Stop Smoking for good!

Stop Smoking for Good! All smokers fall into one of two categories: The habit smoker and the emotional smoker. Most smokers start as habit smokers and over time become emotional smokers. Other factors that determine emotional smoking have to do with life experiences. A person living a hard life filled with trauma and unfortunate circumstances create strong anchors connected to their smoking habit. Therefore, it is much harder for emotional smokers to stop smoking without help.

According to the CDC, smoking deaths account for more than 480,000 deaths every year, or about 1 in 5. You do not need to be a statistic. We want to offer some tips to eliminate this horrendous product which robs people of their health and well-being.

1. Plan your stop smoking strategy. We suggest to make a list of reasons why you want to stop smoking, and what you like about smoking. This may be helpful because it can help you recognize your triggers and identify things you can do to strengthen your resolve to be a nonsmoker. When coming up with your strategy we also suggest to come up with a healthy distractor. Think of a healthy distractor that takes little to no energy. If you have an oral fixation maybe try eating a mint. Perhaps listening and singing to your favorite song will cheer you up. Healthy distractors will vary from person to person and it's important to find the right ones that fit your lifestyle.

2. Eliminate triggers. After you identify the triggers from your list, which can be people, places, things, and situations, eliminate what makes sense. Such as throwing away cigarettes, lighters, and ashtrays. Avoid places where you may be triggered to smoke. A change of routine will help you break the temptation triggers that lead to smoking—we are creatures of habit so if we change our routine it will give us something else to focus on instead of smoking.

3. Get support by letting your friends and family members know. It’s important to get their support. This will help the people closest to you so that they won't enable you or unknowingly sabotage your efforts.

4. Hypnosis is one of the most effective, quickest, and healthiest ways to break the addiction of smoking cigarettes. A complete meta-analysis reviewed more than 600 studies comparing various ways that individuals can stop smoking. Another analysis that included more than 70,000 smokers found some compelling results in favor of hypnosis.

Bonus: Remember your reason why you want to stop smoking—whether it’s for health or other personal reasons. Going back to the ‘why’ will encourage you to stay strong and leave smoking in the past where it belongs.