No more Cigars : I want to Quit! Free from Smokes!

What's in a Cigarette?

2008-12-18T22:24:00.000-08:00

What's in a Cigarette?

What's in a Cigarette?

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 different chemical compounds. Many of these are toxic, and at least 43 are known carcinogens (cancer-causing agents). Tobacco

* Nicotine is the active drug in tobacco smoke - it is the chemical that causes addiction. In combination with carbon monoxide, nicotine is also responsible for reducing blood flow to your feet and hands, causing peripheral vascular disease which over time may lead to the need for amputation.

* Carbon Monoxide, the same chemical found in car exhaust, causes damage to the lungs. It increases stress on the heart by depriving the body of oxygen.

* Tar is made up of a number of chemicals, including several carcinogens (cancer-causing agents).

The Health Effects of Tobacco Smoke

The chemicals in cigarette smoke can increase your risk of developing a number of diseases, including cancer. In Australia, around 19,000 smokers die each year from diseases caused by their smoking. One in two smokers will die of a smoking related disease.
Lung cancer in a smoker

Some of the health risks of cigarette smoking include:

* Lung cancer: tobacco smoke is the largest single cause of lung cancer. Tobacco smoking is responsible for 90% of lung cancers in Australian males and 65% of lung cancers in Australian women.
* Other cancers: tobacco smoke is known to increase the risk of developing cancers of the lips, mouth, tongue, throat, voicebox, oesophagus (gullet), bladder, pancreas, liver, cervix, vulva, penis and anus. Cigarette smoking has also been linked to cancers of the stomach, kidney and some leukaemias (cancers of the blood).
* Other lung diseases, including emphysema and pneumonia
* Coronary heart disease
* Peripheral vascular disease (diseases of the arteries and veins of the limbs)
* Male impotence, reduced fertility
* In women: premature menopause, irregular or painful periods
* Effects on the bones and joints: osteoporosis, arthritis
* Effects on the eyes: macular degeneration
* Effects on the skin: wrinkles, signs of ageing, wound infections, hair loss

In addition to these personal health effects, cigarette smoking is a health risk to others around you.

* Women who smoke during pregnancy have an increased risk of miscarriage, premature birth, and of delivering a low birthweight baby
* Children who are exposed to tobacco smoke have increased risk of respiratory infections, middle ear infections, meningococcal infection, asthma attacks, and SIDS (cot death)
* Adults exposed to environmental tobacco smoke are at increased risk of developing lung cancer and heart disease.

However, despite numerous public health campaigns, tobacco smoking remains a significant problem in Australia: one in five Australians aged 14 or over smoke on a daily or weekly basis.

The Benefits of Quitting

Many people who smoke are not aware of how quickly these adverse health effects of smoking can be reversed if they quit. In fact, it can take only days to notice a positive difference.

* 5 days after quitting: you may notice an improvement in taste and smell
* 6 weeks after quitting: the increased risk of post-surgical wound infection due to smoking is dramatically reduced
* 2 months after quitting: blood flow to your hands and feet improves
* 3 months after quitting: lung function and exercise tolerance begin to improve as the lungs recover
* 12 months after quitting: the increased risk of heart disease associated with smoking is reduced by half
* 10 years after quitting: the increased risk of lung cancer associated with smoking is less than half of that of someone who has continued to smoke
* 15 years after quitting: the overall rate of death from all causes becomes the same for ex-smokers and people who have never smoked.

For women who are planning a pregnancy, quitting smoking before becoming pregnant or during the first few months of pregnancy means there is no extra risk of having a low birthweight baby compared to a non-smoker.

Other good reasons to quit smoking

Cigarette smoking affects more than just your health and the health of those around you. The financial impact can be huge: a pack-a-day smoker may spend as much as $2500 per year on cigarettes. Smoking also makes it more difficult to get fit, and reduces the benefits of exercise.

