One of the difficulties in trying to quit smoking is that smokers become physically dependant on nicotine. Smoking affects the parts of the brain that relate to reward and pleasure. It increases the amount of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, and the nature of nicotine is that it creates a cycle of positive reinforcement within your brain that makes you want more.

Scientists have found that when you withdraw from chronic nicotine use, it results in changes in these neural pleasure pathways. And the effect on the brain is similar to what someone addicted to cocaine, opiates and other drugs experiences. Hence, depression and anxiety are common.

Fortunately, some resourceful modern herbalists began applying traditional knowledge to a modern problem. In Ayurvedic medicine, common garden variety oats (but not oat straw), is used to treat opium withdrawal. The herbalist Anand, using a tincture (an alcoholic extract of the herb), applied this same reasoning to nicotine withdrawal, with significant results.

In a group of 26 heavy smokers, he gave an oat tincture, and in another group of 26, he gave a placebo. The group who took the oat tincture smoked less cigarettes, and this effect remained for two months after they stopped treatment. The herbalist Weiss theorizes that it is the sedative effect of oats. Oats contain as active constituents the indole alkaloid, gramine, and the alkaloids avenine and trigonelline. Oats are described in herbal medicine texts as helping create a feeling of well-being whilst simultaneously acting as a tonic to the nervous system. But unlike narcotics, these are mild, non-habit forming effects.

My herbal teacher, Ses Salmond, suggested the following formula for those trying to stop smoking. In a 50ml bottle, mix the following herbal tinctures:

• 15ml green oats

• 10ml white horehound
• 10ml mullein
• 5ml golden seal
• 10ml peppermint

Take 6 drops on the tongue whenever the craving to have a cigarette is felt.

Acupuncture is also an excellent support option. HerbMed offers the following herbal option, to be used on appropriate acupuncture points. Mix oil of cloves, oil of wintergreen, an extract of evodia fruit, an extract of sichuan lovage rhizome, and msg, and apply to specific acupuncture points. Unfortunately, they don’t say which acupuncture points, but this may be determined by what each person presents with.

Resources: 1. www.herbmed.org/herbs/herb36.htm
2. Class notes by Ses Salmond
3. C Fisher & G Painter, Materia Medica Of Western Herbs For The Southern Hemisphere
4. R Weiss, Herbal Medicine (Beaconsfield Arcanum, 1988)
5. www.drugabuse.gov/Infofacts/Tobacco.html

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One of the best and proven ways to quitting smoking is by making changes to a lifestyle that has been hindered by that dangerous and addictive habit. You must substitute your old lifestyle with a new one. Focusing on your new lifestyle allows you to live and visualize the end result – smoke-free, healthy, and vibrant – and not just talk about it.

A very successful way of starting a new lifestyle without smoking is to begin a fitness program.

A fitness programs offers a lot of help for the person quitting smoking. Exercise helps to reduce stress which is a major trigger for smoking with many people.

It will also help to sustain a healthy bodyweight and this can be a fear for people who are prone to put on weight once they stop smoking as nicotine helps to keep weight down.

Statistics have shown that those people who are involved in some form of exercise regimen have a greater chance of triumph when quitting smoking.

The endorphins that are released with exercise are a superior substitute than those that people get from nicotine. One of the main reasons why quitting smoking is so hard for people is because of the endorphins that are released in the brain while smoking. Endorphins are also known as the ‘feel good’ chemical.

The release of endorphins with exercise can bring about a sense of well-being for several hours following your workout.

As your health will begin to progress within 20 minutes from your last cigarette and continue to do so as your body overturns the damage that smoking has done, one of the first things you will notice will be the capacity to breathe more freely.

Being able to breathe more freely will also boost your energy levels and this will also be augmented by the improvements in the ability for the blood to carry oxygen to all parts of the body.

Increased energy makes working out easier and the upward cycle of fitness can bring some exceptional improvements over a relatively short term.

Changing lifestyles to include exercise usually pushes people to make other improvements to their life with superior nutrition and leading a more stable life. The extra money that you will save from not having to buy cigarettes will allow for more options to get the most out of life and experience things that were previously unattainable when smoking was a part of it.

Quitting smoking is not suppose to be life ending; only life changing for the better.

