Tobacco and Nicotine

How much money are you spending on your habit?  You may not realize how much you are spending until you pause, and calculate your cost.  Here’s how to do it:

1. Figure out many cigarettes you are smoking each day.

2. Take the price per pack and calculate your daily cost.

3.  Times that by the number 7 and you can see your weekly cost.

4. Now times that number by 30 and you will get your average cost per month.

You can take this even further.  Figure out your yearly cost, cost per decade, and even the cost over your lifetime.  Now imagine what you could do with all of that money.  The bottom line is, if you quit smoking, you will save a lot of money!

Tobacco and Nicotine

There are many things found in a cigarette. To date, there are over 7,000 chemicals produced by cigarette smoke. Interestingly, nicotine is only one of them. Nicotine goes deep into the lungs, then travels through the blood and disperses throughout the body. There are 60 known cancer-causing chemicals such as lead, nickel, formaldehyde and many more!

Using tobacco and nicotine can cause numerous symptoms.  People who smoke will often blame something else for the symptoms that they are experiencing to minimize or deny that their habit is doing their body harm.  Do you have any of these symptoms: cough, trouble breathing, bad breath, nicotine stains on your skin, gum disease or dental problems?   Also think about illness and disease.  Overtime, you may end up with chronic bronchitis, asthma, COPD, emphysema, heart attack, heart disease, stroke, circulation problems, cancer, early menopause, or a peptic ulcer.  You have to ask yourself this: Do you worry about getting a disease or illness that is caused from smoking?

Think About It:

Try to go back to your own childhood for a minute.  Decades ago the dangers of cigarette smoke were not well known.  So, chances are you grew up in a home where people smoked or at least knew someone close to you that smoked.  Who was it?  How did it make you feel to have to sit around second hand smoke as a child?    Now today, think about who you may be affecting.  Who is watching you smoke?  How do you think they feel about it?  Even if you make it a point to not smoke in the same room as someone you care about, those around you will still be affected.  When you return, your clothes will smell, even if you don’t think so, and your skin will eventually have a permanent smell and color of smoke.  Your significant other will think you have bad breath even if you don’t think so and chances are he/she will not say anything because he/she will not want to hurt your feelings.

Stop Smoking Now

When thinking about quitting smoking you can prepare yourself mentally for what’s about to come.  One of things that we recommend at liverehab.com is to start a journal.  In your journal ask yourself the following questions:

1. What do you enjoy about smoking?

2. What do you hate about smoking?

3. Make a list of things that scare you when thinking about quitting.

4.  Make a list of things that would be awesome if you quit soon.

After a few days of reflection and journaling you can then decide if quitting smoking is right for you.  It will then be important to come up with a proper plan to do so.  About a week before you decide to quit, get ready by throwing out ashtrays, clean your space, and deodorize.  Here are some ideas to incorporate into your plan.

1.  Pick a date.

2. Talk to someone about it.

3. Educate yourself on the dangers of smoking and what to expect when quitting.

4. Get ideas from others and their experiences when they stopped smoking.

5. Carry a list with you about your personal benefits of quitting and refer to it often.

6. Do let smoking be easy or delightful.  Commit to buying brands you don’t like and force yourself to smoke outdoors and not in your car.

7.  Buy something for yourself each week with the money you saved on smoking. Make a list of things or experiences you want.  For example, a massage, pedicure, new watch, etc.

8. Hire and informal support person.

8. Talk to your doctor.

It is also important to practice and role play.  Who are the people most likely to offer you a cigarette?  What you can you say to them when they offer?  Maintaining a tobacco free lifestyle may be challenging at first but you will start to look and feel amazing in no time!  Good luck!