Why and better ways to quit smoking for the Great American Smokeout....

Today's Post: Thursday, 11-17-2011

If you are reading this, you may well be one of the smokers who already would like to quit.

Or you may know someone you care about who smokes. That could be a member of your family, a friend, or someone you work with.

Today is a day to not smoke just for today or smoke less and not around other people just for today.

But it’s also a day to learn more about why smoking is so remarkably harmful and decide yourself to do something about it!

The two key messages in this post are:

1. Smoking is dramatically more harmful than about 99% of all smokers have ever heard about.

Cancer is a greater risk than you may have heard. But some smokers escape it.

The big problems with tobacco smoke, however, are certain and harm every smoker every time! Not one smoker in a 100 knows this.

Knowing that in detail makes it far easier to quit.

If you smoke and quit, you will escape far more harm than you might now have any clue about.

2. There are some key ways to quit that load the dice in your favor.

Bottom line, it’s critically important to stay away from tobacco smoke!

A. Here’s part one.

Smoking is dramatically more harmful than about 99% of all smokers have ever heard about.

Cancer is a greater risk than you may have heard. But some smokers escape it.

The big problems with tobacco smoke, however, are certain and harm every smoker every time! Not one smoker in a 100 knows this.

Knowing that in detail makes it far easier to quit.

If you smoke and quit, you will escape far more harm than you might now have any clue about.

a) The cancer risk is one most smokers know a bit about. But they know some escape it. So they just kid themselves they’ll be one of the lucky ones and keep smoking.

But the cancer risk alone is bit worse than is often known.

In heavy smokers who most like smoking, a full 25% do get lung cancer.

Why keep doing something you like that will kill you? Find some other and safer things you like that much!

Because the radioactive element polonium used in the fertilizer for tobacco gets into the tobacco, if you breathe tobacco smoke or put tobacco in your nose or mouth, you just increased your cancer risk. The polonium gets into your blood and goes everywhere in your body.

This is a huge reason why tobacco smoke causes 30% of ALL cancers. Prostate, breast, colon, brain, and more kinds of cancers do come from this source.

Every expert on ways to prevent cancer starts with staying completely away from tobacco smoke!

Would you walk into the hot part of a nuclear reactor each day with no protection? No?

Then don’t smoke or stay around people who are smoking!

b) But some smokers do escape lung cancers and other cancers.

So why not assume you will be one of the lucky ones & keep smoking?

That’s what some smokers tell themselves if they fail to try to quit or to go back to smoking.

The huge problem with smoking is that there is no such thing!!

All smokers have bad luck and are harmed.

Absolutely NO smokers or people exposed to second hand smoke escape harm.

That’s because the really BIG problems with smoking are the ones that most smokers don’t know about and do the most harm. They are in addition to the cancer risks!

Just like you don’t build a brick building instantly but need to put down bricks one at time, every exposure to tobacco smoke adds to your damage inside your lungs and blood vessels.

EVERY puff or breath you take of tobacco smoke is like building the building of your future strokes, heart attacks, mental decline, and erectile dysfunction and more.

Each and every one adds a brick to your future bad health, suffering, higher medical bills, and shorter life.

For example, lung function is a key indicator for good health in many categories. If it’s high, your health is good and likely to stay that way. If it’s bad, you are more likely to be sick or get sick and die sooner.

Oops! Even small and short exposure to tobacco smoke harms your lung function.

Here’s how that helps you quit.

They tested the lung function of teen smokers. When they saw their lung function was about where an older middle-aged person was, twice as many were able to quit. They assumed they were too young to be harmed before that. WRONG!

The coaches who once told me smoking cut down on your wind were right. But they WAY understated the case!

But the biggest harm of smoking is that it relentlessly causes heart disease.

Every exposure to tobacco smoke adds damage and plaque inside your arteries and begins to restrict your circulation.

But there’s more! Exposure to tobacco smoke can cause sudden surges in how fast your blood will clot and how much.

So people with some of this blood vessel damage who would have escaped getting a heart attack WILL have a heart attack if they are exposed to tobacco smoke.

That’s why communities that mostly or completely ban public smoking almost immediately see WAY fewer people going to their emergency room with heart attacks.

The payback financially is significant and immediate.

So, if you are a bit older or have smoked for a few years, if you want to avoid going to the emergency room with a heart attack, STOP smoking and avoid second hand smoke.

B. But what if you smoke now?

The second purpose of the Great American Smoke Out is to have people stop for just today.

Some people who want to quit anyway will realize that if they can do it for one day, they can just keep being a nonsmoker.

You could be one of them. So why not give it a shot?!

Now that you know, unlike most smokers, how horribly bad for you it is, it may be a good bit easier to do!

(If you can’t do that, at least limit your smoking today to times you are by yourself. That way at least you can help more people avoid second hand smoke today.)

What if you’ve tried to quit before and not found it easy or successful?

