How to Quit Smoking When Pregnant

Stopping smoking isn't a stroll in the park but it can be done. And now that you're pregnant, quitting has never been more crucial. Once you discover you are pregnant,you should quit to avoid having a child with low birth weight, congenital heart defects, pre-term delivery, miscarriage, or even a still birth.

The best way to protect the fetus is to stop smoking. If a woman plans to have a child in the near future or is already pregnant, dropping off cigarettes is vital. A woman who quits within the first 3 or 4 months of pregnancy can reduce the possibilities of her baby being born premature or with health problems connected with smoking.

To save your child, you have to cease smoking now. And even if you haven't attempted to quit smoking in the past, you can do it this time. Statistics by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), reveal that 45% of women who smoked cigarettes 3 months before pregnancy quit during pregnancy. So,you are not alone, you can also quit. But how?

Is it through cold turkey or nicotine replacement therapy (NRTs)? Even though some pregnant women say they quit smoking cold turkey during pregnancy, talk to your doctor about any stop smoking decision or choice you want to make. His advice will be a huge life saver during the quit process.

Nicotine replacement therapies on the other hand have been subjected to a lot of studies to determine its effectiveness and safety during pregnancy. While some studies give it a passmark,a recent study,published in the March 1,2012 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, reportedly found little evidence that the treatment helps pregnant women kick the smoking habit.

Other treatment methods that can be used to quit smoking when pregnant include behavioural therapy,motivational interviewing,offering incentives,self help videos and audios,and so many others.

Studies have revealed behavioural therapy and motivational interviewing as being very effective in stop smoking for pregnant women while the safety of zyban and chantix for use by pregnant women have not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.

If you want to quit smoking when pregnant,I suggest you choose a “quit date” and plan towards making the day a success. Do away with all your smoking paraphernalia before the d-day. Plan how you are going to tackle nicotinewithdrawal symptoms that will no doubt come your way after smoking your last cigarette. Carry a bottle of water everywhere you go and take a sip anytime you feel like smoking. Enlist the support of friends and your partner during the quit process. Consult your doctor and just quit according to his advice.

Iyabo Oyawale runs http://2stopsmokingtips.com, a highly successful blog that has helped many people quit smoking. She brings 10 years hand-on research on smoking cessation to bear on her blog. Visit her blog to download her free stop smoking guide now! 

Does Hypnosis Work for Stop Smoking?

For a while now,hypnosis has been bandied as the all-in-all solution for weight loss,alcohol addiction,stop smoking,pain and stress relief as well as many others. Hypnotists claim stop smoking hypnotherapy has a 90.6% Success Rate. In this article,we shall look at the effectiveness of quit smoking hypnosis as well as its shortfalls.

The goal of stop smoking hypnotherapy and other forms of counseling is to remove the motives that make people want to return to smoking but the problem with most forms of therapy (including but not limited to hypnosis) is that smokers choose to return to smoking.

So,how effective is quit smoking hypnosis? A study published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis reveals that stop smoking hypnotherapy is 40% effective after 8 visits. Yet another study concluded that hypnosis patients were twice as likely to remain smoke-free after two years. 

While another research confirms hypnosis to be 3 times as effective as the patch and 15 times as effective as willpower,yet another records an 81% success rate after hypnosis for smoking cessation.

Before the 81% success rate was arrived at,the study authors (Elkins GR and Rajab MH) said 30 smokers registered in an HMO (they were referred by their primary physician for treatment). 21 patients returned after an initial consultation and received hypnosis for quit smoking. At the end of treatment, 81% of those patients claimed that they had ceased smoking, and 48% reported abstinence 1 year after treatment. 

 

All these seem to be cheery news about hypnosis for smoking cessation but there is a study which disagrees with all of the claims above.

It says hypnosis for stop smoking still needs to be researched to confirm its suitability for use. The research, published in the May,2000 edition of International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis,warns smokers who want to drop off cigarettes with hypnosis to watch their back.

