It has been a while, but recently I have been seeing many more clients than usual who want to quit smoking.

Smoking tobacco is as difficult to quit as heroin. Some say quitting smoking is the toughest.

As an ex-smoker, I can attest to that.

Besides the actual habit of smoking, the cravings can make cigarettes irresistible.

Anyone considering quitting should be prepared for a real change in many aspects of his or her life.

One client’s wife said it best: “Smoking is something that makes you believe you are doing something when in fact you are doing nothing.”

When quitting smoking, you must be prepared to take an active role.  Do not expect to sit in the hypnotist’s chair and have him make you stop. If you want to stop, take responsibility.

Shall We Say Stubborn?

Once a 300-pound Russian woman came to me to stop smoking. She refused to do any of the directions that would help her.  She would plonk herself down in the hypnosis chair and say, “I sit here. You hypnotize me. I no smoke!”

She was, of course, unsuccessful.

I have several expectations of a client.

• Buy a different brand of cigarettes, preferably Sherman’s or American Spirit.
• Instead of a lighter, use matches.
• Buy cigarettes only on the day you need to smoke them.
• Throw away the pack at the end of the day, regardless of how many cigarettes are left.
• Do not use nicotine gum, patches or chewing tobacco. You merely are replacing the method of ingesting nicotine.
• Decide on a set amount to smoke. Reduce it until you are at zero. (This diminishes the amount of nicotine in your system gently so that when you quit, the amount of nicotine will be  small, meaning you can expect only slight withdrawal symptoms.)
• Break off a small portion of each cigarette you smoke.
• Reduce your sugar intake.
• Eat more protein.

Regardless of how long you have smoked – 45 years for me — all nicotine is out of your system within 72 hours.

Once finished, you can expect a more energetic, healthier life than before.

Benefits derived from stopping smoking (All statistics are from the U.S. Surgeon General’s 1990 Report.):

• Twenty minutes after quitting, your heart rate drops.
• Twelve hours after quitting, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.
• Three or four days after quitting, the nicotine is out of your system.
• Two weeks to three months after quitting, your circulation improves, your lung function increases.
• Six to nine months after quitting, coughing and shortness of breath decrease.
• One year after quitting, the excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s.
• Five years after quitting, your stroke risk is reduced to that of a former smoker five to15 years after quitting.
• Ten years after quitting, the lung cancer death rate is half that of a continuing smoker.
• Fifteen years after quitting, the risk of coronary heart disease is the same as a nonsmoker’s.

Do not hesitate to contact me by telephone, 310.204.3321, or by email at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net. See my website at www.hypnotherapy4you.net