You may have been tired of reading tips on how to quit smoking. You had already browsed all suggestion styles and approaches but still none interests you and you think it will not work for you.

So now, we will have a break on long discussions of how to do it and its benefits instead will now look into some amazing and funny ways some smokers had tried in order to kick off the habit. You might call it crazy but it was done in a creative manner and it worked for them. Here are some:

John Mellencamp, A 58-year-old rocker, was challenged by his son Speck to quit smoking. He suggested that he create a FACEBOOK PAGE, if it attracted 1 million people, Mellencamp swore he’d kick the habit once and for all.

Another story is shared by Pat Owens of Valley Stream, New York. He tried to bury the evidence so it will be an extra effort for him to smoke. He said, “I once wrapped packs of cigarettes in a plastic bag and buried them in a flower pot on the back porch so that I would have to dig them up, extract a cigarette, and rebury the pack every time I wanted a smoke. That was 18 years ago!”

Sometimes if a prize is at stake for something, you feel motivated to do it and that’s what moved Eric Katzman of Queens, New York to work hard to quit smoking. He shared, “I quit smoking on a dare in February 2002. My friend bet me I couldn’t quit and—the competitive type I am—I took up his bet. The bet was I had to quit for one month and if I made it, I got steak at [the renowned] Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn. Funny story is, it took so long to get my dinner—nine months!—that I made him take me for a second dinner at a different steakhouse!”

Who wants to pay a fine, definitely no one does. You can try this deal that was told by Mike P. of Newport, Rhode Islands. “Two of my very good friends agreed to quit smoking or pay the other person $1,000 if they could not. Being honest, competitive, and broke, it worked! Neither one of them has had a cigarette since.”

Chris T. of New York, N.Y., on the other hand, shared how her cousin killed her smoking cravings. “She quit in an interesting way—she started eating Milkbone dog biscuits! She chewed on them to kill the craving and she quit.”

Our next story made a deal with her selg to do replace his smoking spending with something that’s of equal worth. And Liz Rubin of North Potomac, Md. shared, “In exchange for giving up the costly habit of buying a pack of cigarettes each day, I made a deal with myself that I would be free, anytime in my life, to buy a lottery ticket, with no feelings of guilt. I’ve never smoked a cigarette since that night over 25 years ago, and it’s safe to say I never will do so. I would like to say that one of the lottery tickets has won me a million dollars, but that has not happened—at least not yet!”

Take it from the expert and what our next story had tried to follow is a doctor’s advice. Joanne Fanizza of Farmingdale, N.Y. told “I read a newspaper article quoting a doctor who said to quit smoking, mix a tablespoon of baking soda in an 8-ounce glass of water and drink it, twice a day for the first week, then once a day for a second week. I had been smoking a carton a week then, or about 30 cigarettes a day. I drank two glasses on Sunday and Monday. It tasted like a flat Alka-Seltzer. On Sunday and Monday I smoked two cigarettes. On Tuesday I think I smoked one cigarette and then quit altogether. I continued to drink the baking soda concoction for the rest of that week. I don’t think I even needed it the second week. I have not had a cigarette in 20 years.”

After a doctor’s advice, our next story is about an expert herself, who was able to apply her own treatment to in her advantage. According to Sheila Sidney Bender, PhD, Florham Park, N.J., “I am a licensed psychologist in New Jersey. Back in 1976, I already had my doctorate, had some training in hypnosis, and smoked about a pack of cigarettes a day. At a New Year’s Eve party, a friend asked how my hypnosis skills were coming along and if I could stop her from smoking. We spent about an hour with her in a trance. The next week, my friend and I spoke on the phone, and she was smoking. In that moment I realized I had not had one cigarette the entire week. I had hypnotized myself! Once or twice I had the urge, but now I can’t even think of it; I have not had one cigarette in more than 30 years.”

We hate things when it gets dirty and doesn’t interests us anymore and that how the late grandmother of Jessica Ward, Kent, Washington, takes off cigarette smoking. She shared “My late grandmother tossed all her smokes except one single, solitary cigarette, which she tucked up on top of the range hood unit in her kitchen. When it came down to it and she had to have a puff, she’d grab that cigarette, light it up, take one puff, and then extinguish it and put it back. Over time, as things on one’s range hood do, it became greasy, dusty, and foul. That ‘emergency’ puff looked less and less appealing over time, and finally, she tossed it. I never saw her smoke again after that.”

