Smoking is considered both a habit and an addiction. The good news is that if you can go three days without smoking, you will have beaten your nicotine addiction. Nicotine takes about seventy-two hours to leave your body no matter how long you’ve been smoking or how many cigarettes a day you usually smoke.
The bad news is that after those three days you are no longer an addict, you have a habit, and a habit generally takes more work and time to clear your mind than it takes nicotine to leave your system. What that means is that for the vast majority of smokers some other work will have to be done. 24% of the general population can quit smoking after a hypnosis session and they are likely the ones who could have quit cold turkey anyway.
For the rest of you, smoking and all the emotional components that go with it need to be explored and worked on. Hypnosis is still considered the best way to quit smoking with the highest success rates compared to other methods such as the patch, prescription drugs, nicotine gum, and inhalers. Up to 85% of the smoking population can quit after 4-5 hypnotherapy sessions using a combination of techniques including NLP, parts therapy, positive suggestion, aversion therapy, and regression work.
Here are some suggestions to help you on your way to becoming a permanent non-smoker:
1. Stop using the word “resign”! No one wants to quit smoking and subconsciously we resist giving up anything. Change to quit, cease, finish, etc. These words have more positive connotations for us subconsciously.
2. Every time you buy a pack of cigarettes, switch brands completely, eg from Du Maurier to Craven “A” etc.
3. As soon as you open the pack of cigarettes, cut them in half. Some people prefer to limit the number of puffs they take to three or four and then throw away the rest of the cigarette, however this may be a more difficult option for some.
4. Replace cigarettes with fruit, preferably oranges, but any fruit will do. Great for vitamins and fiber, helping you detox tar and nicotine from your body while keeping your hands and mouth busy with more than just a cigarette.
5. Change all your associations, like if you always drink coffee with a cigarette, try switching to tea, etc.
6. Change the times you usually smoke by waiting 15 more minutes to see if you can distract yourself.
7. Use a deep breathing technique to overcome cravings. Abdominal breathing is good: inhale through your nose for a count of five, hold your breath for a second and then exhale through your mouth for a count of five, repeat at least five times, more if necessary.
8. Write a list of all the benefits you will get from quitting, such as fresh breath, better sense of taste and smell, more money to spend on clothes, vacations, new car, etc. Look at this list at least once a day and add to it when you feel inspired.
9. Take the money you would normally spend on cigarettes and put it in a separate account or jar at home. Reward yourself with your savings!
10. Consider taking some stress and/or anger management training, meditation classes, yoga, etc. to help you deal with stress, any mood swings, or other issues that may arise as you transition to your new, healthier lifestyle.
Good luck with your trip, you can do it!
