Category: Cigarettes

Quitting smoking can be a very difficult habit to break. For anyone who make the decision of leaving cigarettes behind, they may encounter some physical and psychological changes but which are always a sign the body is recovering. Those who persevere will find themselves to be much healthier and happier than when they were smoking.

This article will outline both the physical and the psychological challenges that may come along with quitting smoking, and how much healthier and happier people are when they are free.

Physical Symptoms of Quitting smoking

When a person quits smoking, the nicotine instantly begins leaving the body. As a former smoker gradually gets rid of the nicotine, the body can then start to heal itself and shows this adjustment as withdrawal symptoms. These effects are short term, often lasting less than a few days and are nothing compared to the long term health benefits of being smoke free. Some of the noticeable short-term physical effects for those wishing to quit smoking may include:

Coughing

• One of the most common side effects of smoking is having a cough because of the chemicals and smoke particles that come along with smoking.
• When a person quits smoking, the lungs begin to heal themselves, getting rid of the buildup of mucus, irritants and other infectious materials.

This is a positive thing, signaling that the body is expelling foreign matter. After a few days the cough subsides and regular breathing and exercise become much easier.

Headaches

• Headaches are caused by the body attempting to regain balance after sustained nicotine consumption.
• Blood pressure, heart rate and blood sugar levels decrease and oxygen levels in the blood supply start to increase.

This trifecta of factors often cause headaches, but which only last for short period of time. Once the headaches are gone, they should not return and you should feel far more clear-headed than before.

Dizziness and Fatigue

• Adrenaline is released into the brain when nicotine is consumed, and a person’s brain and body become used to this feeling.
• When a person quits smoking and this artificially-triggered adrenaline diminishes, short-term fatigue or dizziness may be experienced.

Within a week of being nicotine free, these symptoms will be replaced by an increased energy level and a feeling of clarity.

Hunger Cravings When Quitting smoking

• Nicotine is a natural appetite suppressant; as the body slowly eliminates nicotine buildups, appetite levels will return to normal.

Within a few days to a few weeks a normal appetite will return.

Psychological Symptoms of Quitting smoking

In addition to the many physical factors that can be experienced in the first few days of transitioning to a smoke-free life, quitting smoking also brings with it psychological symptoms, which can readily be mitigated using methods such as Clinical Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy. Some of these effects include:

The Social Aspect

Fewer people are smoking, and many who do are also looking to quit. As such, it is possible to find that after the initial period, there will be more social benefits to quitting.

Mood Swings

• When you quit smoking, your brain is being deprived of the nicotine that it has become accustomed to. This can cause symptoms such as extreme irritability, anger, panic, and depression.
• Any of these can cause a person’s mood to fluctuate.

After quitting smoking people find they are easier to get along with, generally happier, have a better dating prospects, and an overall heightened euphoria about life in general.

Inattentiveness

• Smoking is a habit, and it is also an activity that fills time. When a person quits smoking they can often feel like they are lost, or that there are blocks of empty time in the day what would have previously been filled by smoking.
• People trying to quit may find themselves feeling like they have nothing to do.
• Smoking is often used as a mechanism to deal with things like stress and boredom, and may now find it difficult to cope.

After quitting smoking, a person’s mind will dwell less and less on smoking and the body will forget the inadvertent habit of physically putting a smoke to the lips. Finding something else to do with the hands and fingers is a key to breaking this habit. This symptom can be easily and significantly reduced with Hypnotherapy, which works by reprogramming the mind, allowing participants to focus on what is really important.

Cravings

The body doesn’t actually crave nicotine poison. What it is craving is acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter that nicotine simulates. Once your body’s production of acetylcholine returns to normal, the false craving for nicotine quickly passes.

Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy

Quitting smoking can feel like an uphill battle when you quit improperly. Quitting smoking greatly increases a person’s life expectancy and overall health throughout their lifetime. The obstacles to quitting are both physical and psychological and will affect the body and mind is various ways. Some of these effects can be quite drastic, and may feel like they will never pass. However, these hurdles are short-lived are a necessary step to getting back to a long and healthy life.

Joseph R. Giove is a certified Hypnotist and Hypnotherapist and wants to help people quit smoking in the easiest, fastest and most painless way possible. Clinical Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy will help you cope with both the physical symptoms as well as the psychological issues that come along with quitting. This is because Clinical Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy has been proven as one of the most effective ways to quit smoking and also has the added benefit of not using harmful chemicals that are found in many other ways of quitting smoking. With over 25 years of proven experience helping long term and short term smokers of all ages, Joseph R. Giove can help people quit smoking at his certified clinic with proven results.

