craigb
kev11111111111111
This might be a silly question,but whats the point in e ciggies without the nicotine ?? I mean its the nicotine that makes you 'crave' to smoke isnt it ? For me the whole point isnt to totally overcome my addiction,all I want to do for now is say stop smoking after say 8pm and replace the cigs with e cigs. If there werent any nicotine in the e cigs I'd prob go nuts !!!!! Thks for the pointers on brands anyway. I'm using Nicolites,I havent started them yet,but I'm planning to give it a go this evening.
Happy New Year !
First of all, back when I was working on a PhD, I was also doing all the course work to get certified in Smoking Cessation (a very unique hypnotherapy/NLP approach out of the UK with an 86% success rate using only a single one-hour session - most hypnotherapy approachs are only about 40% effective even after many sessions taken over a month or so). As part of the this, I learned a lot about the subject - most of which is different than what the media and tabacco industries want you to hear.
The single biggest point of misinformation is that nicotine is addictive. If it was, you wouldn't be physically able to quit cold-turkey yet millions do all the time. You'd also have to wake up regularly during the night just to have a smoke and you couldn't go for the time required to fly somewhere or watch a long movie (the shaking and sweats would be very noticeable). The easiest proof lies with the nicotine patches people use to help them quit! If nicotine was addictive, then people would start abusing the use of the patches (they don't). So, what is nicotine? It actually is a poison that was used as a pesticide until a safer alternative came along: DDT!
So why do people think that smoking and nicotine are addictive? Because the media tells them so! Most media has been traditionally driven by those with an agenda that try to brainwash the masses into believing that many of the things that are "wrong" are not their fault (when it almost always is). People prefer to think that they are just another victim instead of taking responsibility for their actions (obviously this goes way beyond just smoking). Naturally, the tabacco industries want this myth perpetuated to keep everyone buying their products. The reason you hear smokers arguing that it's addictive even after hearing it's a social habit is pretty easy to understand. It means that they would have to admit to themselves that it really has been their fault and most don't like to do that.
So what IS it if it's not addictive? It's a social habit. Don't take that lightly, many habits are very hard to break without the correct approach. Making and breaking habits consists of creating a program in the brain and both take time - about 30 days (which is exactly why you'll see most programs say you need to continue doing something for a month). Some NLP concepts come into play as well; the biggest one is anchoring. Anchoring is when an action, feeling or thought is attached to something. If done properly, you can anchor the state of mind, emotions, mindset, visuals, sound, smells, etc. to a simple touch on a body part (like pinching an earlobe for example). Atheletes use this all the time to jump into the "zone" on demand. Needless to say, some of the anchors for smoking should be obvious. When you're at a bar with friends, when you have an alcoholic drink, when you're stressed, etc. Some are not as obvious. Because nicotine is extremely bitter, the leaves are usually soaked in a highly sweetened water solution. One of the reasons for the regular desire to go "burn one" has to do with the sugar/insulin response cycle.
So how do you stop smoking? There are several facets to this. First you need to realize that the negative aspects outweigh any perceived benefits. Then you should try to replace the so-called benefits and, eventually, the habit itself with something healthier. Fruit can help with the sugar cravings for example. Many people talk themselves into NOT quitting because they're worried that they will gain weight. What they don't know is that the weight gained comes from two areas: Replacing the habit of smoking with something else that is unhealthy (like excessive sweets) or, more commonly, by water weight. Smoking dehydrates you, especially the skin. Look at the skin of a lifetime smoker and you will notice that it looks very desiccated like a dried out leaf. The water you recover is a GOOD thing (if you think you're overweight after that, then you actually were overweight before it but it simply wasn't showing).
One reason the body may tolerate smoking has to do with breathing. Deep breathing to be exact. If you don't take deep breathes occasionally, the body may opt for the less-than-optimal route of smoking a cigarette. That deep inhale may be polluted, but the body needs it.
As mentioned before, a habit is a program created in the brain that can take up to 30 days to create or destroy. Therefore, the easiest method to short-circuit things is to replace the unwanted habit, with a healthier choice. While what is chosen is up to the person, some suggested replacements include taking relaxing deep breathes, getting up and walking a little, getting a glass of water, grabbing a hand exercise ball, etc. The "work" that needs to be done is to start equating the new habit whenever you get the urge for the old one. You see this in one of the quit smoking ads where a person gets tempted to smoke, but takes a NicoDerm instead. If you examine this, you'll see that what is really happening is that the old response of having a cigarette is slowly being replaced with something else (the taking of the NicoDerm AND avoiding the other social aspects). Since taking something by yourself is not a social habit, the person will eventually stop doing this though, hopefully, the smoking habit programming will have been broken down by then (interestingly enough, a similar parallel can be seen by people buying popcorn to eat while watching a movie - that is also a type of social habit).
One last thing. People who smoke are damaging their ability to smell. This means that they don't realize that they stink after having a cigarette but, since smell and taste are very tied together, it means that food don't taste as good as they should. I've had people who have quit comment about smokers they pass with "Wow, did I smell that bad when I smoked???!" It can take up to a few weeks to get a full sense of smell back after quitting, but I think it's worth it.
Thanks for this post. So to sum up you're saying the addiction is more in the head than in the body. There's probably some truth in this..
The idea of doing something else to replace the habit is a good idea. I drink loads to much coffee too :( And today I decided instead of drinking coffee when I get the urge,I'll try to drink a glass of water instead. Maybe I can find the same thing with smoking.I'm going to try using these e cigs and see how that goes.
I appreciated your post,it was a good read...my apologies for not being able to mention each of your points (dont have the time !!!) but I did find it very helpful.
Thanks again
Kev