Focus the mind to quit smoking

With the with the onset of the Smoking Ban, it is estimated that over 2 million people in England, Wales %26 Scotland will have tried to quit smoking in the second half of 2007. However, even if all of these people managed to give up and stay off cigarettes, that still leaves an estimated 8 million smokers in Britain today.

To give up smoking is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions, with hundreds of thousands trying to quit each year. But the sad fact is that a significant proportion of these people will lapse before the year is out and return to their smoking habit. There are withdrawal symptoms that will be experienced when trying to give up smoking – many people suffer from mouth ulcers, develop a chesty cough and even suffer from disturbed sleep. However as well as these physical symptoms there are also mental side effects that need to be faced – irritability, restlessness and anxiety and it is perhaps these side effects that contribute more to people succumbing to the craving for nicotine more than the physical withdrawal symptoms.

Therefore preparing yourself mentally to quit before you even stub out that last cigarette could be the key to success. Take time to sit down and write a list of all the reasons why you want to quit and then put it somewhere really obvious to refer back to it in a moment of weakness. Decide on a day to quit and make a note – only buy enough cigarettes to last you until that time – “emergency supplies” stashed away will call out to you once you’ve stopped and could be your downfall. Tell your family and friends and ask them to support you, maybe even find yourself a friend who wants to stop as well.

The night before you are due to quit, throw away all your smoking “equipment” – ashtrays, lighters, spare cigarettes – they’ve got to go if you are to succeed. However, perhaps most important of all is to accept the fact that it won’t be easy to give up. If you kid yourself that giving up smoking is going to be a walk in the park then you will be unpleasantly surprised throughout the first few days and you may not have the willpower to see it through. But, if you’re feeling really strong you could try some reverse psychology and view the cravings as a good thing – it’s a sign that your body is starting to recover.

Once you’ve taken the plunge and decided to give up smoking, the key to success is to take small steps. Take each day one at a time and tell yourself you just aren’t smoking for today; it will seem far less daunting than never smoking EVER AGAIN.

Nicotine replacement therapy could work if you’ve been a heavy smoker, but if you don’t want to go that route then distract yourself; drinking water flushes out toxins but also gives you something to do with your hands. Alternatively, go and do something else - ring a friend or go for a walk. Finally, sit those cravings out – the average craving only lasts three minutes and then the urge should disappear.

Once you’ve got this far, you’re almost there and you just need a few techniques to keep you on the straight and narrow. By spotting your trigger points, you can learn to avoid them; so for example if you always had a cigarette with a glass of wine, have a handful of nuts instead so that you have something else to focus on. If you do have a lapse, keep your resolve – it’s only one and you don’t have to have another.

Smoking was a habit, so help to break it by taking up a new habit (but this time, choose a healthy one!) If you think you would benefit from some help as you give up, take advantage of the support that’s out there. There are plenty of support groups for people wishing to give up smoking - both online and offline, and anyone serious about giving up can find details of support groups from their local GP surgery. Additionally, many high street chemists offer help and advice for those wishing to stop smoking. Boots, for example operate their Change One Thing programme, which has an action plan containing advice from experts, to hold your hand every step of the way.

Before you know it, you will start to see the positives – your clothes will no longer smell, your skin may have fewer wrinkles, your smile will be brighter once the cigarette stains start to fade and your heart will be much healthily. So, take a deep breath (if you can!) and declare yourself a non-smoker in 2008.