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Smoking is one of the most difficult vice to let go. It is because it is difficult to drop the habit that techniques and devices were created to help smokers in their fight to become smoke-free. It includes the use of smoking aids like: nicotine patches, artificial cigarettes, nicotine gums that help smokers get through nicotine cravings. Some techniques use the help of relaxation exercises like deep-breathing exercises or yoga to help calm a person down during moments of restlessness when withdrawal symptoms attack. And some people find it easy to just undergo hypnosis to get rid of their smoking habits. But how does hypnosis help in the fight to stop smoking?

Hypnosis isn’t just a simple technique wherein a trained professional embeds thoughts into your mind and you’ll wake up wanting to do what they tell you. It also involves positive affirmations and suggestions to back you up on your chosen cause. Hypnotherapy has a particularly high success rate in helping smokers fully quit, making it one of the most commonly sought out treatments for quitting smoking. It is also partly because, instead of focusing on the negative aspects of smoking, it informs the smoker of the positive effects they can enjoy if they stop smoking.

Usually people who use the natural method of quitting smoking complain about the most crucial part of the process, this is the time when withdrawal symptoms start kicking in. These withdrawal symptoms include restlessness, dry mouth, nicotine craving, quitter’s flu, irritability, fatigue, an inability to concentrate, constipation, and a feeling of tightness in the chest. These symptoms are largely a result of powerful conditioned responses. With hypnotherapy as a means to quit smoking, you can do away with the hassles of experiencing these withdrawal symptoms. With hypnosis, we reinforce these conditioned responses with positive thoughts. This means creating new conditioned responses to override those that think you will fail to stop smoking.

Here is an easy and simple way to get yourself started in stopping smoking for good: make a list of all the benefits you can enjoy from being a non-smoker. Close your eyes and imagine your future self where you are no longer a smoker. Let your future self think back on the time line and remember how quick and easy it was for you to stop smoking. Reflect on the wonderful feeling you felt when you realized the one day you’ve let go of the desire to smoke and stopped giving it any thought. Think of how proud you will feel the next time somebody offers you a light and you were able to successfully refuse. Enjoy that freedom and bring it back with you to your present self. To create an anchor for this feeling, press your thumb and forefinger together on your right hand and hold it for about thirty seconds.

After having anchored that new, powerful condition response follow these steps when you feel a craving to have the treatment work more effectively:
1. Take three deep breaths, hold each breath for at least eight counts, and then exhale fully.
2. Drink a large glass of water all at once.
3. Use the anchor you’ve created and have a nice, long moment of peace and quiet.
4. Eat an orange. Oranges have bioflavinoids that combat cravings. The act of peeling an orange also gives your hands something to do, and the smell of the orange is a lot better than that of cigarette.

Hypnosis is more than what we see in television shows or movies. In fact, you cannot make people do anything using hypnosis. The truth is, if someone doesn’t want to stop smoking, they will be even more definite about that during hypnosis sessions! People can always lie during hypnosis sessions, the effectivity of this treatment only depends on a person’s willingness to let go of this habit and finally stop smoking.

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Prolonged use of cigarettes can be habit forming. The chief culprit for this dependence formation is believed to be the presence of nicotine. It is an addictive alkaloid produced by and found in the leaves of tobacco plants. The nicotine content on each tobacco plant is fairly high, as it makes up about four percent of the weight of the plant itself. After being processed, the leaves get to retain about seven to twenty milligram of nicotine per stick. And as the average smoker takes in one milligram of nicotine per stick, it reinforces the body’s dependency to the alkaloid. The question in every smoker’s mind is: How can I stop smoking?

It is difficult to stop smoking. It requires a lot of will power to stay away from lighting a cigarette. It’s bad enough that you have to muster up a tremendous amount of drive to stay away from smoking, you also have to go through the various withdrawal symptoms like anxiety attacks, nicotine cravings, irritation, and an inability to concentrate to name a few. But with the help of modern science and research, there are now a lot of different ways to quit smoking.