You can try your own creative way to quit smoking and you end up with positive results like they did. There are no standards to follow in smoking cessation. Explore ways that fits you and be amazed until one day, you are totally over smoking.

When you go over this article, it means you have started your journey to a smoke free living and let me congratulate you for such a wonderful choice!

Nicotine is a powerful addiction and yes, we know it will not be easy and you have to go through physical and psychological withdrawal, but to give you heads up, it can be done and there are successful individuals who are able to do so and you can get inspirations from their success stories and testimonies.

To help you overcome your cravings here are some tips that you can try every time you feel weak and tempted to light up another stick of cigarette.

• Drink a lot of liquids, especially water. Juices and herbal teas can be a good help. Limit intake of liquids that can increase your urge to smoke like coffee, soft drinks and most specially alcohol.

• Change your habits because your smoking tendencies are associated with your everyday routine, so by trying to deviate with your everyday practice you can lessen the opportunities to smoke. For example, try different route to work, have your meal at different area and avoid staying near smoking areas.

• Be on a healthy diet and living. Try low-calorie foods and avoid sugar and fatty food. Regular exercise helps but you have to take note you have to do it in moderation. One good way to try is to join an exercise group provides a healthy activity and a new routine.

• Get more sleep. Try to go to sleep earlier and get more rest.

• When cravings hit, do something else immediately, such as talking to someone, getting busy with a task, or taking deep breaths. Take deep breaths. Distract yourself.

• You should also remind yourself everyday that you are quitting and avoiding places you connect with smoking is another good practice. Involve yourself to activities that will relieve your stress like, listening to relaxing music and watch a funny movie.

• For support, you can always rely on your friends, to gain strength, motivation and encouragement.

About 10 years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) compiled all of the statistics of smoking populations from all of the different countries across the world.   There were some interesting findings that were surprising, even for myself.

1.)    More than 1/3 of the world’s male population smokes. That is almost 2 billion people worldwide.

2.)    Nations that are growing and developing, smoking is on the rise.   The average growth of smokers in these countries is about 3.5%.

3.)    About 10 million cigarettes are sold every minute.  That equates to about 15 billion in one day.

4.)    The highest rate of smoking is in the Asia/Pacific Regions.  That is no surprise due to half the world’s population being over there.

5.)    Only 3 countries control the tobacco conglomerates, theUnited States,Great Britain, andJapan.

6.)    Smoking Cessation is the single largest preventable cause for premature death.  It can cause cancer in many regions in the body.

7.)    A recent survey shows that 60% of Asian adults did not realize that smoking can lead to lung cancer.

In theUnited Stateswe take if for granted that smoking in general has taken a major decline over the past 30 years, and the numbers are continuing to drop.  Sadly, smoking on a global level is still high and it can affect 1/3 of the world’s population.

As countries further develop and become more educated to the dangers of smoking, I am sure that we will see a decline in the number of smokers throughout the world.

A lot of smokers are having difficulty quitting smoking for many reasons.  Some of their reason is that it is really hard to remove it from their routine, it’s a relaxant for others and many different reasons.  So some people look for product that will lessen the effect of cigarette smoking, there are products that say they remove if not lessen the bad effect of cigarette smoking.  While others just rely on the cigarette filters, they say that its objective is to lessen the amount of tar, smoke and other fine particles inhaled during smoking of a cigarette.  They say that filters also lessen the severity of the smoke and prevent tobacco flakes out of the smoker’s mouth.

A Hungarian inventor named Boris Aivaz, copyrighted the process of making a cigarette filters from a crepe paper.  In 1927 Aivaz together with Bunzl’s filtronic subsidiary produced the first cigarette filter.

Generally speaking filters are specifically designed to suck up vapors and to collect small smoke particles.  Filters also keep tobacco from entering a smoker’s mouth and it gives smokers a mouthpiece that will not break as the cigarette is smoke.  These are some of the components of filters.

The Plug

Around 95% of cigarette filters are created from cellulose acetate or plastic, and to balance it they add papers and rayon.  The cellulose acetate tow fibers when filled together to produce filter it resembles a cotton, but individually they are thinner than sewing thread.  Different materials have been used but are then rejected because it cannot produce the same taste acetate produces.  Filters have different filtration effectiveness, it is subject to whether the cigarette is light or regular.

The inner paper wrapper or plug wrap and glue

For regular cigarettes the paper used to wrap acetate cellulose plug is unreceptive to air, while it is ventilated and very absorbent in light cigarettes, to allow a lot of air to be in the smoke mix.  Polyvinyl acetate emulsion is being used to attach the wrapper to the plug, and to join the wrapper.