6 Tips on Performing Addiction Intervention Services

The agenda of “addiction intervention” is becoming a substantial way talking about the issues of drug addiction. In short, this procedure is intended for the administration of drug abuse treatments on the addicted patients and to decrease the harmful effects of the substance to the body of the addicted patient. In fact, the Great Britain government introduced this system in 2003.It is essential to discuss a little something about drug addiction before talking about addiction interventions. It must be kept in mind that drug addiction, or simply addiction, is a complete pathological mode. The addiction results to lots of disorders which involve the progression of drug-seeking behaviors, the vulnerability to deterioration of the bodily systems, and the probability of lagging the natural human ability to answer back in any situation. Interestingly, in the fourth edition of Diagnostic %26 Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or just DMS the levels of addiction are grouped into three major sections. The categories of addiction are apprehension or anticipation, intoxication or binge, and negative or withdrawal effect. These levels depend on the quantity of drugs supplied in the human body. Because of the first cause a person indulges himself into the path of addiction. The second level is the early period of the addiction. The third level implies that the addiction is in the most critical phase and that it needs treatment. And also, the third case indicates that the normal human life is very much hampered.The drugs which are responsible for the addiction, are normally categorized into four different groups. They are stimulants, sleep-inducing drugs, opiates, and the anabolic-androgenic steroids. Among the stimulants, the most important drugs are amphetamine, caffeine, cocaine, and nicotine. Some important sedatives are intoxicants, barbiturates, benzodiazepins (such as alprazolam, temazepam, nimetazepam, and clonazepam etc. Among the opiates, the important ones are morphine, codeine, heroin, hydromorphone, oxycodone, methadone, meperidine, and fentanyl. Lots of drugs are now abused, which are not recommended by any physician.The first thing to keep in mind about the addictive intervention is the fact that this procedure is something that should not be performed alone. In most situations, the friends and the members of the family cannot persuade the person with addiction problems to give up the habit of addiction. That is the reason why a professional is selected to convince him to give up drug addiction. The professional usually assists the patient through many steps. Now, it is essential for the family members and the friends of the addictive person to accompany him to the professional person. Many centers present in each state and provinces these days that provide addiction intervention services without requiring any payment. You just have to to give them a call based on your necessity. The professional who is selected to do the addiction intervention is sometimes called as the counselor. It is known that addiction intervention methods are the collaborative effort of a lot of people. The only purpose of an addiction intervention is to motivate the addictive person to leave the habit of addiction and to head towards healing. Now, it should be mentioned that the addiction intervention is not the method to cure the addicted person or to detoxify the body of the addicted person from the substances he consumed beforehand. The intervention methods can only motivate him to lead a healthy life and to motivate him to receive treatment. Now, there are lots of ways of advising or intervening. There are times when the intervention is accomplished in the comforts of the patient’s home. In this case, the patient is admitted to a non-hospital treatment hub, and his treatments are done along with the intervention methods. There are time when, In some cases, the intervention methods are continued in a treatment center. According to statistics, addiction intervention is the most effective way of drug recovery programs. The patients are known to lead happy lives after undergoing the addiction intervention services for drug addiction recovery.(1) The first thing to do is to call a particular facility that provides the process of addiction intervention.(2) In the second step the counselor will compare notes with the family members and the friends of the addictive person. During that period, he will inquire about the history of the person with addiction problems and all the stories about his addictive nature. They will gather all other details, which are necessary for the intervention. (3) Stage three is the most significant one. In this case, the people who will be included in the entire period of the addiction intervention along with the counselor are picked. The people should be selected carefully. Normally, the team includes the the loved ones of the drug addictive person.(4) In the fourth stage, the outline regarding the addiction intervention is drawn. The outline or plan is chalked after reviewing the information which the counselor collected during the advising period with the family members and the friends of the person with drug addiction issues. The selected group of people also has significant duty in the intervention collaborating with the counselor.(5) In stage five, the course of action is done. The administration and the advising should be faultless and each member of the handpicked group has to assist in this case. If needed, the intervention expert will educate the group members about their duty in the intervention.(6) In the final stage, the outcome is noticeable and the patients will be released from their addictive position.Lastly, it should be mentioned that addictive persons should possess the moral support from their family and their fellowmen to motivate him during the duration of intervention.