Knowledge is power. Suppose you knew your home was about to be hit by a Tsunami or other devastating disaster in 48 hours. It would be a LOT of work and effort to move you and your family & most important possessions far enough away. But you would manage it.

The knowledge in the first part here about how harmful smoking really is and that the harm is 100% certain is precisely the same.

Compared to most smokers, your chances of quitting have at least doubled by knowing that! Most doctors know it. But so far, not one smoker in 100 does.

Now that you are one of the few, you will find you can quit more easily. Not that the temporary side effects are any less nasty if you get those. But you now know a lot more about what’s at stake.

Here are some other ways to multiply your chances to succeed.

1. Use Effective thinking strategies:

a) Think through in detail why you want to quit and the benefits of it

Are there health harms you are extremely determined to prevent?

My Dad died of heart failure caused in part by the several heart attacks he survived. And, he might have avoided those if he hadn’t smoked earlier in his life. And he might not have gotten the first one at that young an age if he hadn’t been visiting a city where so many people exposed him to second hand smoke.

I’ve made a decision to make a continuing effort to avoid what happened to him.

Do you have anyone where you don’t want to suffer what they did?

The more you focus on that, the easier quitting gets.

Do you hate being unable to do the things you want most to do?

Do you prefer being able to walk and hike and live independently?

Do you want to keep being able to enjoy sex?

Smokers who develop really bad lung disease and erectile dysfunction cannot do these things at all.

Do you want to wind up there? If not, focus on avoiding it!

The more you focus on that, the easier quitting gets.

Are you money motivated?

Unless national governments are completely unaware of the facts and if they keep needing tax revenues, taxes on cigarettes and tobacco will keep going up.

If you make enough money now to have some left over each pay period where you don’t have to raid savings to pay your bills, guess what?

If you quit and put all the money you really have been spending on smoking each month into savings and invest it decently once it builds up, you will have a LOT of money in as little as 10 years.

But there’s more.

Do you like being ripped off and cheated when the people doing it are doing it on purpose?

If not, why the dickens spend ANY money on tobacco products??! Do you realize THEY know the damage their products do to you?

Some people get angry when things like that happen to them. Are you one?
If so, refuse to keep paying these rotters to make you sick!

Why give them even a dime of your money!?

Smokers cost health plans 25% more on medical bills. Employers and governments can’t afford to pay for the costs now. And the costs will go up a lot more soon!

Soon they will all charge smokers the extra 25% UP FRONT.

If you still smoke, that money will come directly out of your pocket and your current spending.

Would you like to avoid that?

You can. Quit smoking!

The more you focus on that, the easier quitting gets.

Are there people you care about who you will let down or harm if you continue to smoke?

Do you have children living at home who you want to protect instead of harm? Do you want to be around and healthy to help them when they need it? Do you want to see them grow up?

Are there coworkers or friends you smoke around now you don’t want to harm?

Do you have older relatives where you would prefer not to be the cause of a heart attack they could have avoided?

Many people have succeeded in quitting because of these motivations.

Do any of them fit you?

The more you focus on that, the easier quitting gets.

b) Here’s how that helps:

People who focus on why they'd like to do something that harms them tend to do it anyway.

But when they learn to focus on the harmful consequences, they have little trouble with leaving it alone.

The key is to practice reviewing the negative consequences you want to avoid until you are very familiar with them.

Then when you are under stress or a smoker tries to talk you into doing it too with them, it's doable to remember the negative consequences you want to avoid. That has proven to help people decline successfully and stay free of the addiction.

2. Use effective ways to quit:

a) There once was a story about a castle protected by four knights. Each one was bigger and more intimidating than the one before.

Many got by the first one. A few of those got by the second one too. But only one attacker managed to be skilled and courageous enough to get by all the frst three. And, hundreds had started out to do so. Each of the knights was a skilled and determined fighter.

(The one man who got by the first three and was still courageous enough to take on the huge and final fourth knight in black discovered, he was really the smallest and youngest brother who was just barely big enough to get on his horse in his intimidating get up.)

One key secret to quitting successful is to plan ahead of time to use their strategy. Do as these brothers did!

Plan to take your best shot at the simplest and most direct way to quit. There are many people who have succeeded with just that one strategy.

BUT plan in advance to go to the second strategy if you need to do so.

Then use the second strategy right away if the first one doesn’t get it done! Some people have succeeded with just the second one. But here again, plan in advance to add the third strategy if you find you need to do so.

You don’t need to do them in this order.

But here are the three safest and most effective methods.

1. Quit cold turkey. Throw out all the tobacco you have in your home, at work, in your car, etc. Stop buying more and don’t “bum” any or accept any as a “gift.”

You can be a permanent nonsmoker today or tomorrow if you do this and it works.

For those where this works, it’s the fastest and simplest way to go.

It doesn’t work at all for some people. For others it may take a few tries.

Who it works best for:

If you are a very self determined person who almost always gets what you set after, this may be a good choice.

If you are extremely consistent, organized, and focused and self-disciplined in the rest of your life, this may be a good choice for you.