The tipping paper or outer paper

Another component of cigarette filters is the tipping paper, they are commonly made to resemble a cork, it conceals the filter plug and joins the filter to the tobacco.  Typically tipping paper is made to not stick to the lips of smokers.

These filters cool the smoke, will keep the tobacco out of your mouth and will keep your finger from getting stained.  But whatever they say that it reduces the health risk is just being offset by some ingredients added to increase the flavour of the smoke.  Additional risk when using cigarette filters is getting particles from the filters into the lungs of the smokers that will cause scar and the chances of emphysema.

There are findings also that people who smoke with cigarette that has filters is more likely to inhale longer and harder. This will cause more contact to the dangerous chemicals in tobacco smoke.  If we look at this effect of using filters on cigarettes, it shows that filtered cigarettes are more dangerous than non-filtered cigarettes.  In other words, the best thing to do is just quit smoking, there is really no healthiest way to smoke.  Cigarette filters will not help you at all in reducing health risk by smoking.  Stop cigarette smoking is the more accurate answer if you want to reduce your health risk.

Now a day, teens seem to be more abrasive when smoking or they feel like they are older and wiser when they smoke.  Teens like to act as if they are someone special or dangerous.  In teenage smoking they can act on those feelings. Because it is so forbidden it becomes more alluring to teens. They tried their first cigarette in sixth or seventh grade.The problem is that when they take that first puff, they can become addicted.

Kids like to get attention; it does not matter if it’s good attention or bad attention.  If they were experiencing problem with their family, schools or love life, they would think something that they will catch the attention of everyone. Here are some bad effects of teenage smoking; they often do not perform well in school. They feel like they are not a part of the school and become isolated from other students.

They feel like they have little hope of going to college and feel like they need a job to support their smoking habit. They are reported to school officials for skipping classes. They start using other illegal substances. They begin experimenting with alcohol and other drugs. They experience pressure from home and school and use tobacco as a form of relief.

Teenage smoking enjoys trying to hide their smoking. These types of behaviors get attention because the initiation of smoking is influenced by having a friend, particularly a best friend, who smokes. The risk factors do not apply because those who are young think that they are indispensable.

Sometimes they want rebellion and the idea that they are breaking the law or going against their parents and schools is an addiction within itself.

But most teens are not aware of the effect of smoking cigarette. If you start smoking on your teens, be ready to stain your teeth, get wrinkles on your skin and of course die early. During teenage smoking, they think that smoking their first fag will already make them a smoker, but most of them will just say that they are experimenting.  What they don’t know is that it’s easy to get hooked.  Most smokers start at a young age, specifically in their teens, and 50% of them will die because of their habit – spluttering, having heart seizures and coughing.

Still smoking at Age 30? Shame.  Because you’re a smoker you already look like 40 yrs old. Gray and lined skin will be visible because of the lack of oxygen. A dull and smelly hair with stained teeth awaits you.  Wait there’s more, cellulite will be found in your body because of the smoke toxins. If you want to have kids, it will be hard for you to conceive compared to non-smokers: it will reduce female’s fertility and increase the cervical cancer, chances of miscarriage and complications during pregnancy and delivery.

After smoking for many years, it will be a hard routine to break.  There are a number of ways to quit smoking, and it will not be bad to know some of the ways for you to quit smoking.  But it differs from person to person depending on their addiction.  One effective way to get the treatment you need is by asking yourself why you need to smoke.  Once you have the answer it will be easier for you to find the treatment really need and the right tips for quitting smoking.

Have you ever ask yourself why do you want to quit smoking? Is it because of your health? Or you want to remove the dark stains on your teeth? Maybe you want to show your children a good example.  We all know that smoking is bad, but do you know why you specifically want to quit smoking?  That will be your main drive for you to remove smoking in your routine and in your life.  Always think of that reason, if you need to write it somewhere just to remind you can definitely do so.

