An Effective 6 Week Plan to Give Up Smoking

I am not sure how many people there are out there who still smoke, but if you are one of them – or know someone who is – then this new book claims to help, even if you have no willpower! Think I will pass it on to the group who huddle out in the shelter of the doorway outside our choir rehearsal room whenever we have a break!

‘Love Not Smoking’ (£8.99) is the brainchild of Professors Karen Pine and Ben Fletcher and what it offers is a simple, effective, 6 week programme that guides the reader into being smoke free for good without beating them over the head with a sharp implement every time they reach for a cigarette. Leave the beating over the head to their fellow non-smokers!

Professors Ben (C) Fletcher and Karen Pine are both professors of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire and have pioneered successful behaviour change using their Do something Different technique and their research is internationally recognized, published in academic journals and presented at conferences worldwide.
They focus on motivating the smoker to quit so they can realise that they’ll “love not smoking” and get to put lots more back into their life. Giving up smoking does leave a void, so the book doesn’t preach or lecture the reader about how much they’ve smoked in the past or why they should be giving up now. Its unique approach is more holistic in its outlook and treats the individual’s psychology and their behaviours, not just their habit.

The authors’ tools and techniques are based on groundbreaking research about why people get trapped or stuck with particular habits and then enable them to break free. At its simplest it is about recognizing habits and patterns (like always having a cigarette after a meal, or with a coffee) and offering suggestions on how to change to make quitting easier.

It is all about doing something different and not being judgmental or beating yourself up if you haven’t managed to quit before. They suggest you forget willpower and withdrawal – or even the crutch that is the nicotine patch – and with this powerful method they claim you can break the cycle and pattern of smoking. With daily tasks, inspirational ideas and a wide range of instant habit-breaking tools you even get a Love Not Smoking support network on Facebook where you can share stories and get support from fellow quitters.

If you order a copy now you will have read it in plenty of time for NO SMOKING DAY on March 9th – could be a great day to start putting a plan into action – and if you have a Kindle reader there is a free download of an extract from the book at Amazon, just go here: Start to Love Not Smoking: Free Introductory Extract

March 2011 Update: The Love Not Smoking App for Iphone & Andriod is available now!

If you are a smoker, or have a loved one who smokes and wants to quit then the Love Not Smoking App will help you on your journey. It’s National No Smoking day on the 9th March so there’s no better time to start afresh and stop smoking for good.

This unique, six week scientifically-proven psychological programme retrains your brain, breaking old smoking habits and changing your life for good. The programme gets you ready gradually for your first smoke-free day, then provides daily bursts of advice and support to establish your new, smoke-free life. It has a wide range of tools including:

Daily tips, tasks and alerts
Inspirational videos from the authors
Illustrated Habit-Breaker cards
Addictive games for those Twitchy Finger moments
Inspire Me! messages to help you beat your cravings
Money Saved calculator
Love Not Smoking wallpaper for your iPhone or iPad
Advice and ideas from the Love Not Smoking Facebook support group
Integration with Twitter and email to help spread the word to your loved ones

Check out more info here:
www.hayhouse.co.uk/lovenotsmokingapp

Given up smoking? Take up gardening!

If you know anyone who has recently given up smoking, or is thinking of doing so, then there is some great news on a really substantial benefit if they will also take up a very specific form of physical exercise. Former smokers can decrease their risk of developing lung cancer by up to an amazing 45%, and if they also reform their diet they can reduce their risk even further. These findings came out of a study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Sixth Annual International Conference in Philadelphia this month.

Researchers studied 3,800 women and men using a pairing system that sorts people according to smoking status. Therefore, smokers with lung cancer would only be compared to smokers without lung cancer, with the same pairing taking place for former smokers and those who have never smoked. Researchers compared those who had not developed lung cancer based on a variety of factors including exposure to secondhand smoke, dust exposure, family cancer history, personal respiratory history, diet and exercise.

The ‘exercise’ that is credited with this decrease in risk is gardening, because apparently that is one of the few activities that people with lung cancer report doing. So the former smokers who gardened reduced their lung cancer risk by 45% percent, while current smokers who gardened reduced their risk by 33%. Hopefully they were also growing their own vegetables because eating four or more salads a week reduced their risk by 67 percent, and for those still smoking who gardened and chomped on the green stuff they reduced their risk by 71% Time to get out the garden spade, rake and dibber and get planting.

Women smokers at greater risk for heart attacks

Traditionally women have enjoyed a natural shield against a major cardiac event such as a heart attack. Being a woman has ensured a huge nine year barrier before women become more prone to heart disease, but now a new finding has been reported by the American Heart Association. A study of more than 7,000 men and women undertaken at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has found that women who smoke eliminate that beneficial barrier and their risk of a heart attack is exactly the same as a man’s.

In real terms, this means that up to now, women who do not smoke would not normally present with heart problems until on average around the age of 71 but women smokers are being seen with heart problems at around the age of 62. That is a loss of nine years, but if you need an even greater incentive to give up – or persuade the woman in your life to do so = then the researchers also found that if a woman quits smoking for at least six months, her risk factors for heart attacks reverts to average.

Interestingly, the analysis of men showed virtually the same, although men only lost 3.8 years because of smoking. Men who didn’t smoke tended to show up with a heart attack at age 61; men who smoked showed up at the emergency room when they were 57.

A final cheery note from the director of the New York University Women’s Health Program. “Smoking among women causes heart attacks, lung disease, and wrinkles so this study is just another reason for women to quit or never start. It takes nine years off your life.”