We can blame it on that weary world traveler, Christopher Columbus. While visiting islands in Barbados, members of his crew noticed the native people smoking curious dried up leaves from a local plant. And so the first tobacco was introduced to the Western world. Tobacco was quickly adopted by the elite and the fashionable of the European nobility. Read the rest of this entry »
Unless you have been hiding under rock for the last fifty years, you have heard that smoking tobacco is bad for you, often deadly. And you have tried to stop smoking many times but you keep falling off the wagon and having a relapse. It’s not your fault. The reason that most people fail to quit smoking is nicotine. Read the rest of this entry »
Most people who smoke have ‘triggers’ that make them want to smoke.
There can be many and varied reasons why people will reach for a smoke in certain situations and when they are feeling particular emotions.
If you can identify what these emotions or events are, that are causing these triggers then that will be one of the first steps towards quitting smoking. Read the rest of this entry »
The tobacco companies are masters of marketing. They will target groups that they want to introduce to smoking by associating smoking with the things that those people will consider to be cool.
They sponsor major music events because they know that there will be impressionable teens at these events and they will associate that brand of cigarettes with the musician and all the glamour that goes with the musical lifestyle. Read the rest of this entry »
The first weekend without smoking is often a very difficult time particularly if you are accustomed to socializing.
If you are out with other people who smoke, then you are placing undue pressure on your attempts to stop smoking and it might be better at such an early stage of your program to avoid placing yourself in an environment where there is too much temptation. Read the rest of this entry »
Many people use the effects that nicotine can deliver to self medicate for depression and anxiety. It has been shown that the nicotine and other chemicals in cigarettes can help to improve the mood of a person and also to lessen the effects of anxiety. Read the rest of this entry »
Breaking a habit requires accepting that there is a habit and then figuring out why you have one. Knowing the reasons why you have a habit will allow you to devise methods of dealing with the reasons.
It goes without saying that the reason we started smoking is far removed from why we continue to smoke. Situations play a huge part in reasons why we want to smoke. Situations like driving, or having a social drink, being surrounded by other smokers who engage in the activity of smoking, etc., Read the rest of this entry »
It is amazing to me the number of people that cannot or will not admit to being addicted to Smoking. In fact owning up to the addiction is the first step in kicking the habit once and for all. It has been said that there are three obstacles to overcome the addiction, the first being habit. Read the rest of this entry »
