Smoking is one of the most difficult habits to break. You know that you need to quit, but you find yourself repeatedly reaching for a cigarette throughout the day regardless.
Have you ever felt like smoking isn’t even a conscious choice anymore? For many long-time smokers, the act is second nature. Quitting takes conscious commitment, but even that doesn’t seem to be enough at times.
Hypnosis is one potential treatment to help you learn how to quit smoking for good. By identifying your unique smoking triggers and underlying attachments, we’ll help you break free from the hold that smoking has over your thoughts and emotions.
I’ve helped hundreds of clients overcome smoking through hypnosis. If you’re curious to learn more, read on. These shocking smoking facts may just be the inspiration you need to seek out additional help. It’s not uncommon for people to try quitting several times before it sticks; getting additional support could be the missing link to your recovery.
It can be helpful to remind yourself of what smoking costs you now and how much you can gain by quitting. Beyond the well-known risks of lung disease and cancer, there are other shocking facts about smoking you should know.
#1: You Could Be Losing More Than $10,000 a Year
In Australia, smokers who consume at least one pack of cigarettes per day could spend $10,000 or more every year.
That means a single decade of smoking could cost you upwards of $100,000. Imagine having that in savings, or using it to get out of debt or build your dream home.
There are so many better ways to spend your money than wasting it away on harmful tobacco companies.
#2: You Could Harm Your Loved Ones
Smokers aren’t the only ones at risk of serious health issues. Second-hand smoke can cause cancer, and childhood illnesses and even trigger sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Adults who breathe in secondhand smoke are at a higher risk of developing conditions like lung cancer and heart disease. Women who are around smoking relatives or partners can experience reduced fertility and struggle to conceive.
There is no such thing as a safe level of secondhand smoke. Your habit affects everyone around you at all times. When you give up cigarettes, you’re making an investment in your loved ones’ health, too.
Of course, these intangible effects can still make it difficult for you to commit to quitting. It might be helpful to write a list of your loved ones and keep it in the same place you store your cigarettes. Every time you reach for a smoke, you can be reminded of why you’re giving the habit up. It’s an investment in your family, friends and all the life you want to share with them.
#3: Your Lifespan Decreases Every Year You Smoke
Being a smoker shaves days off of your life one cigarette at a time. On average, a smoker loses about 13 years of life to their habit. Imagine all of the things you could lose just from a daily cigarette habit. Smoking isn’t worth missing out on all the things life has to offer, even if it does bring you some stress or anxiety relief.
Luckily, hypnosis for smoking targets these problems. Rather than simply helping you deal with nicotine cravings, my sessions address the underlying triggers that make you subconsciously choose to smoke.
#4: Cigarette Smoke Contains Over 7,000 Chemicals
Every cigarette is laden with around 600 ingredients that produce more than 7,000 chemicals as tobacco smoke. These chemicals include cancer-causing agents that pass on to people around you. Many of the substances found in cigarettes are toxic and found in other harmful products. These include:
- Arsenic – A common ingredient in rat poisons;
- Ammonia – One of the active agents in household cleaners;
- Butane – A chemical found in lighter fluid;
- Carbon monoxide – The same gas produced by cars;
- Formaldehyde – Embalming fluid used on bodies in funeral homes;
- Lead – A cancer-causing element found in batteries;
- Tar – The very same material used to paint roads
#5: Smoking Can Worsen Your Anxiety
Many of my clients come to me because smoking has become their primary way of handling anxiety. They don’t realize that this coping mechanism has the opposite effect. Smoking creates a habitual cycle of anxiety that causes it to flare up and temporarily resolve based on certain triggers and whenever you smoke.
By continuing to rely on cigarettes to manage stress, you’re training your mind to associate even small feelings of natural anxiety and tension with the need to smoke.
When I help clients learn how to Quit Smoking Hypnotherapy Melbourne, I integrate anxiety work that reveals any underlying relationships and helps them break free from the cycle.
