There are endless good reasons to quit smoking, including reducing your risk of cancer, heart disease and early death. Despite these well-known risk factors, however, many smokers find themselves needing a more personal reason to want to kick the habit; possibly because the threat of “maybe” contracting a deadly disease just doesn’t seem likely (the old, “it will never happen to me” syndrome).
This article is going to share some easy steps to help you come up with your own powerful, compelling reason(s) to quit smoking once and for all.
1) First, take a few moments to jot down on a sheet of paper the negative aspects of how smoking makes you feel. You can include actual physical problems like shortness of breath and fatigue; as well as feelings like embarrassment that your clothing and hair may stink; feeling like an outcast stepping outside to smoke while everyone else stays inside socializing and having a good time; or even your fears, like dying young and leaving your children before your time.
Write down as many reasons as you can, and try to make them reasons that really matter to YOU – not just what other people have said to you or you’ve heard others say before.
2) When you’re done with your list, look it over carefully. Read each item on the list, and really think about how it feels to experience that situation in your daily life. Now choose the top three reasons that are most repulsive to you and circle them.
Take another sheet of paper and write a longer description of each of those three items. For example, if one of your top reasons was “to not die young and abandon my children”, write a paragraph or two about why that is important to you. How would it affect your children if you died before your time? How will your smoking impact them, now and in the future? Will your smoking addiction encourage them to smoke later in life? Continue writing until you feel you have identified your core reason for wanting to quit smoking. This may seem like a morbid exercise, but it can be incredibly powerful. Being a smoker for a long time desensitizes you to the true long-term effects of smoking. This exercise jars you out of the haze of denial.
Now go through this same process for the other two important reasons on your list.
3) When you’ve got your three descriptions written, read them over again. Now take a final sheet of paper and write a description of the opposite outcome. When you do quit smoking, what will happen instead of those other experiences? For example, you might write that you will be around to love your children and grandchildren for many years to come, your kids will be really proud of you for quitting, they’ll be blessed with a healthy, strong parent that has the energy and stamina to play with them, and so on.
Do this for all three reasons you described earlier.
Carry these lists with you and read them slowly each day, really paying attention to how they make you feel. With enough repetition, you will actually begin training your brain to view smoking as an unpleasant, dangerous activity – which will make quitting easier when you decide it’s time.
While this may not remove the discomfort that comes along with nicotine withdrawal, it will certainly help you to stop seeing smoking as a harmless activity and instead see it for what it is: a true threat to your health, happiness and longevity.
If that isn’t enough reason to quit, what is?
Filed under Quit Smoking by on Feb 15th, 2010. Comment. 
Do you know that around 1000 Americans are dying everyday because of smoking?
One out of every six men is dying in United States because of smoking. It is quite clear now that smoking is one of the major causes of death. If you smoke then you are also enhancing the chances of diseases that will end up in death. The major diseases due to smoking are the coronary heart disease, lung cancer, mouth cancer and severe problems regarding throat, bladder, kidney and pancreas. Most of the diseases are so severe that there are no treatments available for them. The severe gangrene problem has been found in the Diabetic patients, who smoke a lot.
Now, this is the high time and you must quit smoking immediately. Do not think that it is impossible for you to quit it, as there are many chain smokers, who have quit smoking. The only thing one needs is the determination and once you achieve your destination then you will feel happy and contented.
Follow these rules and see the results:
Firstly, you need a firm determination of quitting this bad habit. When you have determined firmly, and then decide a date. Now, from this particular date, you will not touch the cigarette determine it firmly.
For a smoker, smoking is one of the essentials. Now you have decided to quit it and to attain the quitting, try some other work at the time of smoking.
As the date of quitting is approaching, try to minimize the intake of cigarettes and the conditions when you smoke. Take a glass jar, fill it with water and drop all the butts of cigarette into it.
Try to concentrate on the advantages after quitting cigarette, in your free time. You will find that quitting smoking have much more advantages than smoking. If one quit smoking then there will be considerable minimization in the risk involved due to heart disease, cancer and other deadly diseases. Earlier you use to get tired up easily, but now you have more power. You will also gain resistance from cough, cold and flu.