Hypnosis Can Help You To Swiftly Quit Smoking

If you are trying to quit smoking, you know how challenging it is to overcome this damaging habit. It is possible however, and half of all adult smokers quit smoking forever. Many smokers succeed in quitting smoking cigarettes by replacing them with different, positive habits without having to suffer through withdrawal symptoms. By far, the most effective and easiest method to quit smoking and achieve this end is stop smoking hypnosis. Stop smoking hypnotherapy is one of the most frequently practiced forms of hypnosis. It is often cited as a tool to stop smoking along with strategies such as nicotine replacement therapy and other popular techniques. It helps end the smoking addiction by combating cravings to smoke, keeping you committed to quitting, and promoting stress relief and relaxation so you will not be tempted to smoke. The smoking addiction contains both physiological and psychological aspects. The physiological addiction is a physical addiction the body develops to nicotine. This aspect of the addiction is what causes the physical withdrawal symptoms that make it initially feel near impossible to quit smoking. However, this is a short, temporary stage in the overall process of quitting the habit, lasting only between three days and one week. By the end of this period of time, your body adjusts to normal, nicotine-free functioning. Based on thirty years of experience, I believe that the physical addiction to nicotine makes up a mere ten percent of the addiction to cigarette smoking.By far, the most challenging part of breaking the smoking addiction is overcoming the psychological addiction, which are the mental and emotional aspects of smoking. I believe this constitutes ninety percent of the smoking addiction. When you develop a smoking habit, you develop an unconscious desire to smoke at certain times, such as every morning after breakfast. This is called a conditioned response. Stop smoking hypnosis works to eliminate the unconscious associations that cause one to crave cigarettes, thereby eliminating the conditioned compulsion to smoke. Hypnosis also helps you stay motivated to quit smoking by strengthening your ideas that gave you the desire to quit smoking in the first place. Smokers get stuck in the ritual of lighting up and smoking. This is why many people who try to quit smoking using nicotine patches or gums alone are unable to successfully quit. They rapidly overcome the physical withdrawal, but they have no replacement or relief for the ritual of smoking, which has become a psychological addiction and comforting source of stress relief. Self hypnosis techniques eliminate this habit and serve as stress reducers as well. As a relaxation tool, hypnosis helps effectively relieve stress and anxiety so you will lose the desire to smoke cigarettes.By adding some effective NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) techniques, quit smoking hypnosis can keep you motivated to stop smoking by training your unconscious to focus on the benefits of quitting. Eliminating tobacco benefits you in a great number of ways. Within days of quitting, body parts damaged by smoking begin to heal, damaged nerves re-grow, and your sense of taste and smell improves. Within weeks, lung function and blood circulation improve. Within one year, your risk of heart disease is less than half that of a smoker. Within five to fifteen years, your risk of having a stroke is the same as a non-smoker. Your risk of death from lung cancer and a number of other cancer risks have decreased, and your risk of heart disease is the same as someone who has never smoked at all.In spite of the dangers of smoking and the benefits of quitting, some smokers never overcome their addiction. For the most part, this is because they’ve never seriously made a decision to quit. Other smokers are often afraid to experience withdrawal symptoms or let go of the smoking habit. However, quitting smoking does not have to be the difficult process that makes so many smokers unwilling to even try quitting. Hypnosis is a very simple, natural technique for quitting. Hypnosis for quitting smoking is a powerful tool for crushing cravings for cigarettes, providing powerful motivation, and promoting relaxation and stress relief to completely eliminate the psychological aspects of the smoking habit. Stop smoking hypnotherapy techniques can be learned from specialized self-hypnosis CDs that have been developed after decades of experience using hypnosis, Neuro-VISION video hypnotherapy, and NLP to get clients to quit smoking.Hypnotherapy CDs make it easy to quit smoking forever because they break the smoking habit in a process that helps extinguish cravings and the desire to smoke. Whatever your motivation is for quitting, hypnotherapy makes it easier to focus your mind on these reasons, which makes you feel a strong urge to quit. Stop smoking hypnotherapy CDs eliminate the impulse to smoke. Even though quitting smoking can be a painful and unsuccessful endeavor for some, those who utilize quit smoking self hypnosis CDs have a much greater rate of success because it makes the process a ’slam-dunk’. It is the most effective method for smoke cessation.

