How many times have you been asked, “Do you mind if I smoke in here?” Most of us, being peaceful animals will then lamely say, “It will be OK, but perhaps if you could go out into the garden would be better.”
Really, it is the same as someone playing with dynamite and asking if it is OK, because when you are exposed to second hand smoke, you might just be lighting the fuse for a cancer.
Face facts. Tobacco is the number one cause of cancer in this world. It is top of the WHO Code which was drawn up by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization.
Tobacco has been in the code since its earliest version in 1987, but even here there are new adjustments. Tobacco is the number one cause of cancer, so this has to be re-emphasized over and over again for successful prevention, but for the first time we are emphasizing the importance of a smoke-free environment in the workplace and at home, which contributes to helping people to stop smoking and also, of course, reduces the risk of second-hand smoke.
Smokers are not creatures of habit, smokers are people caught in the clutches of addiction. A prime example is one of my friends who is on a vigorous exercise regimen and vegetarian diet as he wants to get fit – but is still smoking. He may as well eat anything he wants, because the cigarettes will kill him before any silly diet does.
To give up cigarettes there are many, many ways, ranging from acupuncture, hypnosis, the I Ching, Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT), chewing gum, patches, nasal spray, amulets and many others all the way through to cold turkey and now the e-cigarettes. Hop onto the internet and you are besieged with offers, all of which will make it ‘easy’ for you to stop smoking, and all of which will cost you money! Let me state again, it ain’t easy!
What you have to realize is that nicotine is more addictive than heroin. I know that’s probably hard to believe, but that really is the crux of the matter. You take nicotine into all of your metabolic pathways until you “need” to have nicotine to be able to function. Nicotine becomes part of your metabolic chemical chains, and they don’t work properly without it. Now you can see just why you feel so dreadful when you go without cigarettes (nicotine) for any period of time.
Let’s deal with the e-cigarettes straight away. These are not harmless substitutes for the ‘real thing’. No matter how much the smoker will try and convince himself (and me). Toxins and carcinogens are not completely absent, the potential negative health effects are still unclear, and the lack of regulation makes it difficult to determine safety risks.
So to the best way – cold turkey. The proof is in the numbers. There has been enough research done and the prime factor is that the quitter has to be committed to the concept of becoming a non-smoker. Doing it (quitting) for somebody else, because you are being nagged into it by your wife, girlfriend, boyfriend is doomed to failure, I am afraid. This is something which requires your total commitment. When I gave up 40 years ago, I thought it would be a bad scene for a couple of days, but then found that it was a couple of weeks of torture. Here I am many years later and I could begin smoking again tomorrow. One of my friends even dreams that he cannot find his cigarette packet and he has been a non-smoker for 10 years! It requires dedication and commitment. Yours! No one else’s!
So, I admit that those who go cold turkey may go through a rough time with withdrawals initially, but the majority are still non-smokers after one year. The same cannot be said for the others. The “hard” way is ultimately the best way.
You have to make the decision to quit. You set the day. You tell all your friends that you are now a non-smoker – and you stick to it!
Become a non-smoker for 2015!