Tips for quitting smoking:

• Changed your routine.  It will be a good start for you, try to limit if not avoid the people that usually smoke.  If you usually smoke after your lunch, why not just take a power nap instead to give you more energy in the afternoon.
• Always remind yourself.  By saying over and over to your head that you will not smoke or by putting signs and reminder.  It can be in the place where you usually smoke at home, or in your car or in your office.   It can be anywhere just to remind you to stop smoking.
• Drink plenty of water or liquid.  Try to avoid caffeinated, carbonated and alcoholic drinks because they raise your craving for nicotine.  However, herbal teas and fruit juices are very helpful.
• Regular exercise.  One of the many tips for quitting smoking is exercise, this will be a healthy routine alternative.
• Sleep, sleep and sleep. By getting more rest, you will be relaxed all day.  Avoiding the need of cigarette for you to relax.
Psychological tips for quitting smoking:
• Constantly remind yourself on why you want to stop smoking.
• Make an alternative way to remove stress.
• Make a point do something that is relaxing.
• Laugh, it takes away stress.
• Ask help with your family and friends.

I can give thousands of tips for quitting smoking, but it will not be effective if you are really not into it.  Create a goal that you will quit smoking and make sure you reach that goal, not just for you but also for the people around you.

It’s a fact! Huge percentage of world’s population is smokers and among the top causes of death is associated with smoking. An estimated 400,000 deaths each year are caused directly by cigarette smoking. (Source: excerpt from Smoking and Your Digestive System: NIDDK)  Government and private institutions efforts to have massive information drive to educate people about the serious harmful effects of smoking is countless, hence, smoking deaths are still rapidly increasing.

It’s alarming yet this sad reality over time doesn’t change. More and more smoking deaths every second, every minute, every day, every month and every year and with a rapidly changing human lifestyle, it is noticeable that smokers start at a very young age.

Last March 2010, there was a video that really disturbed the world. It showed a two-year-old Indonesian toddler smoking cigarettes. In the news, it says that the boy’s father gave him his first cigarette when he was 18 months old and now he smokes 40 cigarettes a day.  If he doesn’t get his cigarettes, she says he gets angry and screams and hits his head against the wall.

Smoking is a silent killer. Smokers deny this truth and believe that everyone has its time to die. But take this for example. Experts say one (1) cigarette takes approximately twelve (12) minutes of your life. If you smoke at least 1 cigarette a day, in a year, 4,380 minutes of your life was taken from you. That is equivalent to 3 days or 73 hours! If you have been smoking for ten (10) years now, 30 days of your life was lost. It could have been a one month full vacation.

Here are some additional facts from various sources about smoking deaths world wide. There are estimated 1.3 billion people are smokers worldwide and every 6.5 seconds a current or former smoker dies, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).  Also, 33 percent to 50 percent of all smokers are killed by their habit and they die on average 15 years sooner than non-smokers and reports say that around 5.4 million deaths a year are caused by tobacco. On this basis, smoking is set to kill 6.5 million people in 2015 and 8.3 million humans in 2030. Meanwhile, cancer is the second leading cause of death and was among the first diseases causally linked to smoking.

I can give more statistics but instead I’m making a humble call. Smoking deaths can be prevented.  Let’s all work together to stop these phenomena. Smoking deaths can be prevented through collaborative efforts of all the sectors of the society. The government should implement a total ban to tobacco or tobacco control trough increasing taxes on these industries. As well as implementing cigarette selling ban to youth below 18 years of age. Give more promotion on smoking alternatives and intensify the anti-cigarette smoking advocacy.

On the other hand, responsible parenthood should be exercised. Parent should be able to teach and guide their sons and daughters about the harmful effects of cigarettes. By doing so, smokers at younger age will be lessen.
Smokers now should consider quitting smoking for a better future, much has been said and I know every smoker should know about this.

When you hear of Nicotine first thing that comes to our mind is cigarette, they are always associated with each other. More often that not we think cigarette and nicotine as the same.  But in reality nicotine just makes up approximately 0.6–3.0% of dry weight of tobacco which is the main ingredient of cigarette.  One can wonder with such a small amount why there are still cases of such. Overdose means “to administer or take a large amount or quantity”.  Simply to say, large consumption of cigarette causes Nicotine Overdose.

The term Nicotine came from the tobacco plant Nicotiana tabacum, which came from the ambassador of French in Portugal Jean Nicot de Villemain.  The French ambassador promoted the medicinal use of Nicotine in Paris; he started sending the seeds and tobacco to Paris from Brazil in 1560.  But in 1828 German chemist Posselt & Reimann isolated Nicotine from the tobacco plant; they considered it as a poison.

