SMOKE BLOG

Have you decided to stop smoking? It doesn’t have to be hard! One of the keys for breaking the habit once and for all is to tap into the power of your mind. Here are some tips to help you succeed.

1. Make quitting smoking your number one goal. Rather than having a long list of different goals, make quitting smoking your number-one top priority. By focusing on quitting smoking as your most important goal, you increase your chances of success.

2. Keep the end result in mind. Focus on how much better your life will be as a non-smoker. Think about how you’ll be able to breathe better and your energy level will increase. Imagine all the things you can do with the money
you’ll save each year by not purchasing cigarettes. And most importantly, focus on how you’ll add many; many healthy years to your life, so you can do all the things you’ve wanted to do, spending time with people you care about. Make a long list of all the positive benefits of being a non-smoker!

3. Make it easier on yourself. Think of ways that you can make quitting easier for yourself. Can you quit with a friend or family member? Could you ask a co-worker to go for a quick walk with you on breaks and avoid the smoking area? Could you take a smoking cessation class? Could you learn self-hypnosis? Could you stock up on fruit, veggies, or sugar free gum?

4. Make a commitment to yourself. Plan the date and time that you will smoke your last cigarette. Make this promise to yourself as if your life depends on it. Why? Because it does! Write down the “sneaky tricks” that could try to lure you in for “just one” smoke (you know, the things that have triggered you in the past). Write down your strategy for outsmarting these sneaky triggers.

5. Put your plan in writing. Write down everything you’ve thought of while reading this article, plus any other ideas that you believe will help you to remain smoke free. More ideas: stay away from other smokers for a while; get rid of your cigarettes and ashtrays; ask a friend to call you every day for moral support.

6. Flip off negative thoughts like a switch. Instead of thinking, “This is hard” change it to “Its getting easier and easier”. You could even come up with your own mantra. My favorites: “I take care of health.”; “I can handle this.”; “I can do it!” Have a positive statement you can say to yourself throughout the day to keep you on track.

7. Give yourself rewards. Why not have a quit jar and put all the money that you would have spent on cigarettes in it? You could save up for a tropical vacation or a down payment on that new sports car. Think of a nice reward to give yourself for being smoke free for one day, one week, one month, and so on! Mark them on your calendar so you have something to look forward to.

8. Approach quitting with a “I can. I will. I must.” attitude. If your child or loved one was burning in a building and you were the only one there to get them out, would you just “give it a try?” Would you simply “give it a shot?” Or would you “give it everything you’ve got?” Of course you would do anything and everything, whatever it took. Well, aren’t you worth the same? So approach quitting smoking with the same attitude, because you’re truly saving your own life - you’re worth it!

9. Visualize your way to success. Every morning and evening, close your eyes for a few moments and rehearse in your mind how you will say “no” to any temptations to having a cigarette, and notice how good it feels to be in control of your triggers and urges. Also, picture and imagine yourself as a happy non-smoker for 3 to 5 minutes each day. See yourself as happy, healthy and active doing all the things you love to do.

10. Learn to Manage Stress. Stress is everywhere, and while we think that cigarettes help us to relax, in reality, nicotine is a stimulant to the body. During the first few days of quitting, you will likely have thoughts to have a cigarette when you feel stressed. Learning to take long, deep breaths throughout the day can be a good start. If you can learn to tackle stress, you can tackle kicking the habit much more easily.

Innovative medication: Chantix, the newest stop-smoking drug, short-circuits nicotine’s ability to activate the pleasure centers in the brain, so lighting up is less enjoyable. According to the National Cancer Institute, more stop-smoking drugs (and possibly even a vaccine that makes nicotine unappealing) could hit the market within five years.

A new way to use the patch: A study in Nicotine and Tobacco Research suggests that smokers who start the patch two weeks before they quit may double their success rate. (Talk to your doctor, because this trick risks exposing your body to a dangerous amount of nicotine if you smoke a lot while wearing the patch.)

Starting Early

Pro Smoking Blog

In a growing trend, More employers are testing potential hires to see if they smoke. One such company, Homac Co. the maker of electrical connectors, “has been testing prospective employees for nicotine, just as it does for drugs and alcohol.”

What….? First of all drugs are ILLEGAL so you can maybe understand the need for testing. Smoking on the other hand is perfectly LEGAL. How can the two even compare?