Quitting smoking is a truly positive step to take. Accepting the challenge to quit, and succeeding, will give you a boost in confidence which can carry over to all areas of your life.
Simple Strategies to Help You Quit

There are many resources available to help you quit.

Planning to quit and getting ready to quit is the first step.

* Your doctor or health practitioner can be very helpful. They will be able to help you get in touch with organisations that can support you, such as Quitline, and give you advice about quitting products such as nicotine gums and patches.
* Before you quit, think about and write down your reasons for quitting. This can help you keep focussed. Think about where, when and why you currently smoke, and make plans to deal with these situations in the future.
* It may also help to quit with someone else - a friend, partner, or someone you work with can help keep you on track.
* Set a 'quit date' for two weeks in the future, and stick to it. This allows you some time to plan strategies for quitting, and get any help and advice you might need.

Some people quit 'cold turkey' - that is, stopping all cigarettes suddenly. Others prefer to reduce their cigarette use over a two-week period before stopping completely. Many smokers find that using nicotine replacement therapies or drugs such as buproprion (see below) very helpful in reducing withdrawal symptoms.

Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT)

Nicotine replacement therapies, such as nicotine gums, patches or inhalers, help to control the withdrawal symptoms associated with quitting while avoiding the harmful effects of tobacco smoke. They are usually recommended for use for an 8-week period after the 'quit date'.

Nicotine patches, gums and inhalers are all equally effective at assisting smokers to quit. Overall, people who quit using some kind of NRT are twice as likely to be successful at 5-12 months as those who use nothing.

The different types of nicotine replacement therapy each have advantages and disadvantages. Speak to your health practitioner about which is most appropriate for you.

Nicotine replacement therapies may not be appropriate for all people: patients who have recently had a heart attack, stroke, or who have unstable angina may not be able to use NRT. Speak to your health practitioner if you have any concerns.

Other drug therapies

Buproprion is a non-nicotine drug that works in the brain to reduce withdrawal symptoms associated with quitting smoking. Like nicotine replacement therapies, it doubles the rate of successful quit attempts at 6 months. Buproprion is only available on prescription and must be used with supervision.

Nortriptyline is an antidepressant drug which has been shown to help smokers quit. It has several side effects, including sedation and dizziness, which mean it is not the first-choice drug for smoking cessation.

For more information on tobacco, cancer, and quitting smoking, visit Quit.org.au:

This site is dedicated to helping individuals quit and stay off tobacco. It provides support not only for the person trying to quit but also for family and friends.

Smoking Cost Calculator

This information will be collected for educational purposes, however it will remain anonymous.

Reference

1. 'Department of Health and Ageing fact sheet: How smoking harms your health' [online]. Department of Health and Ageing. Available at URL: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-drugs-tobacco-resources.htm (last accessed 1/4/07)

2. 'Guidelines for preventative activities in general practice (6th edition)' [online]. Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. 2005. Available at URL: http://www.racgp.org.au/Content/NavigationMenu/ClinicalResources/RACGP Guidelines/TheRedBook/2005Redbook_6th_ed.pdf (last accessed 1/4/07)

3. Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy. 'National Tobacco Strategy' [online]. Department of Health and Ageing. 2005. Available at URL: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/phd-pub-tobacco-tobccstrat2-cnt.htm (last accessed 1/4/07)

4. QuitWA. 'TheQuitBook' [online]. Department of Health Western Australia. Available at URL: http://www.quitwa.com/QuitResources/QuitPublications/ (last accessed 1/4/07)

5. 'Smoking cessation guidelines for Australian general practice' [online]. Quitnow. 2004. Available at URL: http://www.quitnow.info.au/internet/quitnow/publishing.nsf/Content/health_ professionals-lp (last accessed: 1/4/07)

6. The Cancer Council Australia. 'Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis and Management of Lung Cancer' [online]. National Health and Medical Research Council. 2004. Available at URL: http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications (last accessed 1/4/07)

Egypt intoduces graphic cigarette warnings, starting August 1st

2008-12-18T21:25:00.000-08:00

With effect from the 1st of August, cigarette packs in Egypt will feature graphic health warnings, informing smokers of the devastating health effects of smoking. Images will include: a dying man in an oxygen mask, a coughing child, a fetus with a warning of the harm to pregnancy, or a limp cigarette, symbolizing impotence.