After an individual decides to give up smoking, it takes some time for the brain to re-adjust. This period generally takes between two and three weeks to re-adjust. During this time, individuals will have strong cravings to start smoking again. Besides the period that is required for the brain to re-train itself, individuals will also have cravings related to the nicotine that remains in the body even after people have stopped smoking. It usually takes nicotine about 100 hours to leave the body. During this time, individuals will have withdrawal symptoms that will make it difficult to quit smoking. There are also psychological cravings that will last long past the time that it takes for nicotine to leave the body and the brain to not associate smoking with pleasure. For some individuals, smoking simply becomes a habit that has become ingrained in their lifestyles. It will require some thought and creativity to replace this bad habit with something more healthful. Some ideas include chewing gum, eating hard candy, going for a short walk, or reading something inspirational. Quitting smoking is very difficult. Health experts believe that smoking is just as addictive as hard drugs such as cocaine or heroine. The cravings can be quite intense and are both physical and psychological. It takes a period of 2-3 weeks before the brain retrains itself not to crave nicotine and about 100 hours before nicotine is cleansed from the body. This combination makes the first month of attempting to smoke quite excruciating. Most people who attempt to keep smoking, usually will try and fail a few times within the first three months. This is the period of time where the cravings are extremely strong. If individuals know this from the onset, they will be able to take measures to put safeguards in place so that they don’t go back to smoking. They may want to start up a new hobby or exercise program to keep their minds off of the cravings. If an individual can make it through this period, they should be successful in quitting smoking. They will need to create a plan prior to them quitting so that they are not overwhelmed when the cravings hit. If they do this, then they will have a much higher chance of actually kicking this harmful habit.

Ways to quit smoking There are probably no less that a hundred ways to quit smoking, and all have various levels of success depending mainly on the sheer will-power and desire of the tobacco smoker to actually quit once and for all. Most smokers start off by going the old tried, and rarely successful, ‘cold turkey’ method of quitting their habit. Problem with this method is unless the smoker can usually take off about an month or so from work and hermit-ize himself, or herself, from the world at large then the world at large is in for a rather bumpy ride with the smoker trying this method. Friends and co-workers will find themselves either avoiding the smoker in an effort to not get their heads bitten off or ganging up and shoving the jonesing smoker in a room with a pack of cigarettes and locking the door in hope that the person gets a clue. Another method that seems to have had better results for many nicotine junkies is to use the nicotine patches or gum to get the nicotine to satisfy the addiction until they can wean themselves from it without fugging up every area around them and creating a load of disgruntled non-smokers who would prefer not to inhale the second-hand smoke. Hypnosis is another method with varying degrees of success. This method treats not only the physical addiction but the psychological addiction many smokers have. It is this psychological addiction that keeps a vast majority of smokers from ever quitting. The act of smoking and drawing the smoke into the lungs is associated with comforting ones-self. This is very like the way people use food as a comfort tool when things get stressful. Finding an alternative to tobacco is another way that many have quit smoking tobacco while still keeping that psychological comfort. There are many alternative smoking blends on the market today. All of them are tobacco free and generally consist of a blend of legal psychoactive herbs that calm the body and mind to help the person break the physical nicotine addiction if not the psychological addiction.

Due to the large-scale harm meted out by smoking on human beings and the environment as a whole, numerous efforts have been initiated in order to curb the prevalence of smoking addiction. Smoking has been prevalent in the human society from a very early period and it is very hard to determine the exact circumstances that initially developed cravings for nicotine in the minds of human beings. When man was first introduced to nicotine addiction, he was not aware of the harmful effects of smoking. During that period, man was not knowledgeable enough to identify the disastrous effects of smoking and most particularly, at that time science was also not well-developed to ascertain the killing effects of smoking in the human body.

Slowly and gradually, man got hooked to this widespread addiction and with the passage of time it has almost become an urgent necessity for man. Even though there are people who are not addicted to tobacco smoking, still they are also harmed tremendously if they are exposed to passive smoking. Smoking is omnipresent in every nook and corner of the world. But unfortunately, even after being very well aware of the harm and destruction that is inevitable due to smoking, human beings are undeterred and are the least bothered to fight off this very harmful and at the same time, equally powerful addiction.