This research,which was spearheaded by Joseph P. Green, associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University's Lima campus and Steven Jay Lynn, of the State University of New York at Binghamton, looked at 56 studies of hypnosis and stop smoking to find out if the studies back hypnosis as an intervention method.

The study concluded that while smokers who undergo hypnosis could abstain from smoking, it was hard to know if hypnosis had any benefit above treatments like behavior modification – which really helps smokers desirous to quit. 

 

While stating that it was too early to okay hypnosis as a generally recognized and accepted stop smoking treatment, the study noted that most times, hypnosis is packaged alongside other treatments, and this makes it very hard to find out which singular therapy got the smoker to quit smoking.

It also noted the fact that hypnotic procedures are largely non- standardized and that there is very little reason to accept that hypnosis is more effective than other stop smoking treatments like self-help therapy, using nicotine replacement therapies, taking medication, acupuncture, as well as individual and group counseling. As a result, smokers who want to quit should be shown a variety of possibly effective treatments and left to make their own choice.

The long and short of it is that even though hypnosis works for smoking cessation,smokers desirous to quit with it should tread with a lot of caution.

Iyabo Oyawale runs http://2stopsmokingtips.com, a highly successful blog that has helped many people quit smoking. She brings 10 years hand-on research on smoking cessation to bear on her blog. Visit her blog to download her free stop smoking guide now!

Immediate Benefits of Stop Smoking

Thinking of stopping smoking and wondering what the immediate benefits are? Then read this article as it discusses the instant benefits of quit smoking and how they can gear up up to cease smoking. The long and short of it is that you can start seeing results shortly after you quit smoking.

The first immediate benefit of stop smoking is that your breathing will improve and if you have a cough,just 2 weeks of not smoking will cure it. In short,you will have fewer breathing and chest problems.

The second benefit of quit smoking is that you will be happy and contented with your life. Before they kick the smoking habit,many smokers feel stop smoking will disrupt their lives,relationships and careers but a recent study indicated otherwise. The study published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine revealed that ex-smokers are happier than people who still smoke.

The third benefit of smoking cessation is that you will save tons of money. A pack of cigarette is now more expensive than before because of the ever-increasing taxes on cigarettes.

The fourth short term benefit of stop smoking is that the stains on your teeth, fingers, and fingernails(as a result of long years of smoking) will fade and the smoke smell will disappear from your hair, clothes, car and furniture.

Yet another immediate benefit of quitting is that your wounds heal better (smoking slows down healing).

If you stop smoking,chances of you contracting a heart disease drops substantially. Your heart regains its health and vitality once you stop smoking(smoking destroys blood circulation and causes a heart attack).

Yet another short term benefit of stop smoking is that your dental health improves greatly. Bad breath flies through the window fast and you regain your confidence.

Another benefit of stop smoking is that you will be more eligible for any operation (some surgeons will not perform surgery on smokers).

If you stop smoking today,you will immediately have more energy. You will feel better and energetic.

Another benefit of smoking cessation is that it helps your everyday memory. You are able to remember faster and better than smokers.

Stop smoking also leads to a healthy and glowing skin. Smoking destroys the underlying structure of the skin; this quickly leads to premature aging. It creates wrinkles and destroys elasticity.

Suffice to say, stop smoking enhances your overall personality. It leads to a change in your entire life and since this is desirable,you can as well quit smoking today to save your life and future.

Ten Sure Ways to Quit Cigarettes That Work Every Time

Here are ten sure ways that will help you to quit smoking. They worked for me and I am sure they will work for you.

1. Tell everyone you are going to quit cigarettes. Make sure everyone knows. The whole idea here is to stop people offering you cigarettes.It is easy to accept one if people keep shoving them at you.

2. Avoid smoking areas at work. If your not there you cannot smoke.

3. Find someone who wants to quit as well. By having a partner to quit with you can motivate each other during moments when your will-power alone fails you.

4. If you find that you cannot get by on will-power use a quit cigarette aid like gum, patches or hypnosis to see you through.

