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Hypnosis Can Help You Quit Smoking

Unless you are totally cut off from technology, you have probably heard that smoking is bad for you. It causes a myriad of health problems, at the top of the list being several forms of cancer. You may have even tried any of the numerous quit-smoking aids - from gum to patches to inhalers or even a prescription and counseling without any success. Even if you feel you are out of options, there may be something else for you - hypnosis.

There are plenty of reasons to quit smoking. Foremost are your lungs, which you need to breathe and continue living. A healthy lung is nice and pink, and if you have ever seen pictures of a lung after smoking you know how it can turn black and unhealthy. But it does not stop there - smoking can cause several forms of cancer, emphysema, and even increase your risks for strokes and heart attacks.

This is because out of the 4000 chemicals used in cigarettes, at least 43 are known to cause cancer, and more are known to be poisonous. Arsenic is in cigarettes and is used to poison rats and other rodents. Acetone is an ingredient that can be found in some nail polish removers. Benzene is a chemical used in gasoline, and cadmium can be found in batteries. That is just the beginning of the list. Does this sound like something you want floating around in your system?

When you quit smoking, the benefits start to happen almost immediately. In less than half an hour your heart rate will go down. Within a day your carbon monoxide levels will go back to normal. Before the first three months have passed your lung function will have improved and you will have lowered your risk of heart attacks significantly. By the one year anniversary you should notice a decrease in the amount of coughing you suffer from and an increase in your lung capacity. Plus, you will have cut your risk of heart disease to half of what it was when you are smoking. If you stop smoking young you have an additional benefit - 15 years after quitting your risk level of having a heart attack is the same as someone who never smoked. Plus, since you will feel healthier once you have gotten over the hump of quitting, you may be encouraged to take up another goal - such as jogging or exercise or losing weight - that will cause you to be healthier overall.

You may be surprised to find out that hypnosis may be able to help you quit smoking. Many people have the image that hypnosis is a stage prank to make someone flap their arms and cluck like a chicken. However, the true goal of hypnosis is to quiet your conscious brain to allow the subconscious to become available. For quitting smoking, a hypnotist may work with your subconscious to teach it to associate smoking with something unpleasant, like nausea. So while counseling can only deal with the conscious part of the brain - the part that is up and functioning in the foreground most of the time, hypnosis works with the subconscious where we function on a much more automatic level. Many times, a hypnotherapist can get you off of cigarettes with just one session of hypnosis.