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Printed on every packet of cigarettes in huge letters is the legend SMOKING KILLS!

Those two words worry smokers so much that they have to light up a cigarette just to calm their nerves. 

Most people’s first experience of smoking that first inhaled drag of foul, hot noxious gases is more often than not accompanied with a feeling of dizziness as the brain is starved of oxygen, followed by coughing, spluttering, a foul taste, and a feeling of nausea.

This is a subconscious defence by the organism, trying to make it vomit to expel the dangerous substances which it recognises as being a danger to itself.

The subconscious mind controls and regulates the body. Every heart beat every breath; every organ cell and molecule is monitored and regulated. The chemical balance is precise and specific. When smoke is inhaled the chemical balance is upset and the brains defence mechanism kicks in.

Despite himself the first time smoker is determined to overcome his own body’s natural defences, to a point where the subconscious becomes dependent on nicotine, in much the same way as the body craves food when hungry and heat when cold.

There are 2000 chemical compounds in tobacco smoke, including 30 known carcinogens and many lethal poisons, nicotine and tar being the most commonly known. Others include cyanide, ammonia; benzo-pyrene, carbon monoxide, and prussic acid, which absorb into, and pollute body tissues.

If the nicotine of one cigarette were injected directly into a person’s vein, that person would be dead in seconds. There is enough nicotine in one cigarette to kill a horse. 

Smokers often use as one of their reasons for continuing to smoke, ‘it helps me to relax.’

Nicotine is a vaso-constrictor; it causes the arteries to contract, making the heart work harder. A smoker that smokes 20 cigarettes per day increases the heart rate by an extra 10,000 heart beats.

When cigarette smoke is inhaled into the body the organism responds as if it is being attacked. The automatic defence system kicks in to ‘fight or flight’ mode. The heart beats faster and the respiration increases to oxygenate the blood to send to the major muscles and arteries. Adrenaline and noradrenalin course through the system and lactic acid is produced to maximise muscle power. The whole body is in a high state of readiness for explosive maximum effort.

Systems that are not required shut down to allow power to be available where it is required. The digestive system is shut down, the blood supply to the extremities is reduced and the immune system and ability to fight disease also shuts down.

Relaxed a smoker certainly isn’t.

In normal circumstances when the period of danger is over the heart returns to normal and all the functions that are temporarily shut down are brought back on line and everything is fine again. If you continue to smoke the ‘fight or flight’ state remains and the enzymes produced are not used in their intended fashion, but remain in the tissues as toxins. If the body cannot digest food and absorb the nutrients because the digestive

System has been suppressed then that person is susceptible to health problems and suffers particularly from digestive upsets ranging from constipation to ulcers to cancers. As for the immune system, we need that constantly; repairing the ravages of day to day living.

The body’s reaction is very similar to that of a person suffering a panic attack, so smoking a cigarette will exasperate the problem.

Nicotine increases the risk of blood clots, reduces the bloods ability to absorb oxygen. Carbon monoxide in the smoke is directly responsible for the development of cholesterol deposits on artery walls, increasing the risk of heart attack and strokes.

Cancer happens to other people. - The truth about cancer is that it is latent in all of us. It begins when cell reproduction corrupts and runs out of control. It is the immune system which protects us from this dreadful condition. A smoker’s immune system is suppressed because of the ‘flight or fight’ response which is why smokers are ten times more susceptible to all cancers than non-smokers.

Airways that enter the lungs are covered in fine hair-like projections called cilia. The function of cilia is to provide defence against ingress of particles of dust and foreign matter into the lungs. An object brushing against the cilia’s causes them to activate, propelling the object upward toward the mouth. The lungs and airways go into spasm as the delicate tissues of the linings are irritated and force air out in a violent explosion that is a cough. This reaction is designed to expel the foreign matter and to prevent its passage down into the delicate inner chamber of the lungs where the vital interchanges of gases are implemented.

Thick sticky tar in cigarette smoke coats the cilia causing them to become brittle, to lie flat against the airways, or to break off. Foreign particles are able to pass into the lungs where they accumulate. There is no way out. Over time the build up of detrus accumulates in the lungs reducing their capacity and ability to oxygenate the blood. Mucus that lines the lungs that facilitates the chemical interaction necessary for the absorption of oxygen becomes contaminated and corrupted and its chemical composition is changed. Its function impaired the lungs produce more mucus in an attempt to correct the situation and so the lungs fill up with fluid. This is the beginning of chest disease, breathlessness and the horror of emphysema.

Smokers are ten times more likely to get emphysema than non-smokers.  