#6: Women Are Targeted by Tobacco Companies
Although there is a gap between the amount of women versus men who smoke, there is a history of marketing campaigns specifically designed to make them appealing to a female audience.
Models are often chosen for their svelte, toned bodies and beauty. Women are subconsciously told through tobacco marketing that smoking will make them thinner, more desirable and grant them an alluring air of mystery.
Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer deaths among women; women are also 22 percent more likely to die from obstructive pulmonary artery disease than men.
The elevated health risks affect every part of a woman’s body, including her fertility cycle and reproductive organs. This makes smoking one of the most self-destructive habits a woman can have.
#7: It Can Cause Bone Loss
Smoking can cause reduced bone density, which results in brittle bones, a higher risk of fractures and breaks, and even negatively impacts healing. Women are more likely to suffer from poor bone density than men, but smoking can cause either sex to suffer.
The physical side effects of cigarettes are well-documented but still largely unknown to many people. Aside from lung cancer and heart disease, there are so many people who don’t realize the more subtle but long-term affects their habit has on their health.
Quitting smoking also lowers your risk of injury, sickness and an early, preventable death. The long-term benefits are just as wonderful as the immediate ones. After 10 to 15 years, your health risks will be as low as a non-smoker’s.
#8: Cigarettes Worsen Your Body’s Stress Response
You might find yourself more on edge and reaching for your cigarettes more often during times of stress. This is because smoking raises your heart rate and blood pressure, two physical symptoms that also jumpstart your body’s natural anxiety and stress responses.
The result is an ongoing, vicious cycle of feeling more anxious and stressed and smoking more as a result. So how do you get out of the endless loop? It starts by tapping into the emotions linked to smoking.
Nicotine is an addictive substance that plays a factor, but physical dependency is a relatively small piece of a much bigger puzzle.
Through a relaxed, deepened state of awareness, hypnosis helps you push past mental barriers and take a closer look at your psychological connection to smoking.
There is no mind control or brain tricks; you’re fully conscious and in control the entire time. I use hypnotherapy to help you gain a deeper understanding of your smoking habits and all of its associated emotions.
#9: Smoking Harms Your Natural Metabolism
Your body’s metabolism is life-sustaining. It converts food into energy through a series of chemical reactions, and it’s essential to proper organ functioning. Smoking alters your natural metabolism by elevating your heart rate. When your heart beats faster throughout the day, you also burn more energy.
Many people who quit smoking experience weight gain; this is a temporary side-effect that can be countered through a healthy diet and regular exercise.
Another silver lining in this situation is the added benefit of stress relief and anxiety management through fitness. You might discover that yoga, jogging or just walking on a treadmill.
The physical shifts might be difficult to handle at first, but you can build a set of mental techniques that help you offset the changes.
Withdrawal, insomnia and weight gain are major concerns that stop people from really tackling their smoking habit. But with the right support and treatment, you can reduce these negative symptoms of quitting and even alleviate some altogether.
#10: Hypnosis Is a Valid Treatment for Quitting Smoking
There are a lot of suggestions online about the best way to quit smoking. Some swear by nicotine patches and gradually weaning off; others recommend throwing away your cigarettes and going cold turkey.
Hypnosis is another popular treatment that actually uses scientifically-supported methods to help you experience freedom from the inside out. It’s not about psychological manipulation as many confuse it with.
Unlike what you see in movies, hypnotists aren’t magicians. We don’t control our clients or make them do anything against their will. Instead, we open up doorways in your mind that might otherwise be difficult or impossible for you to access.
By learning how to change your mindset, you can gain freedom not only from smoking but also all the underlying thoughts and negative feelings that affect your daily life. This is only the beginning.
If you’d like to learn more about hypnosis for smoking, please don’t hesitate to contact me today. I’d be happy to answer any of your questions and fill you in on what a session entails.
