Best Quit Smoking .com

Of course you want to stop smoking. You want to quit smoking more than anything else, and you should! But, you just don’t know where to turn! If your like most, you may have tried patches, gum, Chantix, Zyban and/or hypnosis only to find yourself right back in the clutches of nicotine addiction! You know that your behavior is unhealthy, but you’re afraid to give up your crutch because if you do your emotional distress will worsen, and you just don’t know if you can cope without it! You know that it’s unhealthy to smoke, but you just can’t seem to stop! Unfortunately, smoking cessation programs not only fail to address the root cause of nicotine addiction, but they also fail in excess of ninety percent of the time! But, I’m here to tell you that there is a better solution for overcoming your nicotine addiction; one that doesn’t include patches, gum, hypnosis, psychoactive drugs or nonsense!

WHY YOU SMOKE

As with every type of habitual behavior, I believe smoking is a choice. I also believe that this choice can be broken down into the following two categories

Individuals who occasionally enjoy a cigar or cigarette socially
Individuals that smoke to alleviate their emotional distress and anxiety

Although there is health risks to consider when smoking, individuals that fall respectively into the first category are generally capable of walking away from it without any difficulty whatsoever. Comparatively speaking, this parallels individuals who drink occasionally and or socially. The second category represents individuals who have become dependent on smoking to alleviate there emotional distress and anxiety, whereby making it extremely difficult to achieve smoking cessation, unless they remove the root cause. I am vehemently opposed to labeling anyone since I believe that we are all created equal, but for the purpose of greater understanding these people would fall into the medical community’s definition of a nicotine addict. As we discussed earlier, most physicians, therapist, hypnotists, counselors and smoking cessation experts would have you believe that smoking is caused by a chemical co-dependence and/or that it is a learned behavior. Well, I have a different take on those theories, and I have proven over and over again in my Addiction Recovery Coaching practice that the root cause of addiction is the need to mask emotional distress. These emotional issues are often rooted in the negative patterns of family dysfunction, and smoking is no exception to the rule. Although when it comes to a smoking addiction, the primary type of emotional distress involved is anxiety. In many ways, smoking is used as a coping mechanism for those of us that are nervous, fearful, or anxious about our family, job, relationship, or financial well being. This frantic effort to control life often leads to smoking or a nicotine addiction. In essence, smoking is a crutch! But, why do some people react to the unknown with anxiety while others face it calmly with the belief that things always works out? I believe the answer to this question is twofold. First, some people naturally possess a higher level of coping skills, and second, some people have learned to conquer their fears, insecurities and most important their anxieties!

THE PSYCHOACTIVE EFFECTS OF NICOTINE

As nicotine enters the body, it is distributed quickly through the blood stream and can cross the blood brain barrier in approximately seven seconds. The life of nicotine in the body is around two hours. The amount of nicotine absorbed by the body from smoking depends on many factors, including the type of tobacco, whether the smoke is inhaled, and whether a filter is used. Nicotine’s mood-altering effects vary by report. Initially, it causes a release of glucose from the liver and adrenaline from the adrenal gland, which produces a stimulating effect. However, users report feelings of relaxation, sharpness, calmness, and even alertness. When a cigarette is smoked, nicotine-rich blood passes from the lungs to the brain within seven seconds and immediately stimulates the release of many chemical messengers such as epinephrine (adrenaline) and dopamine a neurotransmitter, which results in enhanced pleasure, decreased anxiety, and a state of alert relaxation. However, as the body adapts it requires increased amounts of nicotine to produce the same effect, whereby creating a trap!

