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Stop
smoking
Hypnosis is the
most effective way of giving
up
smoking, according to
the largest ever scientific comparison of ways of breaking the habit.
New
Scientist
vol. 136 iss. 1845, p6
I don’t have to tell you the advantages of stopping smoking
– more money, more energy, a better sense of smell and taste,
and a longer, healthier life. Nor do I have to tell you the
consequences of continuing to smoke, and having to put up with the
continual discomfort, inconvenience, and the deterioration of your
health.
So why is it
so difficult to
stop? The reason most people give is that
smoking is very physically addictive. Well this is true in part.
Smoking delivers nicotine into the system extremely rapidly, and so the
brain builds instant connections between smoking and
receiving a chemical stimulant, and this quickly forms an addictive
urge.
However, compare the physical
withdrawal symptoms of stopping smoking to those of heroin
users in rehab and you’ll see that the physical addiction to
smoking is actually pretty weak.
You see, smoking is really maintained by three
separate things:
-
the automatic
habit
of reaching for a cigarette
(eg. smoking "on autopilot" at work or in the pub)
-
the emotions
you attach to smoking (eg.
rebelling or trying to
relieve stress)
-
the physical
addiction
to nicotine
And here's the good news: the
physical addiction is the
least important of the three.
When you use mindfulness and hypnosis to free yourself from the habits
and emotions
attached to smoking, you discover that all the times you thought you
were battling cigarettes, you were really fighting
against a lot of emotion and habit and only a little physical
“itch” - an itch that fades completely
after a few
days of stopping.
When you've unlearnt the habits and emotional attachments you've got to
cigarettes,
quitting becomes much easier.
It still requires commitment and
determination on your part, but hypnosis stacks the odds in your favour
that you will be able to succeed.
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Joseph Kao
DHypPsych(UK)
London
hypnotherapist
0208 350 2634
Email
me
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©
Copyright Joseph Kao 2012
Hypnotherapist, hypnotist and solution focused therapist in
North London
Near: Crouch End, Highgate, Finchley, Hornsey, Camden Town, Muswell
Hill, Archway, Wood Green
Tel. 0208 350 2634
Email
me
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