The function of the kidneys and liver is to filter out waste matter in the body and excrete them. Due to the massive increase of toxins introduced through tobacco smoke the organs need to work at a hugely increased rate in order to clean the blood of the huge amount of impurities. The carcinogenic chemicals that pass through both of these organs increase the likelihood that cancer will strike there. Kidney and liver failure is an increased risk that comes with smoking.

Why then if the organism is being attacked does it crave cigarettes? Well, besides raising adrenaline, glucose and blood pressure, nicotine increases dopamine hormone levels in the brain, just as red meats and sweet foods can. So the main physical reason for smoking is that it does actually make you feel good. It stimulates what scientists call the reward system of the brain.

On average it takes about seven seconds for nicotine to reach the brain when inhaled, and gives you a buzz for less than one second so anything over that first puff is a waste of time. The half life of nicotine in the body is about 2 hours.

So smoking is rewarding no matter how deadly and antisocial it may be. It gives you something that’s actually worth having, but it’s not the only thing that can do exactly the

same. Seventy percent of stopping smoking is changing the habit. I am going to show you how to give yourself a safe, natural, happy, non-fattening dopamine rush and I am going to aid the reshaping of your habits using the power of suggestion under hypnosis. When you walk into my office, having had your last cigarette, you have decided to become an ex-smoker, when you leave it, you will be a non-smoker.

Your immune system has less to do second by second as it cleans up and repairs any damage. The improvement to your general health is noticeable to others in a comparatively short time with eye brightness and skin tone being the first physical indications of the new non-smoker.                                                          

The difference to the quality of life as a new non-smoker starts immediately and can be mapped out over the first day and next nine months as follows.
First twenty minutes	Blood pressure and heart rate drop to normal. Hand and feet temperature returns to normal.
Eight hours	Carbon monoxide level reduces to normal. Oxygen level increases to normal.
Twenty four hours	Chance of having a heart attack already decreased.
Forty eight hours	Nerve endings start to grow. Sense of smell and taste improve.
Seventy two hours	Bronchial tubes begin to relax making breathing easier. Lung capacity begins to increase. Physical activity becomes easier.
Two weeks to Three months	Circulation improves. Lung function increases by up to thirty percent. Walking becomes easier.
One month to Nine months	Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath decrease. Overall energy increases. Cilia re-grow in lungs. Ability to handle and clean mucus increased.

Pre-planning your smoking cessation is recommended whether you plan to give up smoking on your own accord or with some form of holistic intervention including hypnotherapy and acupuncture. As previously written, seventy percent of giving up smoking is changing the habit. Preparation of some sort is recommended for all and is particularly recommended for those that smoke twenty five plus a day. Those smoker’s who smoke thirty five cigarettes a day or more, may benefit from analytical hypnotherapy prior to smoking cessation.

The aim of the pre plan is to cut your smoking down to your minimum manageable level over a one month to six week period to less than fifteen cigarettes a day, and to change your perception and habit of your smoking pattern.

Weather permitting, try to only smoke outside.

If you smoke in the home, the first two things required is the cooperation of your family and a designate single room inside the house as a smoking area.

The smoking area will not be in a family room, but a room where when not used specifically for something else, is a room where you, the person who is planning to become a non-smoker, and any other person specifically goes to smoke.

When using the smoke area no other activity such as eating, drinking, reading, listening to the radio, watching TV or even chatting will be done.

All other rooms in the house will be free of any smoking paraphernalia.

Never smoke in front of a non-smoker.

Determine to smoke alone where possible.

Never accept or offer a cigarette to anyone.

Keep cigarettes shut away in a drawer or cupboard when at home or work.

Do not smoke whilst in a motor vehicle.

The family car will be a no smoking area.

Do not smoke when out for an evening, but wait until you return home.

After a night sleep, never smoke when you first get out of bed in the morning, and try to wait at least one hour before lighting that first cigarette.

Observe the moments in a day when you are most likely to smoke a cigarette, for instance: when you have a cup of tea, read your news paper, travelling to and from work, television et cetera.

Resolve not to have a cigarette until at least thirty minutes after you would normally smoke one.

Keep busy.

When the time comes that one missed cigarette break rolls in to another, determine that you will wait thirty minutes after that before smoking.

Always feel pride and pleasure at any small step in achieving your aim at being a non-smoker.

Never feel guilt if you should give in to a cigarette, it’s only a moment- not a failure.

As an alternative to smoking a cigarette, draw in a deep breath of clean air to revitalise and energise you.

Drink plenty of water.

Chew sugar free gum.

Do not snack between meals.

Determine to think happy thoughts and smile a lot.

When you feel ready, choose the day when you are going to stop smoking for good.

Book a Smoking cessation today with Stephen Gidney D.Hyp MIAPH

Free-phone 08000 521 121

You’re worth it!

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