WITHDRAWAL

Many of the proponents of the chemical dependence model believe that when you stop smoking, your body reacts very quickly to the lack of nicotine in your system. They claim that over the course of three to five days, you are likely to experience a number of the following physical symptoms as the toxins are flushed from your body:

Increased irritability, frustration, or anger
Anxiety, tension or nervousness
Restlessness
Difficulty concentrating
Fatigue
Headaches
Trouble sleeping
Increased appetite and weight gain

However, I have seen no empirical evidence to conclusively prove that most people experience the above-mentioned symptoms because of the lack of nicotine. I believe that most of these symptoms exist prior to smoking. Therefore, once you stop smoking the anxiety, restlessness, lack of focus, fatigue, and sleeplessness resurface. The nicotine was merely a masking agent! In essence, smoking is a means by which to alleviate ones anxiety and emotional distress. Think about it for a moment, and ask yourself the following questions:

When you smoke does it calm your nerves and relieve your anxiety?

Do you find it difficult to manage your anxiety without the crutch of smoking?

What has caused your anxiety? What dysfunctional patterns have you learned in the past that have damaged your self- esteem, confidence, or willingness to trust?
Do you find it difficult to avoid worry and to trust the flow of life?

Are you fearful about negative outcomes concerning your relationship, job, or financial situation?

Once you explore these questions, you may begin to discover the vehicle that is driving your smoking addiction!

Overcoming your nicotine addiction is really all about removing the source of your emotional distress, isn’t it? If you could remove the anxiety, nervousness, and emotional distress you wouldn’t need to alleviate it with the psychoactive substance called (nicotine?) Smoking is a symptom of underlying emotional distress and anxiety. Therefore, when you fix the root of the problem smoking becomes repulsive.

Learn how to make your urges to smoke dissolve on the spot! Learn how to make smoking become repulsive to you! Learn how to crush your last pack of cigarettes and walk away forever!

Regards,

David Roppo

The Addiction Freedom Coach

For more information about How to Stop Smoking in 60 Days click on the link below…..

http://www.5stepstoaddictionfreedom.com/products2.html

Electronic Cigarette

Tobacco use is one of the most enslaving as well as unsafe habits that you can end up with. There are various products and solutions these days that will help you defeat the cigarette-smoking dependency. Once you’re willing to quit smoking cigarettes, one of the first things you should do is to learn how to do it without resorting to NRT, also called nicotine replacement therapy.

Nicotine replacement therapy has several negative aspects which might be dangerous for you. You can find many other alternatives that will remove your dependence more effectively and aren’t damaging to your whole system. These choices might even enhance your overall health and well-being.

Nicotine replacement therapy comes in numerous varieties, like gum, lozenges, patches and also atomisers. Each of these variations will supply nicotine to your body without the unwanted effects of tobacco use. Unfortunately, nicotine replacement therapy contradicts the primary objective with regard to quitting tobacco use: your entire body certainly doesn’t require additional nicotine to get the job done. To get rid of the tobacco addiction, you’ll need to avoid nicotine in its entirety. This is the primary reason as to why nicotine replacement therapy solutions and products regularly fall short. Your purpose would be to eradicate your dependency, not exchange one particular method to get nicotine with another.

You should know that NRT is bad for you if you’re with child, nursing your baby or trying to conceive. Also, if you are battling any kind of cardiovascular disease, nicotine replacement therapy is detrimental and shouldn’t be utilised. Another unknown truth is that solutions and products like nicotine patches can present you with adverse effects, such as allergic reactions due to the nicotine pad’s other ingredients. For example, you can be sensitive to the adhesive on the pad, and nicotine chewing gum could be harmful to your teeth. Electronic Cigarette

If you want to stop smoking, there are a number of other strategies that do not involve putting in even more nicotine to your body. Chantix, a pharmaceutical alternative, does not raise your nicotine usage since it actually obstructs it. However, there are several recognised risks when it comes to the use of this specific medication, and it’s also costly if your medical package doesn’t cover it.

People who want to give up smoking could also utilize herbal treatments. Despite the fact that these aren’t authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, herbal treatments also don’t supply nicotine to your system, can include the minerals and vitamins your entire body really requires, and will minimise your interest in smoking cigarettes. A second beneficial element of natural treatments is the fact that these will set you back considerably less.

