Stop Smoking Tips

What Are the Best Ways to Stop Smoking?

Do a google search for Best Ways to Quit Smoking or Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) and you will be inundated with a variety of products, from patches, gums, smoking hypnosis, herbal pills, lozenges, inhalers and sprays, books, CD's and lots more. Everyone claims their product is the best and will easily help you give up smoking. So where do you start and what really works?

Nicotine Replacement Therapies or NRT come in a variety of forms the most popular being chewing gum and nicotine patches which are placed on your skin. These all work by replacing the nicotine obtained from smoking to reduce the withdrawal effects you can have when you stop smoking.

There are several disadvantages to these aids, one being their expense. If you are a heavy smoker then the cost will probably be similar to what you would have spent on cigarettes but if you are only a light smoker you may find the cost prohibitive. In some areas you can receive NRT subsidized or even free so it is worth checking with your doctor for this help.

There are several side effects from using NRT which include upset stomachs, heartburn, headaches and skin rashes. A few people who use these smoking aids will also suffer from addiction switching. They may have given up smoking but they are now addicted the gum or patch: this has a variety of dangerous side effects on their health if used in the long term. Reports of hair loss, chronic depression, elevated blood pressure, facial reddening, bleeding and diseased gums are just a few of the effects of long term use.

Overall, nicotine replacement therapy could enable about 15% of smokers who seek help in stopping smoking to give up the habit but some of the side effects including the addiction switching should be fully considered before using this type of stop smoking aid.

Many medical professionals suggest using a smoking aid in conjunction with behavioural therapy and/or counselling. However there is a strong movement towards natural ways to quit with a number of studies proving that these could be the most effective methods even without the NRT. Possibly the most popular natural ways to quit include NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming), Acupuncture and Hypnotherapy.

The advantages of these systems are they are not reliant on using nicotine as an aid.

Acupuncture restores and balances a person's natural energy and healing system and with this equilibrium they are better placed to control the desires of smoking. It can be expensive as a number of treatments are needed and you should always use a professional practitioner as unclean needles can cause an infection. It is hard to determine the success rate of this system as there are a number of contradictory studies.

Hypnosis for smoking is a system that is receiving more recognition for its success rate and because it is a natural way to quit with no side effects. It works by planting ideas and affirmations in the subconscious mind whilst the smoker is in a deeply relaxed state. There have been reports of no cravings and no desire to smoke after one session. The success of the hypnosis smoking is dependent on the practitioner and it can be expensive. However there are a number of self hypnosis products which are good value for money.

With any of these processes to stop smoking each person will try a variety of processes before they hit on the one that helps them. No one will stop smoking unless they want to do so, and patient motivation must be the prerequisite of any quitting program.

Anna Barrington writes for Stopsmoking7day. For more information about this please visit Stopsmoking7day.

Best Ways to quit Smoking

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