If one or two of the reasons to quit has a HUGE emotional impact for you, this may be a good choice for you.

It also may work for you if when you tried quitting before, you didn’t have that much trouble with the side effects of nicotine withdrawal.

2. The second way to quit is for people a bit lower on the skills needed to quit cold turkey but who do well with coaching and support from people who believe in what you are trying to do.

For quitting smoking, there are experienced and knowledgeable people to do this for free or at very low cost.

It was in Health Day’s article earlier today that: “Smokers can call 1-800-QUIT-NOW from anywhere in the United States.”

They also note that the “American Lung Association offers the "Freedom From Smoking" online program.”

Your HMO or employer may offer a program. And one employer who is about to charge smokers 25% more for health care coverage is also offering to pay all costs for a smoking cessation program for their employees who smoke who will make an effort to quit.

Your local chapter of the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Association may also have programs in your area.

If this sounds like you or your cold turkey attempt didn’t quite take, try one of these programs immediately!

For those they fit, they double or triple your success rate.

3. Some people find they get truly harsh side effects from nicotine withdrawal. They get grouchy and irritable. They have trouble concentrating. They feel unwell.

If you’ve tried to quit before and found that happens to you all day long, the over the counter nicotine patches may work for you.

If you do OK most of the time, but crave nicotine about at the times in your day you used to smoke, the over the counter nicotine gum or a prescription nicotine inhaler can help.

(The two drugs that can help have dangerous enough and obnoxious enough side effects, like smoking itself, they are best avoided.

Only use either if you have tried everything else first and really worked at it.

And, only use either if you have great support at home and see your doctor every week while you are taking them.)

Depending on who you are and how your body works, you may want to try these 3 methods one at a time.

Or you might want to start out doing all 3 at once.

President Obama smoked and found his nicotine withdrawal side effects quite harsh. (In his job, he also had a lot of stress!) As his doctors cheered him on, he kept using the nicotine gum and succeeded.

The oil entrepreneur J. Paul Getty became a billionaire due to how effectively determined and active he was at doing the work necessary. One night, he was about to walk to the store in the rain to get cigarettes.

He suddenly realized his addiction to smoking was about to make him do something quite disagreeable. He got really angry that his habit was so bad it was controlling him.

But once he realized that, since he would not tolerate being pushed around, he simply never smoked again.

In my own case, I got lucky twice.

I smoked for a bit as a younger man even doing so heavily for a short time. But I simply had no addiction to it. When I skipped it for a few days, I had zero side effects. It was more a way to discharge my nervous energy by giving me something to keep my hands busy.

Then one day when I was smoking heavily enough my hand had a yellow stain on it, I went to the doctor with the kind of bad cold that had me spitting up heavy green and yellow gunk and was giving me asthma from impeding my ability to breathe.

I always HATED that kind of cold.

The doctor I saw, looked at my hand and said, “You know if you didn’t smoke, you wouldn’t get this sort of cold as often.”

That was it! I was done smoking the second I heard him say that!

I would have done even more to have that kind of cold less often!

I felt like I’d been sprung from jail. (In fact, given what I now know, I may also have spared myself a death sentence.)

What will work for you may be different from any of these stories. But if you use the information in this post, you will find one!

b) People who focus on why to quit and become emotionally determined to do so, do often succeed

We’ve covered that above. But remember to keep focusing on the several reasons to quit that mean the most to you.

Doing that is almost as effective as having magic wand to use when you need it.

So stay in practice so it works when you do need it.

3. Adding exercise doubles your success chances.

Of course if you have been smoking and not exercising, take it very easy and slow for the first few months!

But surprisingly, those who exercise already or who add exercise immediately as they quit double their chances of success a study found.

Do it! You get a double benefit. You double your ability to quit successfully. And, you also begin to recover from the health harm faster.

4. Planning a smoke free life

a) Cut way back on spending time with smokers or at least when they are smoking.

Trade emails or talk on the phone instead of meeting them in person. Or hang out with more nonsmokers. Or only see your smoking friends in places that will throw them out if they smoke.

b) Find, learn, and use other ways to energize yourself and turn down stress.

One of the reasons exercise doubles your chances of success is that it does both.

A single fast set of situps or pushups can energize your brain. And a walk on a pretty day when it’s sunny and you are around trees can do a great job of lifting your stress.

Another method that adds extra stress relief and has been tested as being the best way to do so is to learn and practice Tai Chi at least for 10 minutes a day.

c) Find ways to repair the damage and protect your health.

Read this blog for ideas or do your own research or do both.

Exercise definitely fits here.

You just got done pushing up your risks for heart diseases of all kinds and for all kinds of cancers before you quit.

The more ways you learn to use and then do -- that prevent heart disease and that prevent cancer – the faster you will begin to recover from what you were doing to yourself.

Making this commitment to protecting your health also will virtually bullet proof you from beginning to smoke again.

At that point smoking or being around smokers would set back something you are trying to do.

So you’ll protect your efforts to stay healthy by not doing that.