Effects of Smoking: Harmful Effects, Serious Illness, Smoking Related Deaths, The Cost of Smoking, Weight Gain, Withdrawal Symptoms, Do You Enjoy Smoking?, The Truth About Smoking, Substitute for Smoking.

Benefits of Quitting: The Benefits of Quitting, Look and Feel Healthier, When you Quit, Turn Failure Into Success, Quit Smoking Naturally.

Harmful Effects

We've all seen pictures of lungs removed from deceased smokers. They resemble something offered at a bad barbecue and pictures like these display the true horror of what cigarettes do to a human body. The problem is that, as with ads on TV that show terminal cancer patients or photographs of gravestones, these pictures of the harmful effects of smoking create fear. And fear is not always a helpful force for becoming a non-smoker. Often it makes smokers reach for a comforting cigarette.

Governments tend to rely on the income from smoking taxation. According to figures from ASH, the UK Treasury earned just over £8 billion in revenue from tobacco duties in the 2002-03 financial year. From an economic point of view, they aren’t really interested in too many people stopping smoking too quickly – there would be a big hole in the budget figures. This isn’t a moral judgment on any particular government, just a harsh economic reality. But what do you think would happen if quit smoking adverts were positive? If they depicted images of happy and energetic ex-smokers enjoying fitness, health and prosperity? In short, if adverts “sold” stopping smoking as positively as they sell washing powder or a new car?

Forget the “stop smoking because it will kill you” approach, and start thinking about stopping because of the positive benefits, such as living longer and enjoying a better quality of life. Do you see the difference? (TOP)

Serious Illness

Smoking is known to cause cancer and heart disease. There are now strong links between smoking and diabetes. There are many other conditions and illnesses that smoking might cause or contribute to.

Don’t you think it will feel great when you don’t need to know about any of this anymore? When you no longer need to weigh up the odds, and wonder about whether lung cancer or emphysema might get you first? This will be the greatest health benefit of all – freedom from anxiety about what smoking is doing to your health. There is no guarantee that you won’t get ill in the future, but it won’t be as a result of smoking, and you will have done your health a huge favor. (TOP)

Smoking Related Deaths

Smoking can be thought of as a slow way of killing you. Cigarettes are full of toxic poisons. Nicotine itself is a toxin, a fertiliser like DDT. Packet cigarettes contain thousands of poisons including arsenic, benzene and carbon monoxide. Our bodies are well equipped to deal with poisons in small amounts and on a temporary basis. This makes us adaptive and is useful for our survival as a species, but make no mistake about it, if you keep introducing these poisons into your body long enough, they will kill you.

If you think of your life expectancy plotted on a graph, your decline towards death will be much steeper than a non-smoker. But not only that, your quality of life will suffer and will not be as good as a non-smoker. The health risks of smoking are more severe the older you are, particularly when you get into your 50s, but it is never too late to give up and start to improve your health.

There will always be an excuse to not give up smoking, an inner voice suggesting negative beliefs, if you don’t genuinely want to give up smoking. Yes, you might be run over tomorrow by a bus, or die suddenly in some other bizarre way, but you probably won’t. Whereas if you stop smoking you are likely to live a longer and better life.

You may wish to question beliefs which harm you – confront them and override them. Ask yourself directly if you really think you’ll get run over tomorrow. The answer will probably be “no”. (TOP)

The Cost of Smoking

According to statistics produced by ASH, based on the cost of main brand cigarettes after the 2003 budget, smoking 20 cigarettes per day for 20 years in the UK will cost you £32,704. Converted into US dollars that's approximately $62,000 (correct conversion in March 2005).

Many smokers claim that money isn't a reason to stop. They have a resistance to engaging with the issue of how much money they spend on cigarettes. Of course, compared to your health, money absolutely is not an important issue, but perhaps you might like to spend a few minutes considering exactly how much money you spend on smoking, and what you could do with it if you stopped.

You have to be very honest with yourself when completing this next exercise. Work out how much on average you personally spend on smoking. Then multiply this amount by 260, to get the amount you will spend over 5 years. Add about 10% to account for inflation, customs increases etc. Then think about what you would like to spend this money on, if you could. A new car, paying off a chunk of the mortgage, a vacation – whatever you want. (TOP)

Weight Gain

Do people put on weight when they stop smoking? If you eat more calories than you burn off you put on weight. When people stop smoking they find very quickly that their sense of taste improves and so you would be forgiven for developing an appetite. But the fact is that the only reason for putting on weight when you stop smoking is if you have given up your willpower.

In this case, you are likely to feel that you are depriving yourself, and therefore you substitute. This means using something else to take over from the smoking habit. If you use food as a substitute, and eat more calories than you burn up, then you will put on weight.

But if you remind yourself of all the wonderful reasons to stop smoking and celebrate the gift of health and happiness then you will have no need to substitute anything. Long term non-smokers tend to be fitter and healthier and to weigh less than smokers. Also with the aid of a stop smoking product you should be able to more easily manage your hunger cravings. (TOP)

Withdrawal Symptoms

This is a very interesting one. Those who make quitting a personal battle, tend to report lots of withdrawal symptoms. These are often quite vague, but common ones include irritability, tension and insomnia. This isn’t surprising – you’re obviously going to be tense, irritable and have trouble sleeping if you are being denied something you really want.