Efforts have been initiated from all quarters to help man ward off the addiction of smoking but the results that have been yielded so far are not that satisfactory. The bans on smoking that are considered to be favorite worldwide in reducing the prevalence of smoking, have been helpful to a certain extent in saving innocent people from the grip of passive smoking effects. But altogether, they have not yielded high success rates in encouraging people to quit smoking. Interestingly, most of the smokers are willing to give up smoking but sadly enough most of them are lacking in will power. Parting ways with nicotine addiction can be difficult and painful like parting ways with one’s beloved.

The extreme dependency on the addiction overwhelms the smoker and he hopelessly kneels down before the addiction.

Apart from the lack in will power being responsible for quit smoking failures to a certain extent, the smoking awareness programs have also failed considerably in encouraging people to give up smoking. They have been close to being non-existent as far as encouraging smokers to give up smoking is concerned. The bans and the expensive smoking awareness programs are going nowhere as far as persuading smokers to give up smoking is concerned.

In such a situation, when a whole array of attempts has failed to trigger off smoking cessation, medical science has emerged to be a gift for the smokers. Medical science, a boon for smokers has provided a lot of assistance to human beings so that they can successfully combat smoking addiction. It invented the concept of quit smoking drugs such as chantix. You can buy chantix as soon as you get hold of chantix prescription. Many people prefer to buy chantix online as the drug is easily available over the internet and in addiction sometimes one can even avail of discounts also while buying chantix from the net. Alongside the quit smoking drugs, medical science have also come up with other ways to minimize the large-scale addiction to smoking and other tobacco substances. They are, namely, safe nicotine products and safe tobacco.

Quitting Smoking: How even the heaviest smokers can successfully kick the habit!

The First Time

Wouldn%26rsquo;t it be nice to go back in time to your first cigarette and instead of taking a drag, you put the cigarette down and say %26ldquo;No thanks%26rdquo;!! Wouldn%26rsquo;t it be nice to have a second chance and stop the chain of addiction before it even has a chance to start? Do you remember your first drag? You probably didn%26rsquo;t even like it and it may have even made you sick. Well until science comes up with a way for us to travel back into time, this unfortunately is not an option for you. But what if I told you that there is a way for you to have that second chance? Would you be interested in taking it? I am sure most of you would say yes, but express some skepticism about this second chance that I am proposing.

Dirty Little Secret

Well, first of all you know that smoking is not good for your health, but yet you continue to smoke. Maybe even your friends or your family have asked you to quit, maybe even nagged you about it and referred to cigarettes as coffin nails or remarked how you smell like a dirty ashtray. Have you found yourself having to sneak in cigarette breaks in a vein effort to hide your habit from your friends, family and co-workers? And believe me, it is in vein, everyone smells it on you and/or your breath despite the breath mints, spraying on cologne, or flapping my shirt thinking that I was eliminating the smell. I thought I was being really sneaky, but I was really only fooling myself.

Nicotine Substitutes

Then there are nicotine patches and gum that most of us have tried along with other nicotine substitutes with %26ldquo;substitute%26rdquo; being the key word here. How can you break yourself free from a substance that you are addicted to by substituting one source for another? You don%26rsquo;t see alcoholics substituting bourbon for vodka as a means for getting over their addiction so how can we expect nicotine gum and patches to help smokers. Sure you are not inhaling tar and other dangerous byproducts with the use of nicotine gum and patches, but these products do nothing to address the real issue and that is the addiction to nicotine.

Relaxation %26amp; Stress

Other products try to make you feel calmer and attempt to put your body into a more relaxed state of mind as another means of stopping smoking. However, people feel the urge to smoke when they are nervous just as much as they do when they are relaxed so how is a product intending to make you feel more relaxed going to help you to quit smoking? People don%26rsquo;t smoke because they are nervous or stressed; they smoke because they are addicted to the nicotine.