Herbal solutions can also be just like the products that you may be taking and will complement your overall health needs. These methods infrequently have any adverse reactions, but it’s wise to speak to your doctor ahead of utilizing any plant-based treatments.

It is feasible to give up smoking without needing NRT. Many individuals have reported that all of these alternate approaches are far more successful, and it is always beneficial to select alternatives which are far less detrimental. Electronic Cigarette

25 ways to stop smoking

This is the first part of a pair of articles on why you might want to consider stopping smoking. All the aspects explained here are the negative points you should understand about smoking. The second article (Why Stop Smoking – the upsides of quitting) focuses on the improvements in health that have been found in people who stop smoking

Are you having trouble quiting smoking? There is an easy solution to stop smoking

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‘Hmmm… how to stop smoking the easy way. Who is this guy kidding’ you may be thinking ‘there is no easy way to stop smoking.’ Well I beg to differ. This method worked for me eight years ago and I haven’t as much as touched a cigarette since let alone put one in my mouth. I will tell you the secret later

As you know smoking is addictive and once you’ve began to practice it you will surely continue to do it for a long period. Since smoking is addictive it makes it difficult for people to quit for good. So to quit this nasty habit you first need to have a strong will. Read this article to know how stop smoking herbs can help in quitting smoking

There’s a lot of hype about quitting smoking these days and there are hundreds of products on the market that claim to help smokers quit. But what most smokers really want to know is whether or not those programs those work. Quitting smoking is hard and when someone that wants to quit smoking tried and fails they are likely to start smoking more than they did before. So trying and failing can have serious consequences for a smoker which is why most of them want to know if stop smoking programs really work before they try one

Stop smoking by hypnosis and enjoy life to the full: Hypnosis could be the most effective way to stop smoking there is. Studies have shown that it’s a far more effective method than the common nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) where you wear patches take injections or chew gum to wean you off of the drug. Hypnosis is also a cheaper faster and more natural way to quit smoking

smoking is a habit i bet you wished you never taken up. Now you want to stop this life threatening habit. But you are struggling. No need to worry this article has the answers you needDue to the health hazards caused by smoking there are many people who are ready to quit the habit and they try finding alternate and easy solutions for their smoking addiction. This is the reason there are new products being launched in the market that boast of helping you get rid of your addiction for good. But the best product that aids you in quitting are stop smoking patches – commonly known as Nicotine patches

Nowadays stop smoking herb products have become quite popular in anti-smoking campaigns and the smokers themselves. The main reason they’re getting so much approval and so much notice is that so many other solutions like nicotine patches and gums haven’t worked well enough to get a large number of smokers off the cancer sticks. Read this article to know more about stop smoking herb products

When you examine how long you have been smoking cigarettes and/or using other tobacco products and how much you use on a daily basis now, your decision to quit smoking may be the most important decision you have made in your life. You have finally decided to take control of your life again and become healthy.

Little did you know that when you started smoking quitting would be one of the hardest things you would ever do. Nicotine is absolutely the hardest drug to quit. You really do have some options to look at now that you have decided to quit. Look these options over very carefully.

One of your first options will be to either develop a plan to follow or just stop willy-nilly and see what happens. Developing short-term, even daily, goals will help you on your trek to a smoke-free life. Sticking to your plan will help you endure the irrational beliefs and triggers you will have as you work to succeed in your attempt to stop smoking. These irrational beliefs and triggers will be discussed in a future article.

One of your best options is looking at any aids that may help you quit. You should always talk to your doctor before using any aid to stop smoking. Although people have been known to become “secondarily addicted” to the stop smoking aid, it is highly recommended that you have a way to wean yourself off any aide used. Do try what you want, but be advised that not all aids work for everyone, use your discretion.

The next option you will have is when you quit smoking. Some folks just “stopped” and others picked a date to stop. Choose what you want to do. Although the anticipation of a start date may be what really gets you excited and ready to stop, just stopping will also work if you look at your plan and just charge through. Which ever you do–follow through with your plan!