The fact is that if you can get yourself to the place where what you desperately want are such things as happiness, health, personal success, fitness, more money etc, the feeling of being deprived goes away. In fact, you are filled with a feeling of success and achievement. There is nothing to withdraw from. This explains why people stopping smoking the natural way report that they find it surprisingly easy. (TOP)

Do You Enjoy Smoking?

You really should think long and hard about this. If smoking is enjoyable, do you believe that you could explain this to someone else who hasn't experienced it before? You need to be able to persuade a teenager who has never smoked before just what it is that he or she is going to enjoy so much.

You probably know in your mind that being a non-smoker is much more enjoyable than being adddicted to nicotine. The idea of smoking being enjoyable is proably just one of your excuses for not qutting. Be honest with yourself and realize that quitting will be the most enjoyable way to live your life in the long run. (TOP)

The Truth About Smoking

Here's the real truth about smoking. If you haven't done it you can't enjoy it. The enjoyment is not pleasure in the sense of a sensation that can easily be described to someone who has never experienced it. It is simply the feeling of topping up the nicotine that is already in your body. Be honest - the first time you smoked it smelt, tasted and felt awful. It actually still does! Your mind is just disguising the fact from you.

If you don’t believe this, test it out. Stop for a few days and then light a cigarette; you'll soon notice the illusion disappear. But by then, of course, it’s too late as you have put the nicotine back into your system again, and your body will start to ask for more. It’s a vicious cycle. Cigarette companies are very aware of this, but there are some scientific and physical facts they are clearly not keen to publicise. (TOP)

Substitute for Smoking

Look at what you lose when you become a non-smoker; the coughing and wheezing, constantly smelling of cigarette smoke, the feeling of being out of control, not being able to run half a mile, the cost etc. Compare this to what you gain; your sense of taste, your health, fitness, self-respect, and other financial and social rewards.

Why on earth would you want an alternative? You are not losing anything positive when you stop smoking, and everything you gain is good. (TOP)

The Benefits of Quitting

Unless you have done irreparable damage to your health through smoking (which is unlikely and your doctor will be able to tell you if you have), then within several years your risk of major illnesses for which smoking is an aggravating factor will be no higher than that of a non-smoker.

According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), within one year of stopping smoking, your risk of heart attack falls to half of that of a smoker, and after 10 years risk of lung cancer is half that of a smoker. The good news is that although smoking will have an adverse impact on your health, you can undo the damage. So the excuse that you’ve already wrecked your health and so there’s no point stopping is not a valid response.

There is always time for you to work on your health. That time is now.

The even better news is that you don’t have to wait years to see all the good effects of stopping smoking. Your health will start to improve within minutes of stopping smoking as your body rids itself of harmful toxins. Again according to ASH, within 20 minutes of stopping smoking, your blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal. After eight hours, nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in the blood reduce by half, and your oxygen levels return to normal. Over the next few hours and days, you will see other beneficial changes, such as your lungs clearing themselves out and becoming strong again, your sense of smell and taste improving, and your breathing becoming clearer.

You will start to notice even more positive changes within next few weeks and months after stopping. Imagine how you will feel after a year of being a non-smoker! Eventually you can be as healthy as if you never smoked, as your body heals itself. This is amazing – but true. (TOP)

Look and Feel Healthier

Imagine how clean your skin will feel. Your skin, your hair and your clothes will all smell fresher as will your house and your car. A lot of people can't imagine what it would be like to be a non-smoker. Well, unless you started on the day you were born, you've already got plenty of experience of what it was like to look and feel like a non smoker, probably twelve or eighteen years or so, maybe even more, depending on when you started.

Even if your non-smoking days seem like a dim and distant memory to you now, your body will remember feeling well. Remember that putting toxins into your body is not natural, safe or healthy in any way. The body is not designed to take in those poisons and will reward you greatly as you start to treat it well. (TOP)

When you Quit

After stopping smoking, your blood pressure and blood quality will improve immediately. Your body will start to shed toxins. Your circulation will improve and your body will start to return to normal. You will be able to breathe more easily and your health will receive a boost. You will have more money in your pocket every day.

As well as physical benefits, you will also feel more positive, energetic and free. Often, the most significant benefit reported by ex-smokers is the sense of being back in control - no longer at the mercy of a habit which gives absolutely nothing in return. Many ex-smokers go on to achieve other great things once they’ve successfully quit smoking, as they feel that they can now do just about anything. (TOP)

Turn Failure Into Success

There is no such thing as failure when it comes to stopping smoking. There really isn't. If you want to stop, rest assured you will. You may just need to find the right time and the right way for you. Very few people who have achieved something in life manage it the first time – often it takes a few attempts. Ask someone who has stopped successfully and easily and they may well tell you that they had to try more than once.

It’s not a case of failing; just try something different and keep doing that until you stop easily and permanently. The secret is to never stop trying. Tell yourself that you will be a non-smoker. You are 100% confident of this, the only thing you don’t know is when this will happen. But once you decide that it will happen, the pressure is off. (TOP)

Quit Smoking Naturally

People using willpower to give up smoking often don’t do two key things. The first of these is to make stopping smoking a permanent commitment. Rather than saying “I am becoming a non smoker for ever”, and removing all the unnecessary pressures and doubts, people often use such phrases as “I'll give it a go” or, “I'll stop for a week and see how I feel."

How would you feel about making it a permanent commitment, instead of keeping a get out clause in the back of your head? If you make a 100% commitment, then you will actually be under less pressure, not more.

The second key point is about people using their powerful imaginations to help them succeed. In fact people using willpower to quit often actively switch off their imaginations. (TOP)