Second Chance

By this point, you probably think I have not painted a very rosy picture for you and that you are destined to be a smoker for the rest of your life. Well what if I told you that I could provide you that second chance I mentioned earlier? No, I can%26rsquo;t send you back in time to your first cigarette, but I can tell you about how you CAN get a second chance.

Chantix

What am I talking about? I am talking about Chantix, a non-nicotine prescription medicine from Pfizer. So who am I and what do I know about smoking anyway? I am an ex-smoker and someone who smoked for many years. I knew smoking was not good for me and yet I continued to smoke despite all of that and against the wishes of my friends and family. I tried all of the smoking cessation products, but always found myself smoking again. That is, until I found out about Chantix. It%26rsquo;s hard to describe how Chantix works, but the best way to describe it is that it gives you a second chance. It breaks the chain of nicotine addiction and allows you an opportunity to start a new life free of cigarettes.

How Chantix Works

Chantix is a pill, which prevents nicotine from reaching key receptors in the brain thus preventing the production of dopamine. Dopamine delivers feelings of pleasure, but the effects are temporary resulting in the craving for more nicotine. With Chantix, the short-term feelings of pleasure you receive from smoking are slowly eliminated over time. The effects are very subtle and you continue to smoke while taking Chantix until the pleasure you receive from smoking eventually disappears. Eventually smoking becomes futile and you don%26rsquo;t even bother to light up anymore.

Chantix %26amp; Your Wallet

I have been a big advocate for Chantix and I have passed the word on to some friends who have tried Chantix and who successfully quit smoking. Others whom I have spoken with have cited the cost of Chantix as a reason for not trying it. My health insurance company covered the cost of Chantix so cost was not a factor for me. I have researched the cost of Chantix and I put together the following scenario. We%26rsquo;ll assume the cost of a pack of cigarettes to be $4.50. That may be high or low depending upon where you live, but for this example we will use it as an average. I have also assumed the monthly cost of Chantix to be $100/month and that%26rsquo;s the cost without insurance coverage. The Chantix program runs for 3 months so lets look at the impact of cost over a year%26rsquo;s time.

Cigarettes per day 20 30 40

Packs per day 1.0 1.5 2.0

Cost per pack $4.50 $4.50 $4.50

3 Month Cost of Cigarettes $405.00 $607.50 $810.00

Chantix Cost $300.00 $300.00 $300.00

Total 3 Month Cost $705.00 $907.50 $1,110.00

9 Month Savings (No Cigarettes) $1,215.00 $1,822.50 $2,430.00

Full Year Savings $510.00 $915.00 $1,320.00

Wow %26ndash; just look at that savings!!! Especially if you smoke two packs a day, the amount of money you save each month could equal a car payment depending on where you live.

Habitual Changes

Other feedback I have heard from smokers about quitting is the fear of their life being severely impacted by quitting smoking. They feel that smoking is so integrated into their every day lives that they fear what their life might be like without cigarettes; that morning cigarette with their coffee, that cigarette after lunch, after dinner, etc. How long does it take you to smoke a cigarette? Two, maybe three minutes? Do you really think your life is going to be that impacted by those brief portions of your day? You actually gain a few more minutes in your day if you think about it. You can go for a walk instead or just find something else to do with those extra minutes in your day.

Change is Good!

Remember change is a natural part of life and it should be embraced and not feared especially when the changes you make better your health and increase your life.

Talk to Your Doctor!

Talk to your doctor about Chantix to see if it is an option for you. Don%26rsquo;t let your fears of how your life will be without cigarettes control the decisions you make. You are in control of your life and you can not only overcome your fears but also your addiction to nicotine. Take the first step towards a better healthier life and call your doctor today! Check out Chantix%26rsquo;s website for more information!

Smoking addiction is now spread all over like an epidemic and the very basic hurdle that we face in combating the addiction of smoking is that a huge portion of the smoking addicted men and women are illiterate and live below the poverty line. Smoking is equally common among the richest and the poorest. The anti-smoking measures reach out only to the educated sections of the society. They generally fail to transcend the boundary beyond the lower middle class. Even the ban on smoking and modern anti-smoking measures such as the quit smoking drugs like chantix fail to reach out to the lower strata of the society.    