Smoking anything – cigarettes, pipes, e-cigarettes, cigars and smokeless tobacco, is very dangerous to people’s health. There are many negative health factors when people decide to start inhaling toxic chemicals into their bodies and if you have made this choice then perhaps you are thinking about quitting. Around 7 out of 10 people want to quit smoking, but only 4 out of 10 have made an attempt. This means that thousands of people in the United States want to quit smoking but perhaps do not have the best, if any, information about the most effective way to go about it.

In this article we will discuss some of the different ways to quit smoking, and the effectiveness each.

• Nicotine Replacement Therapy: Also called NRT, this method involves the use of nicotine patches, gums, and other similar products

• ‘Cold Turkey’: Quitting outright with no additional methods

• Prescription Medication: These help suppress withdrawal symptoms and the urge to start smoking again

• Other Methods: These include methods such as Laser Therapy and Acupuncture

• Clinical Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy: Hypnotherapist Joseph R. Giove talks about Clinical Hypnosis and how it can help you quit by dramatically reducing your desire to smoke

Nicotine Replacement Therapy

Patches, gum, nasal sprays, inhalers, and lozenges are all easily available without a prescription and at reasonable prices. For most people, these are the first things they reach for when they first try to quit. The ease of purchase and continued intake of nicotine make these appealing options, but they are not necessarily the most effective. These methods remove the physical act of smoking but still require you to consume nicotine, albeit in smaller doses but the underlying problem remains: you are giving yourself nicotine. Clinical Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy lets you quit smoking without the harmful effects of Nicotine Replacement Therapy.

The patch is a device that when attached to the skin slowly releases low doses of nicotine over the course of the day. This method is particularly useful for smokers who are accustomed to smoking continuously throughout the day, or ‘chain smoking’. Other methods appeal to those who are looking to curb spontaneous cravings throughout the day. These methods, such as gum and sprays, give the user a higher dose of nicotine in one go in order to satisfy cravings and impulses.

‘Cold Turkey’

One of the most popular methods to quit smoking is cold turkey. Most people who choose this method set a quit date, and then simply throw out their cigarettes. Often the subjects will think having just one cigarette to get through a particularly difficult craving can help, when in reality, more often than not it derails the entire process.

One of the most difficult aspects of quitting in this way is the period of time where the quitter may experience extreme behavioral and physical changes. Some of these changes include:

• Irritability
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Constipation
• Depression

Studies show that people who do not use a supplemental quitting method only succeed about four percent of the time. People who use other methods of quitting, such as hypnosis and hypnotherapy, have a much better chance of quitting permanently.

Prescription Medication

Currently there are two doctor-prescribed smoking cessation medications that are available to the public. The first is Bupropion, also known as Zyban®, which works to help reduce your overall cravings and nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

The second prescription medication is Varenicline, also known as Chantix®, which, like Zyban®, helps reduce withdrawal symptoms and the urge to smoke. Chantix® also blocks the effects nicotine has on the body, a kind of fail-safe in case the subject is unable resist, and begins smoking once more.

Both of these prescription medications can be used with the other nicotine replacement methods described above.

Other Methods

Some of the newer and less common methods of quit smoking include acupuncture and laser treatments. Acupuncture is not as well-known as nicotine replacement therapy methods but it is certainly gaining popularity. Acupuncture stimulates the brain, encouraging it to increase production of endorphins which produces a feeling of well-being, which in turn reduces the subject’s cravings for nicotine.

There have been mixed results in the success rates of acupuncture, but most agree that when used with a secondary quitting method, especially clinical hypnosis and hypnotherapy, the patient has a much greater chance of successfully leaving cigarettes behind.

The laser treatment method works in a similar capacity to acupuncture. However, instead of needles, they use a laser beam to stimulate endorphin production. Also, instead of a ‘hot’ laser, they use a ‘cold’ laser to avoid heat damage.

Both of these methods work most effectively when combined with hypnotherapy, allowing subjects to greatly increase their chances of quit smoking permanently.

Clinical Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy

Clinical Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy has the highest success rate and lowest recidivism rate of all smoking cessation methods. However, it is important to seek out an experienced, certified Clinical Hypnotist or Hypnotherapist, such as Joseph R. Giove to ensure maximum effectiveness.

Quit smoking is an extremely important aspect to enjoying a longer and healthier life. It is also one of the hardest things a person can do if they don’t do it properly. The temptations, cravings and withdrawal effects can be more than a lot of people can handle and most can use all the help they can get. Joseph R. Giove is a certified Clinical Hypnosis and Hypnotherapist with years of experience, and a proven track record. His goal is to make quit smoking, using his well-established methods and techniques, as easy and as painless as possible for you.