The truth about Smokers Pleasure Paradox

Smokers love excuses. Nothing makes them happier than, 'Ican't quit because…'. They really believe their ownexcuses.

But all these excuses are cop-outs. There's no reason tosmoke. Smoking doesn't have any redeeming benefits. It's100% harmful, poison.

But many smokers don't want to hear that. In fact, theyalready know it's poison. They just haven't yet discoveredhow to quit. Reading the truth, in a non-aggressive, non-threatening way, helps to get started on the quit smokingpath.

So the excuse, 'I enjoy them', 'they give me pleasure',needs to be looked at carefully. Do they really enjoythem, or are they making a 'Can't quit' excuse.

In reality, the pleasure comes from the experiencesassociated with smoking. It doesn't come from smokingitself.

In fact, smoking becomes the 'avoidance of displeasure',rather than the 'gaining of pleasure'. Smoking bringstemporary relief to the withdrawal symptoms that smokingcaused in the first place.

Have you always smoked ? Or do you remember back to a timeyou felt peace and confidence, before this addiction tookhold of you ? Any pleasure comes from temporary relief ofwithdrawal symptoms. That's the sad truth.

Where's the pleasure in loss of taste ? A build up of tarand other chemicals causes a gradual loss of taste.Smokers sometimes don't notice since it happens over years.

Then they can't taste expensive restaurant meals, and thinkmultiple cigarettes before, during and after the mealprovides the answer. Sound familiar ?

In fact, good company and conversation provide thepleasure, which a smoker mistakenly associates with hiscigarette.

What else causes us to associate pleasure with cigarettes ?

Unfortunately, over many years, cigarettes have featuredprominently in movies. Famous, beautiful people seem tolove their cigarettes.

Have you noticed how most romantic movie moments used toinvolve two people lighting up cigarettes together ?Luckily that's less common in modern times, but who canforget Bogie and others in the classic old films.

Cigarettes still get advertised around the world,associated with something pleasurable. Once again,romance, freedom, open countryside, tranquillity.

This psychological conditioning prevents thousands ofpeople quitting. The myth of 'pleasure' is stronger thanthe reality of physical nicotine dependency.

Ever heard a smoker say they can't wait for their childrenor grandchildren to get started smoking ? Of course not ! They know it's harmful, and usually openly admit they'dlike to quit. They even agree with policies that restrictsmoking in public places !

They admit they found the taste awful at first. Butpersevered so they could seek the pleasure they hoped toemulate. Nature makes poisons foul-tasting for good reason- a warning not to use that substance.

Smoking actually removes pleasures previously taken forgranted.

We've already covered taste. How about fitness ? Howabout the ability to run more than a few yards withoutgasping for breath ? How about your non-smoking friendsand family, who must breathe passive smoke, and find theirclothes foul smelling in the morning ?

So the biggest pleasure in quitting smoking actually comesfrom regaining past pleasures ! Unless you're a lifelongsmoker, you've forgotten the simple pleasures lost.

But here's some good news. Those pleasures can come back. When you quit, your senses eventually return to normal.

Once again, you can taste and enjoy food. Taste starts toreturn after only a few days. Over time, your fitness willimprove. Your habits will change as your non-smokingpersonality starts to emerge e.g. no cigarette betweenmeal courses.

The pleasure of non-smoking far outweighs any imaginarypleasure from smoking. Regaining life's simple pleasuresis a worthwhile goal, and good reason to quit smoking rightnow.

Champix/Chantix Warnings

Champix is the trade name for Chantix in the UK. There have been a number of reports recently regarding the safety of Chantix for patients operating machinery or driving. Chantix is known to cause some drowsiness and the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued new guidance regarding its use. Specifically, they have [...]

Smoking rates stop falling

The CDC has reported that smoking rates in the US have remained the same over the last few years after having fallen year on year for the previous 7 years (1997-2004).

The government’s target is to have only 12% of the adult population smoking by 2010 but the figures suggest that they will miss the target by a long shot.

Statistics show that 20.8% of the adult population smoked last year representing a total of 45 million adults. The statistics also show that a total of 91 million Americans have been smokers at some point in their lives (defined as smoking over 100 cigarettes in their lives).

The report indicated that 80% of smokers smoked every day and 44% of smokers had tried at least once to quit smoking.

Evidence suggests that quitting smoking is the single most advantageous change a smoker can make in their lives to improve their health and lower risks of smoking related disease, such as cancer, emphysema, bronchitis, heart disease and stroke.