I the early stages of quitting you may really need to avoid others who smoke and people who are negative to you about your quitting. Your self-esteem or self-worth will be fragile and you may slide back into smoking very easily. Stay with positive people and make sure they are nonsmokers.

The last thing to discuss when you quit smoking is your determination. If you are not determined and committed to quit you will find the road to a smoke-free lifestyle a little more bumpy to travel. These are possibly the two most critical factors in your plan.

Smoking Cessation Information Center. Quit Smoking… With a Little Help From Your Friends…
You’ve decided. This time, you’re really ready to quit smoking. And you aren’t going to take no for an answer.
So, how do you ensure that your determination to stop smoking delivers results that last? How do you convince yourself, and everyone else, that this isn’t just another cold turkey experiment doomed to end in failure, like those other times?
If you’ve tried going it alone or using quit smoking aids like nicotine gum and patches all to no avail, maybe it’s time to try something new… to give yourself a fighting chance. After all, this could literally be the fight of your life.
Do You Need Help to Stop Smoking?
You probably could use some outside help to stop smoking if:

You have tried hard to quit smoking or cut back but haven’t been able to.

You want to stop smoking for good, but just keep puffing away.

You find you need more cigarettes to get the same good feeling you used to get from them.

When you try to stop smoking, you have unpleasant withdrawal symptoms like cigarette cravings, anxiety, irritability, headaches, stomachaches, restlessness, drowsiness and difficulty concentrating.

You have a serious health problem you know is made worse by tobacco use (like heart or breathing problems) but you just can’t quit smoking.

If any of these sound like you, it may be time to ask your doctor about prescription quit smoking aids and how to get the most out of them.
The Facts About Prescription “Helpers”: Zyban and Chantix
There are two main prescription-only tablets on the market being prescribed by doctors to help their patients quit smoking: Zyban and Chantix. They are both nicotine-free products taken in tablet form to help reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms. But they have distinct differences.

Quit Smoking With Zyban

Zyban works on brain chemicals, reducing your urge to smoke and lessening the withdrawal symptoms. This makes it easier for many users to quit smoking and stay quit. You take a Zyban pill twice a day and then decide on a date to stop smoking, usually in the second week of taking Zyban.
Zyban makes the process of quitting easier by minimizing the withdrawal symptoms outlined earlier and controlling your nicotine cravings. Its active ingredient, bupropion, is also contained in Wellbutrin, a prescription anti-depressant.
It’s important to note that Zyban is NOT a magic bullet. It works for about 1/3 of users who were able to quit smoking for at least a month with its help. That success rate drops off over time. Your chances will be increased if you use Zyban in combination with a stop smoking support program or counseling.
Zyban is possibly the best known and most prescribed smoking cessation aid, but a newer product – Chantix – actually boasts a higher success rate.
Quit Smoking With Chantix
Chantix is also a prescription-only medication taken orally to help quit smoking. Like Zyban, it contains no nicotine so if needed it can be used with nicotine replacement products like gum or patches. You take one Chantix for the first three days of treatment, and then two a day until treatment ends.
The documentation on Chantix quotes independent studies that show Chantix is better at helping participants kick the habit: it says 44% were able to stop smoking with Chantix while only 30% quit while on Zyban.
This could be because Chantix is a considerably different product with unique properties. Its active ingredient is varenicline, not bupropion. And it has a dual action mechanism to help stop smoking:

Even though Chantix doesn’t contain any nicotine, it provides the body with some nicotine-like effects that help ease the cravings and withdrawal symptoms.

And Chantix also works to block the effects of nicotine on the brain to reduce the pleasure reward of smoking.

Summing Up
Treatment with both Zyban and Chantix lasts at least 12 weeks, maybe longer if you need additional support to stay off cigarettes. Your doctor is the best person to ask about which product is better for you. He or she will take into account any medical conditions you may have and drugs you currently use to ensure no negative interactions.
If it’s time for you to stop smoking, we can help – with information and with the lowest drug prices on the Internet. Follow these links to get more details and to order online:

Learn more about Zyban here.

