Stop Smoking - This Works for Three out of Four Smokers: Part 2

Quitting Smoking - Your resistance is diminished after a couple of drinks - so ask your drinking friends not to offer you cigarettes, and try staying away from alcohol for a week or two.

Cigarettes help us to relax - cigarettes are a stimulant, and it may feel like they help you to relax, because they satisfy the craving. Learn to relax properly and do some self-hypnosis on yourself by listening to a stop smoking CD. Sit down somewhere comfortable, and tense, then relax your muscles, and breathe deeply.

You love the first cigarette of the day, with your tea or coffee - at these times gargle with mouthwash and clean your teeth. Have a glass of fruit juice when you wake up, and notice the fresh feeling in your mouth.

Stopping Smoking - Comparison of the Different Technique

1. There are specialist smokers' clinics, and support groups, which can improve your chances of stopping smoking. These clinics and groups generally run over a period of about six weeks, and take you through the different stages of smoking cessation.

2. Hypnotherapy helps a large number of smokers to quit - it is one of the most effective ways to stop smoking. In 2005, a study of 72,000 smokers from Europe and the US, reported in the Journal of Applied Psychology, showed that hypnosis came top as the most effective therapy in helping people to stop.

Hypnotherapy takes away the urge to smoke - instead of making you feel you are giving something up.

Hypnotherapists generally have a success rate of 75% with smokers who seek treatment - often in a single session of 90 minutes.

Hypnotherapy is now very common, and is readily accepted. If you approach this treatment with a genuine desire to stop, the programme will work for you.

We all know consciously that we should stop smoking, and by using visualisation, post hypnotic suggestions, hypnotherapy and a CD of the session - it helps take away the need to smoke, and most people only need to visit us once.

3. Nicotine replacement therapy, such as patches, gum, nasal sprays or inhalators, used properly, can double your chance of stopping smoking. The idea is that replacing nicotine in the body, will allow the smoker to be weaned off cigarettes.

4. Zyban - 2 months course. This works on the brain to help break the addiction. It is in tablet form, and is not suitable for people who suffer from, or have ever suffered from fits. You should always go to your doctor and ask about this treatment.

5. Acupuncture is also a technique widely used to help people stop smoking - it can be very effective.

6. Nutritional supplements help support the system and can make quitting cigarettes easier. Take 1,000 mg of vitamin C and 100mcg of chromium picolinate each day.

If you feel you are dependant on nicotine and want to stop smoking, you can use a variety of approaches and strategies, however we urge you to consider hypnotherapy - as it's a very safe, relaxing, and powerful approach.