However, bans are more often implemented in places commonly frequented by the affluent and educated sections of the society and as far as chantix is concerned, it is noteworthy that people prefer to buy chantix online. Chantix, also known as champix in the European countries and several other prescription-based quit smoking drugs can be easily procured from various online resources after getting hold of chantix prescription. Chantix is most popular among all anti-smoking medicines for which majority of the smokers buy chantix to do away with their nicotine addiction.

Quit smoking drugs is an option that is non-existent to victims of poverty until and unless government authorities decide to distribute these drugs for free of cost or at a highly subsidized rate which is not a possibility in the near future. Awareness against smoking is the only means that is workable in helping people to get rid of smoking addiction. Until and unless the grassroot section in the society is made aware of the hazards of smoking and attempts are initiated to help them give up smoking, there won’t be significant improvement in getting rid of smoking addiction. 

The difficulty is that though anti-smoking measures are very stringent and effective in the developed countries, the scenario is not all that same and impressive in the under developed and the developing countries where the majority is poverty stricken. In these countries, the anti-smoking measures are not that effective even amongst the educated sections of the society. The thought of taking these measures to the grassroot level is still a distant dream in these countries.

Smoking is nonetheless a cheap addiction. Almost everyone can afford to take a puff. This is one of the reasons for which it is so common among the poverty-ridden people In addition, addiction to smoking kills the appetite and as such most of the people living below the poverty line take to smoking. Not only the smoking of cigarettes is a prevalent addiction but also any form of tobacco intake is very much common among these people and especially among those living in the third world countries.

But, unfortunately nothing substantial is being done to minimize the addiction of smoking among these people. There is a pathetic lack of awareness against smoking addiction in the lower section of the society. In spite of making great inroads into the field of IT and regardless of being touted as one of the emerging economies of the world, India still has the highest number of people living the poverty line. The rate of poverty is highest in this country and tobacco addiction in general is quite rampant among the Indian population. Along with smokeless tobacco and cigarette smoking, another form of indigenous cigarette called ‘bidi’ is very common among the lower class Indian population. In some parts of the country, namely the north east, bidi smoking is highly prevalent in comparison to the rest of the country. Therefore, it is not surprising that child mortality, still born babies, early death and high death rates are very common in this part of the country.

Quit smoking laser therapy has been touted as a simple pain free and successful way to stop smoking. However there is some controversay over laser therapy to stop smoking.But first, what is quit smoking laser therapy? Laser therapy to stop smoking has been around for quite a number of years. It is, according to those who practice it, the application of low level laser to the acupuncture points in the body to stimulate the nerve endings which in turn produce endorphins.And this, it is claimed, is a way to help smokers to kick those cigarettes and stop smoking. The release of endorphins help relieve the stressful effects of nicotine withdrawal and make it easier to kick the tobacco habit. The physical cravings are reduced and the stress of the addiction withdrawal are reduced. This low level laser treatment is combined with counselling in most cases, and it is the overall treatment which results in tobacco addiction sufferers being able to quit smoking according to those who offer low level laser treatments for stopping smoking.It is claimed by some practitioners that one half hour laser therapy session can be enough to be successful for getting a large number of people stopping smoking. Others claim no more than a few sessions should be sufficient.It is, of course, quite expensive to undertake this quit smoking laser therapy, given that the actual amount of face to face time is quite limited.I don’t intend to tell you here whether quit smoking laser therapy works or not. That’s for a number of reasons, particularly that I don’t have sufficient evidence to tell you either way. However I do intend to alert you to the fact that there is quite some doubt over the technique, and there are those who maintain that it does nothing at all to assist people to quit smoking.Unfortunately it seems that there is little published and publicly available scientific evidence on the efficacy of using low level laser therapy for stopping smoking. Although the laser clinics claim scientific evidence it is difficult to find any, and they do not offer links on their websites to the papers published by the scientists who have studied this laser therapy. The author has been unable to find any authoritative published studies, and there are plenty of others who claim this lack of any supporting evidence means that, currently at least, laser therapy to stop smoking has to be viewed as unproven.For example, in 2006, the US consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen petitioned the FDA to stop 5 US quit smoking laser treatment companies from claiming that low level laser therapy is successful in helping people stop smoking. It is not approved by the FDA as an anti smoking treatment, although it is as a pain relief treatment.And I document on my website a range of other sources all of which suggest that stop smoking laser therapy is a fraud or close to.Even the companies which market laser therapy will admit to it being “experimental”.For those in the grip of a serious nicotine and cigarette addiction it isn’t easy to find a way forward to combat that addiction and to stop smoking successfully. However anyone who opts for laser therapy as a means to stop smoking should understand that it isn’t currently scientifically proven to work.