Learn more about Chantix here.

When you quit smoking, you will experience a number of symptoms, also called the quit smoking symptoms.

It is quite natural because, your body over a longer period has become accustomed to take in poisons in the form of nicotine, tar and the like. When you quit smoking, and thereby no longer lets those toxins into the blood, the body begins a cleansing of the poison, and that is what might be called quit smoking symptoms.

The symptoms you may experience vary significantly from person to person, but it is important that you prepare yourself for the coming internal fight. The quit smoking symptoms you suffer from will give you an excuse to try to justify that you start smoking again. You must fight against this negative process and stick with your decision to stop smoking.

One thing that is important to remember before reading further, is that I will list the most common quit smoking symptoms, and you will most likely only be able to recognize some of them, but do not worry, it is quite normal.

1. The most normal quit smoking symptom, would be your almost irresistible urge to start smoking again, your body will almost scream for nicotine, and your internal dialogue will be divided between your desire to escape your addiction, and the desire to to stop the unpleasant symptoms.

This symptom is not so hard to get through, a little steadfastness, and you will be over the worst after the first 3-4 days.

2. You’ll also find that you are a little under the weather, in the form of more frequent coughing, mild colds, and other lung and breast related symptoms, it is again quite natural, since your body is cleansing, and restoring its natural functions. In addition to your immune system, being hard at work trying to purge the poison from your body.

3. Your bowels may also provide a little sound from within, as a symptom of you quitting smoking, you may even feel constipated. You have to understand that smoking affects many parts of the body, cleaning out the poisons that smoking have added to your body, have meant it has had to relocate a lot of energy that could otherwise have been spent on many other things, therefore many functions in the body will have suffered from smoking.

4. You will most likely also experience an increased appetite, and a greater desire to stuff your mouth, and if you absolutely have to give into the temptation, look for fibrous food, coarse bread, nuts, grains and prunes could be fine eating, and remember during your quit smoking period, to drink plenty of water, all things will help ease your quit smoking symptoms.

5. Headaches can also be a quit smoking symptom, it is often followed by a lack of focus and concentration, and you will find that you easily become irritated.

Experts believe that headache is due to changes in the blood / oxygen ratio simultaneously with a change of blood sugar levels, caused by the lack of nicotine, all changes the brains normal environment. In time, these levels will return to a normal state, so you may simply arm yourself with patience, plenty of water, and take advantage of medication against the pain for a while

6. Nicotine is a stimulant, and it can affect the way your brain works. When you stop smoking, it may cause a number of changes in the way you are as a person and in how you conduct yourself.

You may also experience insomnia as a result of you quitting smoking, and thereby also feel tired during the day.

7. Irritability, depression, lack of concentration, restlessness, boredom, anger, aggression and general discomfort are all potential quit smoking symptoms, you should be aware of. The good news is that you will only suffer from them for a short period of time, perhaps one or two months.

If your quit smoking symptoms are about to take control over you and you feel you are falling back towards smoking, you should try to remember that your stopping smoking is the biggest single step forward in the direction of better health, you can do. You are not losing a friend, when you quit smoking, even though it may feel like a great deprivation in the beginning, you are actually separating yourself from one of your worst enemies.

This enemy slowly but surely works towards sending you earlier in the grave… Remember it, and hold on to your decision to quit smoking, regardless of your quit smoking symptoms.

herbs to quit smoking

There are many benefits to stopping smoking. Most of the benefits are reductions in the risk of developing some disease or other. These benefits are the reason why you should stop smoking. They wont in themselves help you stop smoking but they will provide you with motivation to go on and learn how to stop smoking successfully

Are you having trouble quiting smoking? There is an easy solution to stop smoking

Click here now to see what worked for me >> Natural stop smoking solution >>

Many stop smoking aids are designed around the principle that one of the most difficult things to deal with in smoking cessation is its side effects. This is why there are a handful of nicotine-based aids – specifically to help the smoker manage the stop smoking side effects better

