Ways To Quit Smoking - Separate The BS From The Facts

Many state governments have curtained smoking in public areas. Numerous professional companies have declared their work environments to be smoke-free, and are penalizing workers for smoking while working. Persons who smoke subject themselves to cold weather and the elements, and smoke away as hurriedly as they are able so that they can return to work.



In some communities, smoking is a behavior as controversial as using illicit drugs. Since the public has become so educated about stop smoking benefits, numerous smokers are making a strong effort to identify ways to stop smoking.



Smoking habits consist of three elements:



1. People smoke for relaxation and pleasure. This makes up about 45% of the smoking habit.



2. People also smoke because they unconsciously associate agreeable environments or behaviors with cigarettes. Then, every time they get into that environment, they get a craving. One example of this is when a person strongly associates drinking coffee with smoking a cigarette. Every time they get another cup of coffee, they strongly crave a cigarette. This makes up about 45% of the habit.



3. The final reason people continue to smoke is that they become physically addicted to Nicotine. This makes up about 10% of the habit. If a person stops smoking, the body actually metabolizes all of the Nicotine in as little as three days!



A number of methods are designed to assist individuals find ways to quit smoking. The least expensive way to stop smoking, covered through most insurance agencies, is the nicotine patch. Easy to apply, each patch is used for 24 hours and can be easily hidden underneath a person's clothing. The problem with these patches, however, is that this method is not very effective. Because patches only treat the physical addiction, which is responsible only about 10% of the smoking habit, their success rate is only 7%.



Nearly the same success rate is experienced by persons who use nicotine gum or lozenges. Less than ten percent of the persons who attempt these methods will report success with these ways to quit smoking for as long as six months. In addition, these products sometimes cause side effects. These nicotine replacement therapies, are sometimes bothersome to the users' mouth and lips, and numerous users report skin irritation at the site of the patch. Again, nicotine replacement therapies only deal with the physical addiction, which only makes up around 10 percent of the problem.



A different strategy is the implementation of psychotherapy and smoking cessation sessions. Such classes include behavior modification techniques together with detailed information concerning the negative results of smoking. These approaches are three hundred percent as effective as nicotine replacement products; about one-fifth of those who try these programs will succeed in quitting for at least six months.



several smokers have utilized laser treatment programs to help quit smoking. This technique is sometimes covered by insurance, even though it is new. Clinical studies done by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, reveal that these sessions are no more effective than placebo. (Placebo is the effect that occurs when individuals believe they are taking therapy, but in reality are not.)



Another of the ways to quit smoking has demonstrated slightly more benefit than formerly used techniques. In one study, smokers were given shots to help them stop smoking by taking away the pleasurable effects of the nicotine rush. This method, in the preliminary stages of testing for benefit, thus far appears to be effective for 15 percent of the persons who used it.



Hypnosis is a different strategy for assisting people to stop smoking. Hypnosis deals with teaching the subconscious mind to automatically substitute other activities to create relaxation and peace, in place of the nicotine dependency. It is also utilized to erase or "extinguish" conditioned behaviors such as the association noted between cigarettes and activities mentioned earlier, so the smoker is relieved of the desire to smoke when in the places that previously trigger it.



Male patients seem to have better results with stop smoking hypnosis than female clients do. One positive aspect of self hypnosis stop smoking, however, is that, unlike persons utilize nicotine replacement as approaches to stop smoking, there are no adverse side effects.



One other helpful characteristic of hypnosis is that it treats the 90% facet of the problem that is psychological, as opposed to the other approaches that merely attack the 10% element of the problem that is physical. These facts cause hypnosis to have a much greater effectiveness than the previously mentioned methods of smoke cessation. Customary hypnotherapy methods can yield a 35% chance of success, while Ericksonian hypnosis can deliver a fifty percent or higher effectiveness.



A newer, innovative, and certainly more effective method that helps people to conquer a smoking dependency is Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP. This approach is far more beneficial than traditional styles of quit smoking hypnosis as it does not require users to rely on post-hypnotic suggestions at all. The majority of clients, particularly people who are critical thinkers, resist post-hypnotic suggestions. With NLP, the unconscious is trained to focus on the identical cognitive processes that are creating the psychological dependence on cigarette use, to eliminate it!



A well thought out NLP smoking cessation program offered by a certified NLP Therapist can offer an effectiveness rate of as high as 70% or more.



Summary: The majority of smoking cessation methods try to use nicotine replacement products as ways to stop smoking. Some therapies, such as smoking cessation and cognitive or behavioral treatment courses, attempt to assist the mind discover ways to quit smoking.



Although hypnotherapy works more effectively than other methods, especially with male patients, most people do not rate it as the most effective way to stop smoking. NLP, which treats the mental facets of nicotine dependency, actually assists individuals to alter their mental patterns and assist them stop most effectively.



Because 90% of an individual's struggle with addiction to cigarettes is psychological, these methods are incomparably more successful than merely giving the person nicotine and coping with the 10% element of the habit that is physical.



Conclusion: A wide range of smoking cessation sessions, such as nicotine replacement treatments and psychotherapy have been developed. These methods often are often successful for less than one-fifth of those who attempt them. Unlike these programs, hypnosis has a much higher probability of success. NLP works even more effectively in helping people to successfully fight against the mental component of their addiction and find much more success as they work to become smoke-free.