Wednesday, 15 August 2007

Sunday, 12 August 2007

Dave Allen's 8 minutes on smoking - brilliant!

This item is absolutely hilarious. I grew up watching Dave Allen on TV and he was brilliant then as he is now. A bit of foul language but bloody funny. Enjoy!

Wednesday, 8 August 2007

Richard Mackenzie Hypnotherapist

This guy offers a really sound approach to quitting smoking using hypnotherapy. Check out his website by clicking the link here:

The truth about drug company sponsored drug trials

If you read my blog regularly, you will know that I have little or no time for drugs to help smokers quit smoking. I believe smoking can be successfully overcome without drugs whatsoever, either by hypnosis or by using my own EasyQuit System book, available at

I found the following BBC Panorama investigation on the BBC's website. You will need Windows Media Player to view this:

Secrets of the Drug Trials

Nicotine Replacement Therapy, Zyban and Varenicline have all got flawed efficacy studies in my opinion. Think carefully before turning to these solutions.

As ever, never stop trying to quit smoking.

Monday, 6 August 2007

Hypnosis Works for Smokers Trying to Quit

I found this article posted which made for interesting reading. It seems that quitting smoking using hypnosis is more successful if your are a man. Maybe men visualise things a little differently than women - after all, men are likely to be 'visually motivated' than women (particularly by the sight of a woman!)

Men are more likely than women to have success using hypnosis to quit smoking, says an Ohio State University report. Researchers reviewed 18 studies of hypnosis-based smoking-cessation programs and found this approach was successful for about 30 percent of men, compared to 23 percent of women. But the researchers said this difference may have more to do with gender than with hypnosis itself.

"My suspicion is that the gender differences are not unique to hypnosis, but are connected to difficulties women have in trying to quit smoking in general," Joseph Green, an associate professor of psychology, said in a prepared statement. He presented the findings July 30 at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Honolulu.

Green said none of the studies examined why hypnosis seemed more effective for men than women. He said that if a smoker -- male or female -- is strongly motivated to quit, hypnosis should be as effective for them as any other smoking-cessation method. But he said people should avoid hypnosis treatments that guarantee success with one session.

Hypnosis to quit smoking often requires multiple sessions and needs to be combined with other approaches, such as cognitive behavior strategies, proper nutrition, exercise and avoidance of smoking triggers, he said.


Friday, 3 August 2007

Quit Smoking Benefits: 10 more reasons to quit smoking

There are many benefits to quitting smoking. Most of the benefits are reductions in the risk of developing some disease or other. These benefits are the reason why you should quit smoking. They wont in themselves help you quit smoking but they will provide you with motivation to go on and learn how to quit smoking successfully.

Quit smoking benefit #1: When you smoke, the cocktail of hot gases and chemicals found in cigarette smoke damages your body. There are 4,000 of them in all! As a result, if you fall ill, you take longer to recover and/or heal. Quitting smoking will significantly improve your ability to fight disease.

Quit smoking benefit #2: Smoking causes damage to your mouth and gums. Smokers are more likely to suffer from 'acute necrotising and ulcerative gingivitis' (diseased gums) which increases the risk of tooth loss and gives you bad breath amongst other things. Urgh!

Quit smoking benefit #3: Smokers are 20 times more likely to suffer from angina than non-smokers.

Quit smoking benefit #4: Want to keep your eyesight? Smokers run twice the risk of developing cataracts when compared to non-smokers. Smokers are also more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and therefore diabetic retinopathy - the degeneration of the retina, leading to blindness. They are also twice as likely to suffer from macular degeneration of the eyes and amblyopia (loss of sight).

Quit smoking benefit #5: Hey stud! Men who smoke increase the risk suffering from erectile dysfunction, reduced ejaculate volume, reduced sperm counts and deformed, damaged or dead sperm. Basically, smoking is a good way to increase your chances of being impotent! Reduce your risks by quitting smoking as soon as possible.

Quit smoking benefit #6: Hey good looking! Smokers run twice the risk of suffering from psoriasis and skin wrinkling. Free radicals found in cigarette smoke damage skin tissues and reduce their elasticity more rapidly than non-smokers. This is why long-term smokers tend to look older and have a poorer complexion than non-smokers.

Quit smoking benefit #7: Cancer anyone? Smokers run an elevated risk of developing lung cancer. They also have a disproportionately high risk of developing throat, oesophageal, bladder, kidney, stomach, pancreatic, mouth and tongue and lip cancers!

Quit smoking benefit #8: 45% of all duodenum or stomach ulcers are found in smokers. Nicotine interacts with the parasympathetic nervous system (the automatic bit) and relaxes the stomach sphincters, allowing stomach acid excess into the oesophagus (heartburn) and the duodenum.

Quit smoking benefit #9: An aortic aneurism is the ballooning of the aorta which can result in it rupturing which leads to massive internal bleeding and quick, certain death. Smokers suffer 57% of all aortic aneurisms.

Quit smoking benefit #10: Stick around! Did you know that people who smoke between 1 and 14 cigarettes per day are 8 times more likely to die early when compared to non-smokers.. Smokers on 15 to 25 cigarettes per day are 13 times more likely to die early compared to non-smokers. Smokers who smoke over 25 cigarettes per day are 25 times more likely to die early!

Finally, there is a Japanese proverb that says "fall down seven times, get up eight". Quitting smoking is just like that too. You have to keep trying to quit. My advice as ever is never quit trying to quit.