Smoking is dangerous to our health. It can bring about lots of serious diseases to the body. However many people still choose to continue smoking even though they are fully aware of the negative consequences of this habit. A prime reason is the fact that some smokers are afraid of gaining weight as soon as they get rid of their smoking habit

There is substantial evidence underlining weight gain as the main concern smokers cite as a reason for not stopping smoking. This is amongst the many other excuses smokers give for putting off stopping smoking. Other examples include the inability to cope with stress or a fear that they will not be able to enjoy an upcoming party or their life in general without their trusty cigarettes

What the rising cost of cigarettes and the increasing difficulty in finding public places which permit smoking has not done for millions of smokers clear signs of deteriorating health might

Did you know that nicotine is just as addictive as heroin and cocaine? Most people know that it is addictive but never would have guessed that it would be comparable to deadly drugs as cocaine and heroin

As you know smoking is a very difficult habit to get rid of. Moreover nicotine is an extremely addictive drug that makes it even more difficult for anyone to quit smoking. However we’re not telling this to discourage you from trying to stop smoking. Rather than this is just to give you a realistic view of this bad habit. Read this article to know more about the way of using herbal to stop smoking

Electric Cigs

Smoking is very dangerous to your health. Most smokers feel that there is nothing that they haven’t tried in order to quit. However, they may not be aware of the many natural means available which others have used to finally end this very destructive habit. It is possible to quit smoking, if you devise a plan, cleanse and support the body and use natural methods to curb nicotine cravings.

Most, if not all, people in the United States believe that smoking is unhealthy. Why then do people smoke? The answer lies in the addictive nature of nicotine. Over 80 percent of smokers declare that they want to quit and plan to do so at some point. Even heroin addicts admit that nicotine is truly the hardest drug habit to kick. (Haas, p.964)

Almost one-third of cases of pancreatic carcinoma can be attributed to cigarette smoking. Most lung cancers are caused by cigarette smoking. (Smokers are five to ten times more likely to suffer from lung cancer than nonsmokers). The more cigarettes you smoke per day and the earlier you started smoking, the greater the risk of lung cancer.

Children of smokers have an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory infections and lung cancer. Electric Cigs

“Children of smokers have a much higher incidence and severity of asthma, bronchitis, colds and ear infections. They also have impaired lung development and reduced lung function tests.” American Journal of Public Health, p. 209, Feb. 1989)

If you eat a balanced diet, drink a lot of clean water and take a vitamin supplement daily, you may feel that you are generally healthy. However, if you smoke, this is typically not the case. Heavy smokers do not get as much of a benefit from a healthy diet. Blood levels of Vitamin C are much lower in smokers. Zinc, Vitamin A and folic acid are often depleted in the bodies of smokers.

Now that we have covered just a few of the negative effects of smoking on the body, let’s figure out how to quit – and without drugs! It may come as a surprise to you that there is a way to be free of this horrible addiction without using prescription medication for help. Electric Cigs

If you are contemplating stopping smoking, you certainly have found yourself considering all of your options. If you are like most people interested in smoking cessation, you likely are keen on finding an easy way to stop smoking. By finding an easy or manageable course, you believe that you will enjoy more immediate success when it comes to smoking cessation.

The Lucky Few

You do hear, from time to time, tales of people who do seem to have found an easy way to stop smoking. These people talk of having given up cigarettes “cold turkey.” In other words, these men and women simply made the decision to give up smoking, snubbed out their last cigarette and never looked back.

The reality is, however, that for every person who is able to quit smoking cold turkey, there are dozens if not hundreds of other people who struggle with the whole process and end up taking up the habit again … and again and again.

It’s Not Just About Quiting

One of the fundamental points that needs to be made in regard to kicking the cigarette habit is the fact that stopping smoking really is only a part of the battle – and perhaps not the most difficult part when all is said and done.