A path in the write direction - Some helpful ways to quit smoking

With so much time and effort put into creating campaigns to help Americans quit smoking the progression has not resulted quite well.  Studies have found that 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women still smoke. Leading some to believe that helping Americans in ways to quit smoking are in need of a more aggressive approach.

Kicking the habit for good is what troubles and stands in the way of quitting.  Long term goals become short term results, ending smokers back to square one.  So why do millions still continue to smoke?  The obvious answer to that is the nicotine that all smokers are addicted to but it is the feeling in return that provides smokers the psychological comfort that comes with the many feelings of related stress.

With so many tools, programs and systems many have at their disposal considering quitting smoking is solely based on when you are ready.  Try consulting with an expert or your doctor.  But if you have started today, or at this moment these 10 ways to quit smoking will be a direction to the path of quitting smoking.

10 ways to quit smoking

1.)     Consider counseling:  Smoking is an addiction and any addiction is powerful many times over.  Counseling will provide support and can increase your will power.  You need to attend one on one counseling sessions, group meeting of experts and people that are like minded and that are there for the same reason.

2.)     Try deep breathing techniques:  Some find this one of the most powerful techniques.  Every time you feel the need to smoke try the following three times.

Take in the deepest amount of air you can, simply exhale and release the air very slowly.  Visualization is the key.  You must picture your body leaving its tension as its being released through your energy and body.  Follow through 3 times.

3.)     Start to exercise:  Get up and go to the gym.  Changing your routine can help you jump of the same routine you were in.  Consider jogging and/or walking.

4.)     Writing it down:  You want to take a page, split a line through it and write down good things about not smoking.  Sit for a few minutes and notice how you feel.  Write what you have accomplished.

5.)     Try to stay away from smokers or have anyone close to you stop smoking around you.  You want to be able to kick the habit and associating yourself in a smoking environment will only draw you back to square one.  This is vital.

6.)     Drinking plenty of water:  Flush your system of the nicotine.  Flushing out the toxins in your body and keeping yourself well hydrated will help fight cravings and also will make you feel better.

7.)     Eating smart:  Consider changing your eating habits.  Kick the saturated fats, processed foods, and junk.  You can find foods that actually do exist out there that are the exact same and taste just as good but healthier.  Look for them!

8.)     Sleep:  When quitting smoking your sleeping habits can be erratic, you might not pull a good night of sleep.  Try getting in 8 hours of sleep every night.  Do not eat 4-5 hours prior to bed time.  If needed in the day take some power naps to help keep you focused.

9.)     Smokers usually have certain times in a day that that they smoke.  It is a natural routine of smoking.  You want to try replacing those particular parts of the day with a piece of gum or hard candy.

10.) Re-direct thinking:  If you find yourself thinking of smoking or have cravings, it is your mind that is thinking of such things.  When this happens, you have to try picking a topic or something you need to do tomorrow, errands to run, just pick something and brainstorm it in your head, think about it, re-direct your thought into another branch of thoughts from your initial one.  Doing this occupies your mind.  Do not come full circle back to your thought of smoking.  This can take some control and time but it is not hard.  It is your mind. Control it and direct it.