Secondly, alcohol can impair your senses and your ability to work (the same goes for drugs) so you can probably understand the need for testing. Cigarettes on the other hand DOES NO SUCH THING! Since when did you see someone stumbling down the street because they smoked a cigarette?

Putting nicotine in the same sentence as drugs and alcohol is an insult to my intelligence.

In the same news story it states “the company has been weeding out smokers and promoting a wellness program for other workers to control double-digit increases in health-care costs.”

Well, what about fat people? Can it not be argued that people who are overweight are a burden to the healthcare system? Are you going to test their cholesterol levels and deny them a job if they don’t meet your criteria? And who will set that criteria?

Sorry mam, but your too fat. Now you go on home and eat your twinkies cause your not working for me….

Are you going to give people a test to see if they ate ice cream and potato chips? Can I sue the ice cream and potato chip companies because their products have denied me a job? Can I sue Big Tobacco because they “hooked” me on their product which has denied me a job. Better yet, can I sue the prospective employer instead?

What a can of worms this can open in a lawsuit happy country such as ours.

Where does it all end?

The same news story states: “We got a lot of people telling us it was not fair. But is it fair to cut benefits for everyone because of a personal choice? And smoking is a personal choice.”

Well being gay is a personal choice too. You can choose not be gay if you want. Can I deny someone employment because they are gay?

Being anti-war is a personal choice. Can I deny employment because I don’t agree with their anti-war stance or because of their political affiliations?

Conversely, if I am an employer, can i hire smokers only and deny non-smokers employment? Hey, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander… right?

Where does it all end?

Fat people, gay people, whatever people can sue for discrimination for being denied employment. Any discrimination lawsuit smokers may bring will most likely be laughed out of court. It’s just the way our society is right now.

The masses have been dumbed down and brainwashed by politicians, special interest groups and the media into accepting the treatment of a class of people (smokers) as inferior and have in effect relegated us to leper status.

We have trouble getting jobs, or places to live because of smoking. We can’t smoke in social settings outside of our home. We are kicked out to the street in rain, snow and sub-zero temperatures just to have a smoke. We are scammed out of our hard earned money (cigarette taxes) to pay for the services of the majority…

I don’t know, how discriminatory can you get?

Where does it all end?

Concentration Camps…?

errrrr…. excuse my political incorrectness. I meant to say…

Health Camps?

Taken from the Pro Smoking Blog

You CAN quit smoking. Quitting smoking has immediate as well as long-term benefits for you and your loved ones. The resources listed below discuss the benefits of quitting and provide helpful guidance.

For additional support in quitting, including free quit coaching, a free quit plan, free educational materials, and referrals to local resources, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669); TTY 1-800-332-8615.

What’s in a Cigarette?
Your body gets more than nicotine when you smoke.

There are more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke. Some of them are also in wood varnish, the insect poison DDT, arsenic, nail polish remover, and rat poison.

The ashes, tar, gases, and other poisons in cigarettes harm your body over time. They damage your heart and lungs. They also make it harder for you to taste and smell things, and fight infections.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Reducing Tobacco Use: A Report of the Surgeon General. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000.

Those of you who smoke have double the risk of dying from coronary heart disease (CHD) as do those who have never smoked. Your risk for stroke is also doubled. The risk of developing CHD rises with increasing exposure to cigarette smoke, as measured by the number of cigarettes smoked daily, the total number of years one has smoked, the degree of inhalation, and how early in life one started smoking. Smoking in conjunction with other risk factors such as low HDL cholesterol and/or hypertension dramatically increases CHD risk. Women who use oral contraceptives and who smoke increase their risk of myocardial infarction by approximately tenfold. cigarette smoking has been found to elevate the risk of sudden death syndrome significantly.

Smoking cigarettes causes 1,000 Americans to die each day. It is the single most important preventable cause of death in the United States. One out of every six deaths in the U.S. is related to smoking. In 1990, 26% of all Americans smoked cigarettes. Chances are you are a smoker, have been, or know someone who is a smoker.

When any chemical addiction is broken, there are actually 2 phases that need to be overcome. First, the chemical addiction is usually overcome by the 3rd or 4th day of being without cigarettes, although the craving for nicotine can last in some individuals for 2 to 4 weeks. Then the psychological addiction (or habit) must be overcome. this is usually the longest phase of recovery - old habits are hard to break! Withdrawal symptoms include; anxiety, irritability, trouble sleeping, lack of concentration, tiredness, dizziness, headaches, coughing, constipation, and hunger.

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