Many people really can stop smoking – even in cold turkey style – at least for a period of time. However, the sad fact is that most people simply cannot stay stopped when it comes to cigarettes. For example, on down they road a person may face a particular stressful situation and start smoking again. Indeed, the compulsion to re-start they cigarette habit may stem from something as simple as walking into a room and taking in the faint smell of someone else’s cigarette.

Therefore, while the first step to ending the cigarette habit is stop smoking in the first instance, perhaps the most important element of the process is devising a more concrete method to keep cigarettes out of your mouth in the future.

A Comprehensive Approach to Ending Smoking

If there is an easy way to stop smoking in reality it is a course of smoking cessation that incorporates the use of a number of different tools in the process. This presupposes that by easy it is meant that you are able to stop smoking in the first instance and stay away from cigarettes down the road into the future.

Those individuals that have taken a comprehensive approach to ending their smoking tend to believe that they have devised what might be considered to be an easy way to stop smoking. By taking advantage of some of the various tools that are available to them, they have found that smoking cessation does not have to be unduly painful or frustrating.

In this regard, they can use nicotine replacement products to lessen the withdrawal symptoms associated with ending the smoking habit. In addition, they can develop positive habits and pastimes to substitute for those points in their day to day lives at which they were puffing on cigarettes.

Planning a Long Term Solution

Finally, those people who have enjoyed the greatest success at ending smoking with the least amount of negative fallout are those same people that looked well beyond the last cigarette. These are individuals that developed meaningful strategies to be used in the future. These are individuals that drew upon resources like books and ebooks that provided informational resources to deal with the various challenges that are connected with quiting smoking not only in the first instance but down the road when temptations and a wide range of situations in day to day life arise that can draw a person back to cigarettes.

Behavior Modification: Smoking

Even as a child, I’ve always known smoking was bad for your health. My dad smoked when I was very young, but quit due to the health risks he imposed on his family as well as himself. He quit cold turkey, meaning immediately and solely by himself. He said it was hard, but he got over it. Since then he told me never to smoke. Now I can’t exactly tell you how I picked up smoking, but it definitely started after my 18th birthday when I was legally able to purchase cigarettes. I bought my first pack just because I could, and I smoked them periodically at school, especially when others were doing it, and especially if they were attractive females. This made me think I was cool enough to associate with them. As the months went on, I started getting more and more stressed with school and work, I slowly grew dependent on cigarettes. By the time I was 19, I needed to smoke whenever I studied, worked, or socialized with my friends, because most of my friends were also smokers. I have quit numerous times and succeeded at the goals I’ve set because I would set goals such as not smoking for two weeks, however I have never set a permanent goal due to fear of losing my crutch. For example, I would not smoke for two weeks, what allowed me to abstain was the thought that I can have a cigarette after two weeks.

Tracy Orleans, et al., (1991) conducted a research study on quitting smoking interventions. The study consisted of four groups, (a) the self help group, who were given a standard self quitting guide to quit with no other support, (b) the social support group, who were given the same self quitting guide along with a support guide for their family and friends, (c) the telephone group, who were given the same self quitting material, but with four telephone calls to a counselor, and (d) the control, who were given only tips to quit smoking and a referral to local quit smoking programs. The results of the study were not significant, the quit rates of the control and experimental groups were about the same, the only difference was the way the two groups quit. The experimental groups tended to quit using behavioral requiting strategies (e.g. setting a quit date, switching brands, etc.) while the control group tended to use outside interventions (like voluntary group therapy, nicotine gum/patches, etc). An interesting finding in this article was that heavier, long time smokers were less likely to quit using self help interventions alone, than were lighter, less addicted smokers (Orleans et al., 1991). This may appear like common sense in hindsight, because clearly longer, heavier smokers are more addicted, therefore its harder for them to quit, similar reasoning could be added to the opposite; lighter smokers are less likely to quit because they feel that the health threats are trivial because there is no immediate concern, whereas long time smokers are more likely to be diagnosed with a chronic illness as a result of their smoking, thus forcing them to stop due to their health. Although the former is a finding as a result of the study, the latter was found in my specific intervention, as well as my brief encounter with smokers in the past.