Egypt is fulfilling one of her treaty obligations under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which require state parties to introduce, among other tobacco control measures, large, graphic health warnings on cigarette packs.

The photos below from Egypt's Ministry of Health show a series of four new tobacco warning labels which will appear on packets of cigarettes sold in the country.

The limp cigarette symbolizes impotence. The message in Arabic reads, "Warning, smoking damages the health and causes death. The damaging effect of smoking harms the smoker and the non-smoker. Smoking for a long period of time affects marital relations".

This tobacco warning label in Arabic reads, "Warning, smoking damages the health and causes death. The damaging effect of smoking harms the smoker and the non smoker. Smoking around pregnant women harms the fetus and causes miscarriage".

This tobacco warning label in Arabic reads, "Warning, smoking damages the health and causes death. The damaging effect of smoking harms the smoker and the non smoker. Smoking affects children - protect your children from smoking".

This tobacco warning label in Arabic reads, "Warning, smoking damages the health and causes death. The damaging effect of smoking harms the smoker and the non smoker. Smoking causes diseases of the heart and circulatory system".

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The article below from the Associated Press gives details of the new Egyptian cigarette health warnings.

Egypt uses stark warnings in anti-smoking campaign
By Paul Schemm, Associated Press

Offering a cigarette is as common as a handshake in Egypt, where the culture of smoking is so entrenched that patients and friends sometimes light up in hospital rooms.

But now, the government is finally getting serious about the health risks, launching a new campaign of stark visual warnings about tobacco's dangers.
Starting Aug. 1, cigarette labels in Egypt will be required to carry images of the effects of smoking: a dying man in an oxygen mask, a coughing child, and a limp cigarette symbolizing impotence.

It's a major step in Egypt's fledgling anti-smoking campaign and a dramatic change in a country where public discussion of smoking's health risks is nearly nonexistent.

"I would like to quit but I just can't. But when you see pictures like this, like that sick man, that has an effect — it does encourage you to stop," said Osama Sabri Mohammed, a 39-year-old civil servant, as he puffed on a cigarette outside a government building in downtown Cairo.
"This one specifically will have an effect on Egyptians, since they are really concerned about that," he said, when shown the image of the limp cigarette.

The photo of the limp cigarette comes with the warning that "long-term smoking has an effect on marital relations" — somewhat coyer than a version the European Union has recommended for its member countries, which states directly that smoking "causes impotence" and shows a discontented young married couple sitting apart in bed.

Twelve countries, including Canada, Jordan, Brazil and Thailand, require graphic photos of the effects of smoking to be printed on cigarette packs — and many have reported success in at least reminding smokers of the danger.
But the campaign faces a tough challenge among Egypt's die-hard smokers.

Egypt is one of the top 15 smoking countries in the world: Nearly 60 percent of all adult males in this country of 79 million people use tobacco in some form, compared to the United States where around 24 percent of men smoke cigarettes. An estimated 2 percent of Egyptian women smoke — though most researchers believe female smoking is greatly underreported due to social taboos against it that push female smoking into private areas.

In Egypt, ashtrays can be found everywhere from elevators to bathrooms. Passing around cigarettes or firing up a shisha, as the waterpipe is called here, is a must at every social occasion.
It's widespread even among those supposed to know better: Nearly a third of male health professionals smoke. In the hallways of the Health Ministry, "no smoking" signs are ubiquitous — as are buckets of sand filled with cigarette butts from smokers ignoring the rule.