Quitting cigarette will also save the money, which you were burning to destroy your health. Put all the money you spend on your cigarette in the glass jar and in one month see your savings.
In the initial phases, nicotine will show its effects. It would be almost impossible for you to handle this temptation. However, try to divert your mind. You will also have to face a lot of problems like headache, irritation and coughing. All these are positive signs. To avoid them drink water, make your hands and mouth busy. Do not bother about them, as they will reduce with the time. During the initial phases of quitting smoking, you may feel anxiety. To get rid of anxiety does not take caffeine drinks, inhale deep breaths and go for walk. The best way to handle the problem is start-doing exercises.
Moreover, quantity of carbon monoxide in your blood will minimize and a considerable increment of oxygen. There will be glow at your face and your skin will turn pink. Your heartbeat will be normal and lungs become clearer.
Your risk to heart attack gradually decreases, if you are not smoking for a year or two.
To make it more interesting, look out for a friend interested in getting rid of it. Both of you can do wonders. Always try to avoid places that encourage smoking. After quitting, many people usually put on a lot of weight. To avoid this, go for an exercise program, eat healthy food and improve your way of living.
Some drugs can replace the harmful nicotine. But, it should not be taken without the advice of Doctor. For instance, Nicotine gum, Bupropion, Nicotine inhaler and Nicotine nasal spray. These drugs will surely helpful in quitting smoking.
Now, you have acquired your destination. It is the time to reward you for your achievement. Get that glass jar and you will be wondered to find the amount you have saved.
Many times, even after quitting people smoke. Do not think that your efforts have gone wasted. You should only consider the advantages of not smoking and start following the path of not smoking. The best thing one can do for quitting smoking is the faith in oneself. Have faith in yourself and you will attain the unachievable.
Filed under Quit Smoking by on Feb 9th, 2010. Comment.
If the answer is yes, then follow the following steps to minimize the risk of heart attack:
1. Take out time to relax and do proper exercises. Cardiovascular exercise is must for people who have already experienced heart attack. Exercise not only reduces the risk of heart attack, it also relives us of tiresome schedule by making us stress free.
2. Be optimist. Never give yourself to despair. Ensure that living unhealthy and unhealthy thinking is one of the main causes of the heart disease. After nurturing positive hopes we will start feeling good about ourselves as well as relieved. You will find yourself on top of the world. Feel yourself enjoying everything.
3. Take balanced diet, full of green leafy vegetables and pulses and drink 8 to 10 glasses of water everyday.
4. Try to associate yourself more with the good habits that determine quality of life and improve lifestyle. Do not take the initiative fast. Slowly try to abstain yourself from bad habits. Healthy habits bring ecstasy, health and make life a pleasant experience.
5. Quitting the worst habit smoking is an essential step to save yourself from the risk of heart attack. Smoking contains nicotine which fills laziness in us and makes us addicted to cigarette. By continuing smoking we are shortening our lifespan. Quitting smoking will help us to take physical fitness regimen. You can start with slow walking, deep breathing as well as cycling. Gradually you will get into habit of a proper exercising schedule.
6. Every one has room for temptations. One must learn to control temptations and longings for bad habits. If once we learn the art of controlling cravings then we will surely ensure our healthy stay.
7. Discover your own ways to enjoy yourself. Laugh whole heartedly. Laughter is an abundantly available medicine that increases the life span and moreover it is natural, free and does not have any side effect so why not to get it?
8. Avoid eating fried and junk snacks and also the food that contains saturated fats. This food stuff increases the cholesterol level in blood. Higher cholesterol is again a symptom of heart attack.
9. In drinks try to avoid red wine, alcohol. These are detrimental to our health.
10. Avoid spicy food. Eating healthy diet helps us to control our carbohydrates, fats and blood pressure.
Filed under Quit Smoking by on Jan 25th, 2010. Comment.
Hi, my name is Karen and I am a non-smoker. Having kicked my addiction to nicotine and cigarettes I am living a healthier no smoking lifestyle. If you would like to be a non-smoker, too, join me on your quest to find the best solution to help you stop smoking.