My specific strategy was to monitor my smoking for five days, then implement my plan, which was to smoke one less cigarette a day. Now I only smoked about 4-5 cigarettes a day so my plan was to start with five, then kick it down to zero. Of course, as I’ve stated before I knew this would be easy because my goal for the future was to smoke again. I started my change in behavior smoking five the first day, only three the next day, but then on the third day I was angry at the thought that nicotine was controlling me, so using self control, I smoked no cigarettes on day three. Day four I was supposed to smoke two, but only smoked one at night, this one cigarette at night felt better than any cigarette I had previously smoked in weeks. I wanted this feeling again; I knew it was from nicotine withdrawal. The next three days I went off track of my original plan and smoked one cigarette a night. I used a form of operant conditioning, where “the individual performs a behavior, and the behavior is followed by positive reinforcement” (Taylor et al., 2006). In this case the very euphoric feeling of a nicotine rush is the reward due to a nicotine withdrawal from not smoking all day (which is the behavior). Sure this may not be the ideal goal of operant conditioning, but it did greatly reduce the number of cigarettes I smoked in a day.

This behavior change was only temporary in my mind, as were the past attempts. I chose to monitor my smoking habits because it is probably my most health compromising behavior (aside from riding my motorcycle but I don’t think that is a “health” issue, more of a “lifestyle” issue). According to the text, “smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable death…In the United States, it accounts for at least 430,700 deaths each year” (Taylor et al., 2006) Even without the book, and without the media telling me the negative effects of smoking, I knew it could not be good for me. When I go to sleep just after smoking, I notice my heart rate is very high, anytime I do strenuous physical activity, I always gasp for air after, although I do notice that I can hold my breath longer than many of my non smoking peers. I smoke mainly because the immediate payoffs outweigh the immediate consequences, and because I am human, evolutionary psychology shows that my immediate future is more salient than anything many years ahead (Ornstein, 1991). Sure I can get lung cancer or heart disease in 20-30 years, but that is less salient on my mind, besides I, like many others fall into the false consensus effect theory; I believe that the same health compromising behavior that kills hundreds of thousands a year, probably won’t affect me.

After the twelve day period, I continued with the one cigarette a night, after a few days of that, I went to one every other night. As I am writing this paper, I am down to two a week. My goal is to bring it down to zero, however as I have implied, the thought of being able to smoke in the future is the only thing allowing me to go without a cigarette for a period of time. What worked well in my intervention was that I did not give in to the abstinence violation effect which is “a feeling of loss of control that results when a person has violated self-imposed rules” (Taylor et al., 2006). On a couple of days I gave in and smoked more then I was supposed to, mainly because I was with my smoking friends, a main effect of abstinence violation is relapse, but I made sure I did not by telling myself it was a one time thing and I will continue with my original plan, that definitely helped me from saying “screw it” and continue to my old ways of four to five cigarettes

This intervention has taught me a lot about my specific cues for smoking and I have realized that for the most part it is not a severe addiction for me; rather it is just something to do between classes, lunch breaks, or socializing with friends. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to do this, as I probably would have never monitored my smoking otherwise. Because of this project, I have cut my cigarettes down to only six percent of what I used to smoke, with no signs of relapse, or cravings during the day. Perhaps for the future, I will only smoke when girls hit on me, which is never.

References

1) Orleans, CT, Schoenbach, VJ, Wagner, EH, et al. (1991). Self-help quit smoking interventions: effects of self-help materials, social support instructions, and telephone counseling. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 59(3), 439-448.

2) Ornstein, R (1991). Evolution of Consciousness: The Origins of the Way We Think. New York: Touchstone

3) Taylor, S.E (2006). Health Psychology: Sixth Edition, Health-Compromising Behaviors (pp. 133-148), Health Behaviors (pp. 54-78). New York: McGraw Hill