tobacco.
- Tobacco causes impotence.
- Every minute over 10 million cigarettes are purchased. Each filter takes between 3 to 10 years to decompose in our environment.
Marijuana Addiction – How to Stop Smoking Weed
As an excuse, marijuana smokers insist that it’s “not a drug.” Yet they can’t kick it, which clearly shows the addictive nature of marijuana. It’s also well known as a “gateway drug” or the way that most drug addicts move up to more dangerous drug abuse.
To stop smoking marijuana is the cut off that pathway that preps the brain cells for a lifetime of illegal drug use. Marijuana use is a sedentary event. Smokers tend to isolate, smoke for hours and fail to eat. As a result they lose weight, but not the right way or the healthy way. Breaking marijuana addiction means that you need to have several nourishing meals a day, even if you aren’t hungry until your body starts to notice appetite again.Get moving – start walking or light exercise. This gives a replacement activity for the hours spent smoking. The exercise also reduces the physical withdrawal pains. Marijuana smokers are lethargic so movement allows them to increase the oxygen to their smoke-starved brain cells. Exercising to break a sweat helps to flush the toxins from the drug and smoking out of the body. Having a sober buddy to work out with and encourage you is an important support for getting over the initial days of withdrawal.PrintShare it! — Rate it: up down [flag this hub]
Have You Tried to Quit Smoking?
Very well laid out articles, well thought out, researched and insightful. I loved the video as well. Keep up the good work.
very informative. keep it up
um with the part about smoking weed it says smokers "fail to eat" which is a lie. if you smoke weed you get the munchies, which means you eat A LOT and actually gain weight.
smoking of weed is generally a social event, with friends in a smoking circle or something to that effect.
and, one last note, weed is NOT the gateway drug everyone seems to think it is, if you want to find a gateway drug look no further than alcohol. first you try alcohol, you love it then you try your first cigarette while drunk then a while later someone offers you a spliff or a hit of their bong and you think to your self "well I like alcohol, i have tried cigarettes and since people say weed is a million times better what the hell, I'll do it" personally I think cannabis should be legalised, or atleast a system based on the netherlands coffee shop system, the system in the netherlands has removed cannabis from the hard drugs it is still accosiated with in places where cannabis is illegal. people try hard drugs for the first time after their cannabis dealer pressures them into trying something else, something "better".
think about it, what was the first thing you tried?
I think the pot smokers are missing the point of this hub. This hub is for those who want to stop smoking, whatever they are smoking. If you think inhaling any kind of smoke is good for you, better research that. The main cause of death in fires is from smoke inhalation. Smoke is smoke - it damages your health. Pot is worse in some ways, because pot smokers draw the smoke in deeper and hold it in longer. Any kind of smoke has all those tars etc that can cause cancer, but the main danger of smoke is heart attack. If you smoke pot regularly and frequently, you are setting yourself up to have a heart attack by age 45. As I say, you don't have to believe me, research it. there are decades of medical research stats on the subject. Pot smokers die younger than tobaco smokers, even.
The good ingredients can be extracted from pot and consumed in other ways. By the way, I believe most drugs should be decriminalized. Let each person decide for him/herself. But if you don't research simple things like "Is smoke bad for you?", you're not thinking, you're just looking for reasons to keep your habit. If you like the effects of pot that much, try making a tea, or cookies, but smoking it a lot will kill you sooner rather than later. I'm dissing "Smoke" here in this hub - that's what it's all about. There are people who want to quit smoking pot, too, you know, and there's nothing wrong with that.
great hub ,keep up the good work...
Josh Tam says:
14 months ago
Nice article. I have a story to share as well. My father was a 3-year smoker, before I was born, or so I was told. He met my mom who hates smoking a lot, like me. She said to him one day: "You don't quit tomorrow, you can stop seeing me."
My dad took my mom to the grand "Tua Pek Kong" temple[1] and swore in front of Tua Pek Kong to never smoke again. Then he really did not smoke one more cigarette from then. Even until now. His teeth turned from yellow back to white. Now he is a strong non-smoker who hates smoking as well.
So, did "love" do the trick here? Hehehe.
[1]Tua Pek Kong is an Asian deity/zen that is highly respected and worshipped.