"Egypt is an extraordinarily challenging country because it has such a culture of smoking, it's so ingrained in day-to-day living," said Gary Saffitz, the deputy director of Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs, which is helping Egypt with the campaign.
But, he says, the government appears to have realized the depth of the public health problem "not just in human capacity and lives, but the cost in dealing with all the disease generated by it."

While anti-smoking campaigns have been in place for decades in the West, the issue has not even been on the agenda in Egypt. In the 1990s, when smoking in the developed world declined, it increased 8.6 percent in the Middle East, according to the American Cancer Society.

The first big step came in 2005, when Egypt ratified the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which lays out methods to combat tobacco use, including pictorial warning labels.
Since then, the first baby steps have been taken to ban smoking in some areas. Airports and Cairo's metro are strictly no-smoking, and a 2007 law banned smoking in government buildings — though enforcement is still an issue.

A month ago, the country's new tobacco control department was launched, though it consists of only two people in a closet-sized office with no telephones and an annual budget of just US$12,500.
For the new label requirements, authorities field-tested a variety of images.

They found that warnings linking tobacco with death were not particularly effective with Egyptians, since dying is perceived as inevitable anyway. Also, images of diseased lungs left people confused about what was being shown.

Instead, the new warnings focus on threats to health and, particularly, to family, like the effect on children and pregnant women and the risk of impotence. Numerous studies, including a 2003 report by Tulane University researchers, have found that smoking can be a major cause of erectile disfunction, in part because it constricts veins and arteries, reducing blood flow.

"We need something to give the smokers a shock that they are in great danger," said Dr. Mohammed Mehrez, head of the tobacco control department.
There are many myths to overcome.

Some Egyptians are convinced only light cigarettes lead to impotence. Earlier this year, the state-owned manufacturer Eastern Tobacco Company voluntarily put pictures of diseased lungs on some packs — but smokers just figured those packs were the ones that were harmful and switched to others, which some shopowners promptly started selling at a higher price.

And, as everywhere in the world, many smokers who realize it is bad still show scant interest in quitting.
"I've been smoking since I was eight years old — I used to pick up cigarette butts from the gutter and smoke them," laughed Hussein Hassan Mahmoud, a wizened 60-year-old butcher with one eye clouded from cataracts, sitting outside his Cairo shop enjoying a cigarette.

Mahmoud goes through three or four packs of the local Cleopatra cigarettes a day, at about US 50 cents a pack, and he scoffed when shown the new warnings.

"People will just tear the labels off," he said.

History of Tobacco

2008-12-18T20:45:00.000-08:00

History of Tobacco

Smoking seems cool......

In 1964- the Surgeon General's report on "Smoking and Health" came out. This report assisted in allowing the government to regulate the advertisement and sales of cigarettes.

In 1966- those health warnings on cigarette packs begin popping up.

In 1971- television ads for cigarettes are finally taken off the air in the U.S. Cigarettes, however, are still the most heavily advertised product second only to automobiles!

until it lands you in the hospital.....

In 1977- the first national Great American Smoke out takes place.

In 1979- Because of the increase in the number of women smokers, the Surgeon General reports on the Health Consequences of Smoking for Women.

In 1982- the Surgeon General reports that second hand smoke may cause lung cancer. Smoking in public areas soon became restricted, most importantly at the workplace.

1990- Smoking is banned on interstate buses and all plane flights less than six hours

and finally in a casket!!!!

Sources:

History of Tobacco- http://academic.udayton.edu/health/syllabi/tobacco/history.htm

A Brief History of Tobacco- www.cnn.com/us/9705/tobacco/history/index.html

Effects on Children

2008-12-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

Effects on Children

In 1988, students were forbidden to use of tobacco in school and on school property. Just because children are aware of smoking doesn’t mean that they are aware of how much harm it can cause them. This plays a huge role in why kids start smoking at an earlier age every year.

* Children are 3 times more likely to smoke if their parents smoke.