Here are six successful ways to stop smoking:
l Stop smoking aids. This doesn’t mean that you can depend on smoking aids to get you through quitting the smoking habit. Smoking aids do nothing more than release small quantities of nicotine into the bloodstream. Smoking aids are good in satisfying the nicotine craving with the dangerous tar and poisonous gases found in cigarettes. However since it still has nicotine, there is a tendency for the smoker to drop smoking but get hooked on the smoking aid.
l Hypnotherapy. This is considered a moderately effective way to let go of the smoking habit. The willing smokers agrees to be subjected to a hypnosis session. During session the therapist will use the method of auto-suggestion to give the smoker will power to quit smoking.
l Alternative therapies. Various alternative treatments have been discovered to help smokers with their nicotine cravings. Among these therapies are: aromatherapy, acupuncture, acupressure, yoga, and meditation.
l Willpower. It takes no less than sufficient will power to get you through the smoking habit. It is nothing but a state of mind, a very difficult state of mind to achieve at that. People who have very little will power may find it difficult to stop smoking. Just remember that if you put your mind to it, you will be able to quit. It also helps to have supportive family and friends around you to encourage you in your fight to quit.
l Counseling. Sometimes even the strongest of will power falters. It is during these times that you would need professional help to back you up on your cause. Counseling is very important for behavioral support. It helps boost up your morale and bring you back on track to your fight to stop smoking.
l Medications. Doctors prescribe certain medications to help smokers quit the habit of smoking. These are either sedatives or relaxants that help control or calm the nerves. This alleviates the discomfort brought about by withdrawal symptoms.

Smoking may make men look macho and women look sophisticated and classy. But there’s more to it than just looking cool. It is important to know that cigarette smoking may become habit forming and addictive before you even start on your first stick. After all, starting is easy, quitting the habit is the hardest part.

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Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death and disability around the world. Surprisingly, the number of people who smoke is still very high perhaps due to the little factual information they have about the dangers of tobacco use. Cigarette-smoking is one of the major causes of heart disease and the number of deaths associated with smoking has been consistently on the rise. In the United States alone, cigarettes are responsible for majority of the deaths from heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, about 440,000 of all annual deaths of heart disease are because of smoking. Just a few sticks of cigarettes a day may double the risk of the development of heart disease. Because of the harm that smoking may do for the heart, the need to quit smoking has become an important health issue that could possibly save millions of lives.

Many of the deaths and ailments caused by smoking do not occur quickly. It may take awhile before the chemicals in cigarettes takes its toll on certain individuals. Heart diseases caused by smoking can be a slow and painful process. Smokers may develop heart disease because smoking causes the body’s bloodstream to be contaminated with nicotine, the active component of cigarettes which stimulates the brain and provides a rush of adrenaline. A rush of adrenaline may provide a “high feeling” or a sudden rush or shot of energy. However, while these moments of being high are being enjoyed by a smoker, he or she may already be exposing the heart to serious risk. Adrenaline caused by nicotine may speed up the heart rate, tighten the arteries, and strain the heart. When the nicotine levels of regular smokers falter, they usually experience withdrawal symptoms that may include restlessness, irritability, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and craving for another smoke. These smokers need to smoke regularly in order to feel normal, a condition that may lead to addiction — making it more difficult for smokers to quit smoking.

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, 60 these chemicals are carcinogenic and are also present in secondhand smoke. Formaldehyde, arsenic, cadmium, benzene, and ethylene oxide are only some of the substances found in cigarettes — all of which can cause cancer. These dangerous components may stay in the air for hours and may harm one’s health in many ways. These chemicals may accelerate the development of artherosclerosis, a disease that affects the large and medium arteries. This condition damages the blood vessels making them difficult to relax. Smoking may also cause the artery walls to stiffen the artery walls and cause pieces of plaque to clog some arteries. Once this plaque clogs the arteries, the heart may become starved for oxygen. In the long run, these conditions may lead to the development of heart diseases like coronary heart disease and angina (severe chest pain).

The risk of acquiring certain conditions like cataract, macular degeneration, psoriasis, tooth loss, osteoporosis, and many more may be increased by smoking. However, it is never too late to quit smoking. Stopping the habit can drastically improve one’s cardiovascular fitness and overall health. Individuals who are having a hard time cutting the habit may try using quit smoking products in the market. These products, however, cannot do all the work. The best and effective to quit smoking involves determination, discipline, and commitment to stop the habit permanently. Using these products can help smokers cut the habit by making them more comfortable and complacent to adjust to life without cigarettes. Many quit smoking products are available over the counter, it is best to seek the approval of health professionals to clarify side effects and drug interactions that may be developed while under medication. With the right tools and attitude, quitting smoking and reducing the development of heart diseases can be easier than others think.

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