It’s No Smoking Day today!
Are you prepared and ready to stop smoking today?
Or are you not ready but this might be your helping hand to make a step closer?
Here’s a range of information about why you should quite smoking, and how you should do that!
Why you should quit smoking?
It’s very well know knowledge these days of the negative effect cigarettes have on your health. You can’t even buy a packet of cigarettes now without the warnings and pictures all over the box. But many people choose to ignore the warnings thinking they’ll quit before it has a lasting affect. So we’re going to spell out some of the key reasons why you should quit today:
- Head – hair loss, loss of hearing, cataracts, loss of sense of smell.
- Brain – increased risk of stroke, headaches.
- Mouth and Throat – Gum disease, tooth loss, diminished sense of taste, cancer of lips.
- Lungs – Bronchitis, pneumonia, coughs and colds, wheezing, shortness of breath, asthma, cancer.
Four out of five of lung cancer deaths are attributed to smoking. - Heart – Narrowed arteries, thickened blood, aortic aneurysm, angina and heart attack. Smokers are more than twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease as non-smokers
- Circulation – narrowing and hardening of arteries which can lead to peripheral vascular disease, gangrene of limbs, cold hands and feet, cold skin, and decreased fitness.
- Skin – Slow healing skin wounds, premature ageing and wrinkling, cellulite.
- Bones – Female smokers are more likely than non-smokers to suffer from osteoporosis (loss of bony tissue resulting in brittle bones that are liable to fracture) before reaching the menopause.
- Stomach – Stomach ulcers, cancers of stomach, kidneys, pancreas and the bladder.
- Reproduction system and fertility – Impotence, deformed sperm, reduced sperm count and mobility, testicular cancer, reduced fertility, miscarriage, low birthweight baby, cancer of cervix.
You can read more information about the effect of smoking here:
How to quit smoking:
The vast majority of smokers are addicted, and this is a difficult mixture of both physical additional and the psychological habit people have become accustomed to. To successfully quit smoking, you’ll need to address both the addiction and the habits and routines that go along with it.
We’ve found a very helpful guide on HelpGuide.org which helps talk you through the following:
This explores:
- Why you smoke – what are the triggers?
- The effects of nicotine withdrawal and how to tackle it.
- How to manage cravings
- Preventing weight gain
- What medication and therapy could support you
- What to do if you relapse
Here at the Alma Vale Centre, we can support you with a range of alternative therapies to make quoting easier:
A great number of people find hypnotherapy for smoking an effective treatment. The method works to break the negative behaviours and thinking patterns associated with smoking. The thoughts and behaviours the smoker holds is often what prevents them from successfully giving up.
When a person makes the decision to stop smoking, the key aspect is to let go of the routine and change their perspective of cigarettes. Breaking an addiction like this is a challenge. Many people find changing how they think about something difficult. As hypnotherapy focuses on this change, it is fast becoming one of the most popular forms of treatment.
When considering stop smoking hypnosis, the first thing the person has to do is make sure they are choosing to quit for themselves. Hypnosis for smoking has been found to be most effective when the person really wants to quit.
Many people find stop smoking hypnosis is enough to break the habit, while others prefer to combine the treatment with NRT (nicotine replacement therapy) or medication. This helps to tackle both the physical and the mental addiction together. By exploring all the options, a person should be able to find a suitable and effective treatment.
This information was taken from the Hypnotherapy Directory.Org. This and further information about using hypnotherapy to quit smoking can be found here.
Life coaching can work in a very similar way to hypnotherapy’s approach to tackling smoking. Your life coach will explore your smoking habits, and work with you to build up a more positive routine in order for you to tackle this goal in a supported manner.
Again this can be used independently or in conjunction with other treatments such as NRT.
Acupuncture’s approach to breaking the habit is to dealing with the cravings. Our acupuncturist can work with specific pressure points which can help to reduce the cravings you suffers from when needing a cigarette. These pressure points can also be taught to clients so you can use them when at home and at work. Herbs may also be prescribed to help with your cravings.
In addition to the cravings, acupuncture will explore why you smoke. This can often be bought on by stress so acupuncture and herbs can be used to relax you.
You can contact the Alma Vale Centre on 0117 377 1186 or fill in our online contact form. We’ll be happy to offer you more advice on ways to stop smoking.