* Children who experiment with cigarettes quickly become addicted to the nicotine in tobacco.

* Children who smoke are 2-6 times more likely to have coughs, wheezing, and shortness of breath.

* Smoking habits of friends and siblings influence most young smokers.

* Advertising creates an impression that smoking is a socially acceptable activity.

* Every year between 80,000-100,000 children become addicted to tobacco worldwide.

* Half of the 4th-6th graders have tried smoking.

Sources:

Young People and Smoking http://www.ash.org.uk/html/factsheets/html/fact03.html

Smoke signals: Smoking and You http://web9.epnet.com/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+2+en%2dus+sid+2c

Social Issues

2008-12-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

Social Issues

It used to be that people who smoked seemed more mature and “cool”. However, that is not true today. In fact, smoking can affect you emotionally and psychologically, as well as physically. Many smokers quit because they begin to feel like social outcasts and either they suffer the embarrassment of smoking or withdrawal from not smoking. Smoking is a socially unacceptable dirty habit and more non-smokers are exerting their right to breathe clean air. For smokers, the social ostracism is getting progressively worse. There are many more places today that smokers used to be allowed to smoke, that now do not permit smoking. Smoking in malls has been banned. If a student is caught on school grounds with tobacco he/she could be punished for up to ten days of school suspension.

Sources:

Bringing the Smoker in From the Cold- http://www.icsc.org/srch/sct/current/sct9802/20.htm

Kicking Butt- Chester County Daily Local News, June 16, 2003

Secondhand Smoke

2008-12-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

Secondhand Smoke

Secondhand smoke is a serious topic that is debated in society today. People do not want to be subjected to the smoke of another person that will risk their life and the lives of the people around them. Secondhand smoke can cause anything from simple coughing to cancer or death. It is the third leading cause of preventable death. Here are some facts about secondhand smoke:

* ü It kills about three thousand non-smokers a year from lung cancer alone, which is 30 times as many lung cancer deaths that’s happen due to pollution

* ü It causes 36,000 deaths a year from heart disease

* ü It causes 330,000 lung infections a year in babies and young children each year

* ü It fills the air with many of the same poisons found in the air around toxic waste dumps

* ü It puts babies at risk for SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)

Sources

It’s My Life – http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/body/smoking/article2.html

Truths and Myths of Secondhand Smoke – http://medicalreporter.health.org/tmr0895/smokemyth0895.html

Secondhand Smoke – http://www.rjrt.com/TI/TIsecondhand_smoke.asp

Tar and Nicotine – http://www.rjrt.com/TI/TITar_Nic_summary.asp

Health Hazards of Tobacco

2008-12-18T19:49:00.000-08:00

Health Hazards of Tobacco

Smoking is a health hazard because so many people lose their lives due to smoking-related diseases. Smoking affects different parts of your body such as the heart, lungs, and brain. The chemicals and poisons in cigarettes can cause emphysema, bronchitis, heart disease, heart attacks, stroke, and cancer. One in two smokers dies prematurely from smoking. Lung cancer accounts for 22% of cancer deaths, and it is the most common type of cancer. One in four people that develop cancer get lung cancer.

Also 90% of the people who get cancer of the mouth and throat get it because they used tobacco. Different types of cancer also include liver, stomach, bladder, kidney, and cervical cancer. Forty years of smoking causes a 60% greater chance of getting breast cancer. And if a person smokes a pack or more a day the risk is 83% higher.

There are 1.1 billion tobacco users worldwide. Smoking can also ruin your appearance by staining your teeth, yellowing your fingernails, and causes wrinkles, gum disease, tooth decay, and bad breath. Smoking can cause a decrease in athletic performance, such as not being able to run fast or jump as high. Chronic coughing, more phlegm in your mouth, and asthma are also effects that smoking can have on your body.

