Cigarette

Smoking is emerging to be one of the major causes of death in the modern world. This is attributed to the growing consumers of tobacco. Tobacco is responsible for the death of 1 in 10 adults all over the world, which translates to around 5 million deaths every year. It is because of this fact that cigarette smoking is now a public health priority.

With the prevalence of cigarette smoking came its adverse health effects on its consumers. Smoking poses dangers directly and indirectly to the public. An indirect public health concern that cigarettes may pose is accidental fire. As for the health risks in smoking tobacco, the disease mainly strikes the cardiovascular system, resulting to heart attack, respiratory tract diseases, and even cancer.

In spite of these risks, the number of cigarette smokers all other the world has not dropped considerably. Though several smokers claim to have been meaning to quit this habit, they just find it so difficult. The fact is that after smoking for quite sometime, quitting smoking will prove to be very hard, but not impossible.

Why is it hard to quit smoking?

Foremost, this is because most smokers become addicted to the nicotine contained in tobacco products. Nicotine has a deadly addictive power. How? When a person puffs a cigarette, nicotine particles find their way to the lungs through inhalation.

From there, nicotine is absorbed into the bloodstream just like the oxygen people breathe. It travels with the blood to the brain where it locks onto certain receptor areas. Dopamine is then released into the brain. This is the chemical that makes the smoker feel a euphoric sensation. Smokers find it difficult to quit because they come to be dependent on this good feeling. And in wanting to experience this repeatedly, this leads to dependence a sign of addiction.

A person who attempts to quit may experience withdrawal symptoms. Topping the bill of withdrawal symptoms is depression. With the absence of the chemical that produces the relaxing feeling, the brain becomes distressed without it. Other withdrawal symptoms from smoking include:

- Headaches, dizziness, and nausea
- Shakes, chills
- Cough, dry throat nasal drip
- Hunger, fatigue
- Constipation, gas or stomach pain
- Insomnia, troubled sleep

Not knowing what to do with their hands is another common complaint among ex-smokers while quitting. Once people get hooked, smoking becomes a big part of their lives. They seem to enjoy holding on a stick of cigarette and puffing on them. And after a long period of lighting up, it becomes a routine. As a fact, humans are creatures of habit. By some force of habit, smokers find themselves reaching for a cigarette and lighting it up automatically without thinking about it.

Certain triggers in the environment may also hamper a smoker’s desire to quit. Things may turn on a smoker’s need for a cigarette. These may be feelings, places, and moods. Even the things done routinely may trigger this craving for a smoke.

For those who have been smoking for quite a while already, they may not realize it but they form some emotional attachment to cigarettes. They find the cigarette calming and comforting during those stressful times. cigarette smoking somehow becomes an extension of their social life, particularly when they are emotionally at the highest or lowest. Giving the smoker a feeling that giving up smoking would seem like giving up a trusted friend.

These are only some of the major reasons why it is hard to quit smoking. But there are also several strategies and quitting techniques that may aid smokers to finally give up on this tenacious habit. Quitting smoking all begins with one’s intention to stop. They must have the will power to overcome the craving for smoke. There are also a lot of quit smoking products in the market. These may also be worth trying. Support groups are proved to be very helpful, too.

Smokers must understand that to quit smoking may take more than one attempt. They must also try several methods before they can finally succeed. Smoking is a stubborn habit because it is closely tied to the acts in the course of people’s everyday lives. Even so, with determination, will power, and a strategy, to quit smoking is not out of the question.

Gaetane Ross
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/why-is-it-so-hard-to-quit-smoking-138799.html

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Many experts believe smoking is only about 10% physical addiction and 90% psychological. Your body will recover fairly quickly from nicotine withdrawals with the worst symptoms usually subsiding in about three days or less. But your psychological dependency on cigarettes can be much more difficult to overcome.

One way to combat this is to do a bit of self-analysis before giving up cigarettes.

Make a list with two columns. Label column one “Why I Started Smoking” and label column two “Why I Want To Quit Smoking.”

