Smoking – seven things you may not know

Think you know all about smoking and cigarettes? Do you need that extra push to help you quit? Here are seven things you may not have come across before.

One: One chemical used to add “flavour” to cigarettes is urea, a chemical compound that is a major component in urine.[source]

Two: smoking 30 cigarettes a day is like having 30 chest x rays a year. [source]
(We measure radiation in Sieverts (Sv) or millisieverts (mSv). Smoking a pack and a half a day gives you an annual dose of between 60 and 1650 mSv. To put this in perspective: (a) the legal limit for nuclear power plant workers is 20 mSv per year. (b) an abdominal CT scan gives a single dose of 5 to 10 mSv. (c) living near a nuclear power plant gives a dose of 0.0001 mSv per year.)

Three: if you can’t find your pack, your kids may know where it is. 73% of smokers’ children worry that their parents will die due to smoking and many regularly hide the pack to try to stop them. [source]

Four: ladies who smoke have saggier breasts because the chemicals in cigarettes break down the elastin in the skin which keeps it looking firm and youthful. [source]

Five: the gents don’t get away with it either. Those who smoke are more likely to suffer impotence and go bald. This is probably because of reduced circulation. [source/hair loss – source/impotence]

Six: many people are afraid that if they quit they will put on weight. In fact, although short-term weight gain is common, in the long term quitters’ weights are the same as non-smokers. [source]

Seven: a study of 1504 people trying to quit showed that, over the following three years, those who successfully stopped smoking were generally happier and more satisfied with life generally as well as healthier. [source]

Help to quit

Whatever your reasons for quitting, had you considered hypnotherapy to help you?

Many TV and other ads prioritise methods such as ecigs, patches and gum. Large companies, that can afford huge advertising campaigns, produce these products. Hypnotherapy is offered by individual therapists who cannot compete with this kind of budget. It doesn’t mean it might not be the help you need.

A study published in New Scientist in 1992 said that hypnotherapy was five times as effective as willpower, three times as effective as gum, and twice as effective as patches in helping people quit. 

Do contact me or check out this page on hypnotherapy and quitting, if you want to know more about using hypnotherapy to become smoke-free.