The following pictures are very graphic. If you are at all squeamish do not look at the following:

This is a picture of a healthy lung

Smoker's lung (yellowish spots are caner)

Lip cancer caused by years of smoking

Mouth cancer and Lip cancer

The Mouth Cancer advertisement builds on the graphic health warning “smoking causes mouth and throat cancer”. It highlights the fact that smoking is a major cause of cancer affecting the mouth (oral cavity) and the throat (pharynx).

Mouth Cancer

Gangrene - due to decreased blood flow caused by smoking

Amputation

The Amputation advertisement builds on the graphic health warning ‘smoking causes peripheral vascular disease”. It explains how toxic chemicals from smoking enter into a smoker’s blood stream and travel to all parts of a smoker’s body, resulting in gangrene.

Carotid

The Carotid advertisement was developed by Quit Victoria. Smoking makes fatty deposits stick to the blood vessel walls. The advertisement shows a woman having a carotid endarterectomy, which is a surgical procedure undertaken to reduce the risk of stroke by clearing blockages (fatty deposits) from the artery in the neck that may otherwise break off and lodge in the brain. The advertisement explains the mechanisms of stroke and demonstrates that a stroke can happen at any time.

These picture came from smoker's body parts. These are actual images and have not been enhanced or altered in any way. Is this what you want your body to look like?

Sources: PBS Kids- It’s My Life http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/body/smoking/article2.html | Smoking and Cancer-Fact Sheet www.ash.org/html/factsheets/html/factory.html | World Resources Institute http://www.wri.org/wr-98-99/smoking.htm

TOP TIPS TO STOP SMOKING

2008-12-18T17:53:00.000-08:00

1.WHY CHANGE?

Know your reasons for why you want to be a non smoker. All smokers know that smoking can kill, if it was as simple as knowing that, I don’t suppose anyone would smoke. Understand the impact and consequences on your life and that of those you love, of being a smoker. What will be the impact on your children or grandchildren, if you die prematurely of a smoking related disease? How do you feel about your children and/or partner living through terminal illness with you? As a parental role model, what will the long term impact be on your children as they observe you smoke? What are the medium to long term financial implications of continuing to smoke? How has smoking affected your skin, your teeth, your breath and what will be the impact in another 10 years? Everyone needs a motivator to change their behaviour, know yours and use it to give you leverage to take action.

2.BENEFITS OF BEING A NON SMOKER

Now you are more aware of the consequences of smoking, focus your mind on the benefits you will enjoy as a non smoker. A 20 a day smoker will spend just under £2000 per year on smoking. What else could you spend that money on? How proud will your family be of you achieving such a positive change? How influential will your changed behaviour be on your children? How much fresher will your clothes, hair and breath smell. How much easier will travelling and socialising be (especially after July 2007)? How will your health improve – improved breathing, energy, taste and smell.

3.DEALING WITH THE CRAVINGS

Nicotine causes the cravings. The nicotine is however out of your bloodstream within 48 hours, so it doesn’t take long for your body to begin to get things back to its natural balance. If you need to give it a little extra help, take several deep breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. This increases the oxygen entering your blood stream and encourages your body to release its own natural ‘happy’ chemicals, thereby helping you eliminate those old cravings and making it easier for you to be a non smoker.

4.IT’S HORRIBLE – SO WHY DO I DO IT?

I guess this is the million dollar question! Over the years, you have programmed your mind to associate particular ‘gains’ to smoking. These gains might be; the opportunity to take breaks from work throughout the day, a ‘reward’ after completing a task, a quick ‘get-away’ from the children, to replace hunger pangs, to give you something to do when you are bored etc etc etc. There are many different associations that people have. The reality of the situation though, is that these are just ‘perceived’ benefits. They are reasons or excuses to remain a smoker. You don’t need a cigarette to take a break. Take a brief walk, get a drink of water, take the opportunity to find a quiet spot and take a few deep breaths. Really think about your associations and how you can do something (positively) different instead.

