Smoking is a dangerous and addictive habit that affects millions of people around the world. We now know the dangers of cigarette smoking and smokers are encouraged to find ways to stop smoking for their own health. This is not an easy task, smokers start at an early age. The average age of a new smoker is thirteen years old.

A habit formed at that age is not easily broken. Nicotine affects the body in many ways and it is hard to pull free without some assistance. There are many different diseases associated with smoking. Most smokers will need some help on how to quit smoking and a variety of methods exist for this very purpose.

There are many different reasons that people start smoking and continue to smoke. The main reason that people begin to smoke is peer pressure. It is deemed cool to be able to smoke. It also is forbidden which makes it all the more attractive to teenagers thus the low starting age for many people. This young age makes ceasing smoking more difficult in your later years.

Media can also influence the decision to start smoking. Smoking in movies or on television can lead you to believe that smoking is acceptable behavior. Parents can wield the biggest influence over their children by setting a good example on how to quit smoking. Parents who smoke are much more likely to have children who smoke.

Nicotine is the drug within tobacco that smokers crave. Nicotine can affect your body and mind in many different ways. Nicotine, once inhaled into the lungs reaches the brain in a matter of just eight seconds. Once there, nicotine affects your heart rate and blood pressure. Over time it can increase your bad cholesterol and narrow your arteries. Nicotine in concentrated doses is a lethal poison, so imagine the effects on your body. Nicotine is also addictive and one of the reasons many cannot quit smoking.

Smoking can affect your health on many different levels. Getting winded playing a game is one side affect of smoking. More serious smoking related diseases include cancer and emphysema. Heart disease and stroke are also closely linked to cigarette smoking. A person who quits smoking will greatly reduce their chances for these diseases for every year they can go smoke free.

The outcome for these medical conditions caused by smoking is grim. Lung cancer is almost always fatal unless caught very early and eighty percent of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking. Heart and lung disease can take years from your life unless you learn how to quit smoking. Emphysema can not be cured but only managed; the damage to your lungs can not be repaired. Stop smoking benefits include a longer life span and a better quality of life.

There are many different ways to quit smoking, and you must pick the right method for you as an individual. Nicotine patches and gums are made to help you slowly withdraw from the nicotine addiction. These only work for about 10% of the people who use them. Going cold turkey is another option and this works for up to 11% of the smokers who choose this option. Other popular methods include an herbal kit that can show you how to quit smoking. It has a success rate similar to that of nicotine gum and patches.

Stop smoking hypnosis is a very popular option for those who want to quit smoking without withdrawal or weight gain. Hypnotherapy has proven to be highly effective with smokers who have made a decision to quit smoking. Quit smoking hypnosis might sound like an extreme solution but it delivers solid results up to 70% of the time. This success rate is many times that of other methods.

The reason stop smoking hypnosis is so effective is that it while the addiction to Nicotine makes up only about 10% of the smoking addiction, the mental / emotional aspects of the habit make up about 90% of the cigarette smoking addiction.

About 45% of the smoking behavior is caused by stress, and hypnotherapy has proven to be a powerful tool that can help reprogram the mind to divert away from stressful thoughts, and towards more positive and relaxing thoughts. In addition, the very essence of hypnosis is that it incorporates a deep state of relaxation.

And about 45% of the smoking behavior is caused by conditioned responses. This is where smoking is associated with other stimuli at the unconscious level of mind. For example, if you smoke and simultaneously watch TV, your unconscious will associate the image of a cigarette in your hand with the image of the TV. Every time you see the TV, your unconscious flashes an image of the cigarette in your hand, and you feel an urge to smoke.

Stop smoking hypnotherapy is routinely used to "extinguish" the conditioned responses by disassociating the unconscious connections between cigarettes and TV, coffee, driving, working on your computer, or any other environment where an unconscious association has been created.

In summary: While most smokers think that their inability to quit smoking is based on their addiction to Nicotine, in truth it's the mental aspects of smoking that present the largest barriers. Hypnotherapy was accepted by the American Medical Association in 1958 as an effective tool. And hypnosis for smoke cessation is the second most common use of hypnotherapy today.

While hourly rates for consulting hypnotists continue to skyrocket, there are some effective hypnosis CDs on the market that can greatly reduce its cost. Since everyone is different, there are no specific "magic" words or post-hypnotic suggestions that will work for everyone. So when choosing hypnosis CDs, look for programs that incorporate a broad variety of hypnotic and NLP techniques in a series of at least six or more sessions to achieve the best possible outcome. In any case, the fee for the very best hypnosis CDs & DVDs equates to much less than the amount that an average smoker spends each and every month on cigarettes.

A list of the common uses of hypnosis.

Alan B. Densky, CH opened his practice starting in 1978. He offers Neuro-VISION Video Quit Smoking Self Hypnosis DVDs and Audio Quit Smoking Self Hypnosis CD's. Visit his repository of original hypnosis & NLP articles or download FREE self hypnosis and NLP MP3's.