5. Hide your lighter away so even if you are tempted to smoke you will not be able to light up your cigarettes.

6. Avoid cigarettes or people who have them at times you would normally smoke. For example if your having a coffee or a break or when your on the telephone.The reasoning here is your brain will associate these times a with cigarettes and give you the urge to have one.

7. If you feel your will-power waning do something to keep yourself occupied. Like reading a book, a crossword, or even go for a walk away from any cigarettes.

8. Take up exercise or a sport. You will soon find out the effects cigarettes are having on your body and will have extra motivation to quit cigarettes.

9. Put the money to one side you normally spend on a packet of cigarettes. Each time you would buy a packet put the money away somewhere. After a week count how much money you have saved. There will enough money there after twelve months to pay for a holiday.

10. This is a killer tip. Each time someone offers you a cigarette break it in half. This reinforces your will-power and will stop people from persistently offering you cigarettes.

Reference:Mark S Daniels

Why Smoking Makes You Cough!

Want to know why smoking makes you cough? Well, coughing usually indicates there is something in the respiratory passages that shouldn't be there, and in the case of a smoker that something is the harmful chemicals found in cigarette smoke. The body is simply trying to protect itself with the cough reflex, which is a vital part of our body's complicated defence mechanism. But despite the body's best efforts to cough these toxins out, some of the poisons in the smoke remain in the lungs. What this means is that over time the smoker's health gets worse, never better, as a direct result of inhaling tobacco smoke.

My brother was no different to many regular smokers in that he'd cough a lot. In actual fact he was always coughing and cleaning his throat. If that's not the body's way of telling the smoker that enough is enough, then I don't know what is! Of course, my brother would jest that his constant coughing is a healthy way to exercise the lungs. He'd often come out with a daft idiom that goes; It wasn't the coughing that carried him off it's the coffin they carried him off in! Alas, he was carried off in a coffin as a young man in his late 40's thanks to an aggressive throat cancer.

Coughing His Way Out of a Job!

I currently work in a call center and it breaks my heart to hear my lovely work colleague sitting next to me cough, cough, cough, all day long. It worries me that he'll go the same way as my brother did. So irritating is his coughing that he's even been told that it's annoying certain co-workers that man the nearby phones. He's actually had his first official warning which states that if doesn't do something about his persistent coughing, he may have to be dismissed from the job. He told me in private that he's sooner lose his job than his cigarettes, so it looks as though his days at this company are numbered. Oh how powerful the grip king nicotine has on its smokers!

It Starts with that Morning Cough!

Not all smokers cough, and not all smokers cough as soon as they take up the habit. Some people smoke so few cigarettes in a day that they don't build up the same levels and toxins and irritations as heavy smokers do. But not coughing doesn't mean to say they're free from smoker's health risks, it simply means they may take a little longer to get sick than the heavy smoker. Most long term smokers develop what is commonly called the "smoker's cough". This usually starts by extended sessions of coughing after they wake up in the morning and progresses over time to an all day cough.

This early morning chesty cough is often followed by a gagging and spitting of brownish green phlegm. Once the smoker has relieved themselves of this irritation, many go on to light up that first cigarette of the day! This then induces yet more coughing, spitting, and gagging, after which time they have cleared their chest in preparation for the day ahead. A smoker doesn't tend to complain about this bizarre ritual, but rather take it as an expectable drawback to their love of nicotine.

I learnt a lot about the dangers of smoking and passive smoking after my brother got ill, and one thing that alarmed me more than anything was that a smoker will only quit when he or she wants to, and not when they need to. Even after ill health directly linked to smoking, some smokers still continue to pursue their habit of a lifetime until there is no life left to pursue.

I've come to understand that only a smoker can fully understand and sympathise with a fellow smoker on the difficulties of smoking cessation. Advice given out by those who have never smoked will most likely fall on deaf ears. The smoker's cough is the body giving advance warnings that the build up of toxins in the throat and lungs is becoming too much to bear. Sadly, so many smokers ignore the signs and advice given out from their own bodies and medical professionals that they take their stubborn denial to the grave with them. Still dying for a fag?

Reference:Andy Maingam