Giving up cigarettes is one of the best things you can do for your health.

As well as breathing in smoke, you have also been breathing in over 4,000 chemicals including –

Acetone: Used to dissolve superglue, remove nail polish, irritation to eyes and respiratory system, cause dizziness
Ammonia: Household cleaner
Angelica root extract: Known to cause cancer in animals
Arsenic: Used in rat poisons
Benzene: Used in making dyes, synthetic rubber
Butane: Gas: used in lighter fluid
Carbon monoxide: Poisonous gas
Cadmium: Used in batteries
Cyanide: Deadly poison
DDT: A banned insecticide
Ethyl Furoate: Causes liver damage in animals
Lead: Poisonous in high doses
Formaldehiyde: Used to preserve dead specimens
Methoprene: Insecticide
Maltitol: Sweetener for diabetics
Napthalene: Ingredient in mothballs
Methyl isocyanate: Its accidental release killed 2000 people in Bhopal, India in 1984
Polonium: Cancer-causing radioactive element

Benefits of quitting smoking

The sooner you quit, the faster your body can recover and your risk of serious health conditions will reduce.

The benefits of quitting smoking include:

Better breathing:
Breathing is something we often take for granted, until we struggle
to breath and then it is more than an annoyance. Your daily activities and fitness level will start to improve when you release the smoking habit from your life.

More youthful skin:
Smoking accelerates the aging of your skin, leaving your skin dry and prone to wrinkles. A good reason to stop smoking if you care about your appearance and how you smell.

Reduced likelihood of disease or premature death:
Stopping smoking can improve your overall health, improve quality of life, and give years back to your life that you could otherwise lose from an early death.
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Higher energy levels:
Carbon monoxide levels in the blood are higher in those who smoke, reducing the amount of oxygen in the blood and making it difficult to function. But carbon monoxide levels decrease when a person stops smoking, allowing the lungs and muscles to function normally. The higher oxygen levels also benefit the brain, boosting alertness.
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Financial benefits:
Grab a calculator and multiply your daily cost of cigarettes x 365 to work out your total yearly cost.
Example:
1 pack of 20 cigarettes at $32 (NZ cost 2021) x 365 = $11,680
Have a think about what else you could spend that money on when you save it by not letting it go up in smoke.

What happens to your body when you stop smoking?
The time since the last cigarette and how it affects the body:

• 20 minutes: Blood pressure and heart rate return to normal.
• 12 hours: Carbon monoxide levels drop back to normal.
• 24 hours: The body starts to clear out the mucus build-up in the lungs.
• 72 hours: Breathing becomes easier and energy levels increase.
• 1 month: Appearance of the skin improves.
• 3 to 9 months: Lung function can improve by up to 10 per cent.
• 1 year: Risk of suffering from a heart attack falls to about half of that of a smoker.
• 10 years: Risk of developing lung cancer falls to about half of that of a smoker.
• 15 years: Risk of suffering heart attack falls to that of a non-smoker.

Using hypnosis to stop smoking

Hypnosis can help you quit cigarettes by addressing the psychological aspects of your addiction and looking into your underlying motivations for smoking.

Hypnotherapy works by breaking the addiction from within the mind.
Often we decide consciously that we want to stop because it is bad for our health and costs lots of money, but, our subconscious mind disagrees, which is our stronger mind where our beliefs, habits and memories are housed.
So as hypnotherapists we work with your subconscious mind focused on habit change to where both conscious and subconscious agree and work together rather than in conflict.

One of the rules of the mind is –
When the conscious and subconscious are in conflict, the subconscious will generally win.

Instead of replacing and slowly reducing the amount of addictive chemicals in your system, hypnotherapy works by breaking the negative behaviours and thought patterns associated with smoking.

Hypnotherapy targets the subconscious motivations for smoking.
These may include the need to reduce boredom, stress, loneliness, or the desire to be accepted by others.
Hypnotherapy also targets the subconscious smoking triggers, such as driving, cigarette with coffee or alcohol, after a meal, and helps break these associations.

Book a session with the Auckland Hypnotherapy Clinic

We focus on developing a new mind-set toward smoking.

To accept the danger of smoking and no longer associate it with enjoyment.

Letting go of old out dated beliefs and routines and challenging the smoking habit.

Break the negative behaviours and thought patterns associated with smoking.

Replacing the old program with new healthy alternative focus and motivations.

The hypnosis process is very relaxing and we could all do with less stress and more calm in our lives.

At the Auckland Hypnotherapy Clinic we use a blend of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Neuro Linguistic Programing (NLP), and Advanced Hypnosis Techniques to achieve the best results for our clients.