In column one, list all the reasons you can remember as to why you started smoking. Was it peer pressure? Rebellion? Did you think it made you look cool? Did it make you feel like a grown-up? Really try to remember the exact reasons why you started smoking and write them all down.

Now look over that list. Do any of those reasons still apply in your life today?

If you’re like most people, you will see that your reasons for becoming a smoker are no longer valid, and are easily outweighed by the risks to your health and your family’s well-being.

So let’s move on to column two…

Why do you want to quit smoking?

This one may seem obvious, but it can be a bit complicated. You really need to take some time and think about this. Don’t just list the obvious health reasons. You’ve been reading the Surgeon General’s warnings for years with little effect, so you need to come up with reasons that truly have meaning for you.

The things most people write down will NOT help you quit smoking…
– I don’t want to get lung cancer. – I don’t want to have a heart attack or a stroke. – I’d like to live long enough to see my grandchildren grow up.

Those are all good reasons to quit smoking… but they deal in “possibilities” rather than in specifics.

Sure you MIGHT get lung cancer, you MIGHT have a heart attack or a stroke, you MIGHT die young and miss out on seeing your grandchildren grow up.

Or, you MIGHT NOT! You’re not likely to break a strong psychological addiction based on what MIGHT happen. Your mind will work hard to convince you that it won’t happen to you! Instead, list health problems that you are already experiencing.

Your list should point out things in your life that you are unhappy about and are STRONGLY MOTIVATED to change. In order to break your psychological addiction, you need an arsenal of new thoughts and desires that are stronger than your desire to smoke.

Here are the types of things you want to put in column two…

Why Do I Want To Quit Smoking?

1. Health Reasons
– I get so out of breath when I exert myself even a little bit. Just vacuuming the house makes me pant and gasp.
– My feet are always cold. This could be due to high blood pressure and poor circulation associated with smoking.
– I have a nasty wet cough and I have to blow my nose way too often. Mucus build-up is the body’s reaction to all the toxins and chemicals in cigarette smoke and could be a precursor to serious respiratory disease. Even if I don’t get cancer, I don’t want to be one of those people who has to tote oxygen bottles around everywhere.
– I’m always tired. Could it be that my body is using up all its energy trying to eliminate the toxins and chemicals from cigarettes?

2. Vanity Reasons
– Smoking causes premature aging and drying of the skin. I don’t want to look like a wrinkled up old prune!
– My fingers, fingernails and teeth are all tobacco stained. Disgusting! How embarrassing.
– When I get on the elevator after a smoke break at work, everyone wrinkles their nose and tries to edge away from me because I reek of cigarette smoke. I feel like a pariah. It’s embarrassing to always be the big “stinker” on the elevator. I feel like I have no self-control.
– My breath is awful. Kissing me must be like kissing an ashtray. I spend a fortune on breath mints.

3. Financial Reasons
– If I save all the money I used to spend on cigarettes, I’ll have enough to take a vacation in Cancun every winter!
– I could use the money to pay off my credit cards!
– I could donate money to my favorite charity or sponsor a child. My cigarette money could make the world a better place!

4. Family Reasons
– My family can stop worrying about me.
– My spouse will have to find something new to nag me about.
– My children will be proud of me and hopefully they’ll never start smoking themselves, having seen first hand what a nasty destructive habit it is.

5. Cleanliness Reasons
– The walls used to be white. Now they’re a nasty dirty-looking brown.
– I stink, my car stinks, my house stinks, everything I own reeks of cigarette smoke. I can’t even lend a book to a non-smoking friend because they can’t stand the smell of smoke permeating the pages.

Do you see yourself in any of the items listed? You may have many more reasons of your own. Find as many compelling and emotional reasons to quit smoking as you can think of and write them all down.

If you can re-train your mind to think of smoking as a silly and self-destructive thing to do, then you’re almost sure to succeed.

Paul Wolbers
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/how-to-beat-cigarettes-with-psychology-51531.html

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