5.MAKE IT EASY FOR YOURSELF

You wouldn’t leave chocolate bars lying around at home or at work if you wanted to stop eating chocolate, so why keep hold of cigarettes/tobacco/cigars, ashtrays when you’ve decided to become a non smoker? Follow through with your convictions by demonstrating to yourself and those around you that you mean business! This is not just a half hearted attempt, you’ve made your decision and now you are going to make it as easy as possible for yourself to be a non smoker. Give your car a valet and/or do a spring clean at home. Alter your routines slightly, if in the morning you used to get up, put the kettle on and have a cigarette, now instead, get up and have a shower first. Make your home and car a non smoking environment; ask others to support your decision to become a non smoker by respecting your clean space.

6.A NEW CHAPTER

Recognise that you are moving into a new chapter of your life. Smoking is a habit that was once a part of your life, but it does not now reflect who you really are. We all leave behind things as we move through our lives. We leave homes, towns, friends, work colleagues, jobs and many other things. As we move forward, we constantly make decisions based upon where we’ve come from and the experiences we’ve had and where we want to go to. Once we’ve taken action on a life change, that we’ve considered and chosen, our focus should be on harnessing our energies, drive and motivation to get where we want to be. This is your new chapter. The title and words are not yet unwritten – choose what you want them to be and go for it!

7.SOUND, CAMERA, ACTION!!

You will have memories in your mind of when you had wished you were a non smoker. Perhaps that time when you had to ‘sneak’ out during your child’s show for a quick ciggie, or maybe that time when you were the only smoker and had to find an excuse to nip to the loo for a quick fag. Could it have been when your eyes met those of another across the room and then you saw the look on their face when they saw you light up. Or perhaps it was when your partner refused a kiss because your breath was so bad. I’m sure you can think of something. Gather those memories together and imagine they were back to back on a recording that you were watching. One after the other they were repeating and playing again and again. Try turning up the volume, the sound and the brightness. Replay it again and again and see how that really emphasises the negativity you feel and how it strengthens your resolve to be a non smoker.

8.MY HAND FEELS EMPTY?

Take the hand that you used to hold your cigarette with and press the finger nail of your middle finger into the fleshy part of your thumb. As you do this, breathe deeply in the way that I described earlier (in through the nose, exhaling slowly out through the mouth) and at the same time repeat to yourself inside your head (out loud if you are able to) “I am a happy, healthy non smoker”. This ‘trigger’ is a way of enabling you to combine the release of your own ‘happy’ chemicals with positively programming your mind to feel good about being a non smoker. You can practice this often, in fact the more you practice using this trigger, the more effective it becomes and the more quickly you begin to feel the positive benefits, without your previous need for a cigarette.

9.OH YEA, OH YEA, OH YEA!

Make sure everyone knows what you are doing! Keeping it to yourself makes it easy to ‘give in’ and the only person you let down is yourself. The more people you tell, the more support and encouragement you will receive. People often say that it’s important to do it for yourself and no-one else. This is of course true, however in life, we will often be far more committed and motivated to achieve changes, if we have involved others and they become a part of the change process. Most people find it much harder to let someone else down than they do to let themselves down.

10.GO ON, TREAT YOURSELF!

If you passed an exam, got promotion, got a new job or excelled in some other way, the chances are, you would celebrate your success in some way. Becoming a non smoker is a major achievement and should be celebrated too! Don’t let the moment pass by without acknowledging it in some way. Recognise the positive change you have made, celebrate and mark the day. Then continue to recognise the significant achievement by rewarding yourself in some way – maybe a night out with family or friends, maybe a trip to the cinema, perhaps some new clothes or maybe something you had planned to buy for your home. Make sure you pat yourself on the back and say “well done”.


	Average no. of cigarettes smoked each day
	No. of cigarettes per pack
	Cost per pack ($)
	Age
	How many years have you been smoking?