Up to now Nicotine is still widely used not just in cigarette but for other products as well.  Imidacloprid is widely used as nicotine analogs or as an insecticide because it functions as an antiherbivore chemical specifically to insects. Nicotine overdose a lot of times can be caused by misunderstanding because it also acts as a stimulant or relaxant, and one of the main reasons for tobacco smoking and addiction.  An average of 1 mg of absorb nicotine can be found in cigarette, but from 1998 to 2005 studies shows an average increase of nicotine in cigarette of 1.6% per year in all major cigarette markets.  One of the hardest addictions to break according to the American Heart Association is nicotine addiction.

There are different ways nicotine enters our body, whether it is inhaled thru smoking some even chew, dip and snuff, it also depends on how the nicotine enters the body that determines the amount of nicotine that enters our body.  Half of the nicotine we intake will be eliminated with in two hours.  And through the bloodstream it will spread quickly on your body and reach your brain.

When taken in excess or overdone it is called Nicotine Overdose, while in most cases overdose happens when you are smoking but in some cases others overdo it when they are quitting smoking and uses a lot of smoking cessation products.  The secret use of the said products there are instances that it results in your body taking more nicotine than smoking.

Look for these symptoms to identify or know when someone is in Nicotine Overdose:

•    Dark gums and lips
•    Bad breathe
•    Unsettled stomach and vomiting
•    Diarrhea
•    Stomach pains
•    Cold sweats
•    Headache
•    Dizziness
•    Hearing or vision problems
•    Chest pain

If in the right amount nicotine can be helpful to the body it helps your body in a different ways.  However having more of anything that is needed is not good and will results in bad and grim effects an example is the paralysis of the muscle in lungs or the heart can happen.  Below are other effects of Nicotine Overdose:

•    Extreme anxiety
•    Cold sweats
•    Headache
•    Insomnia
•    Burning feelings
•    Confusion
•    Panic attacks
•    Depression
•    Heart palpitations
•    High pulse rates
•    Increased blood pressure
•    Fatigue and weakness
•    Reduced appetite
•    Hearing or vision problems
•    Seizures
•    Narrowing of blood vessels.

It is best to ask for help as soon as possible with your doctor if you go through the some of the symptoms right away.  Remember prevention is better than cure.

With the given Smoking cessation aids to help smokers quit, it’s a good thing to know how effective these programs and projects are. Being aware of the statistics will give us an idea of how good one product or service is.  Most of the time, it will persuade us to buy that product.  Meanwhile, other statistics educate us about something that is important. Sometimes it will provide results that we don’t like.

It will be good to hear stories and testimonials of successful smoke quitters. It helps encourage more and more smokers to follow their decision towards a smoke free living. On the other hand, statistics increasing numbers of smokers realized and take a move to kick smoking habit out of their lives.

According to US smoking cessation statistics:

•    40% of all adult smokers (13 million people)
•    25% of everyday smokers aged 65 years old and older
•    38% of everyday smokers aged 45–64 years old
•    40% of everyday smokers aged 25–44 years old
•    53% of everyday smokers aged 18–24 years old
•    50% of high school smokers

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS) roughly 4% to 7% is the people who where able to quit smoking without the help or medicines.  That means that even without help it can be done all depends for it to be successful.  Base on the same report it says that between 25% and 33% can stay out of smoking until 6months with the use medicine, it also shows that using not just one medicine is also effective.  Based on the studies entitled “Quitting in Droves: Collective Dynamics of Smoking Behavior in a Large Social Network” smoking cessation also prevent other people around stop smoking as well.

They also said that smoking cessation is greatly affected by the people around him that also smoke.  If a person close to you stop smoking most likely than not you will yourself quitting smoking as well.  It can be because of the influence that person has on you or just out of curiosity because you see someone quit that you also want to do quit.  This smoking cessation statistics shows that smoker around that already quit can influence to stopping smoking.

There are numerous suggestions that will aid you in quitting smoking it can be a pharmacological treatment, physiological treatment, even hypnosis and acupuncture are all being advised to help in your smoking cessation.  According to the guideline published in 2000 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, shows that 15-33% quit rates is aided by pharmacological interventions, while 14-25% of quit rates was helped by psychological interventions and there is only a small or no evidence at all that was found to back up hypnosis, acupuncture or laser therapy as a treatment for smoking cessation.

This only proves that it can be done and will the right help and the right frame of mind you can do it.  Start quitting as early as you can while there is less desire for nicotine don’t make it worst that will come to a point that you can’t live without nicotine in your body.  You will not be the only one who will benefit from it but also the people around you.

You have successfully quit smoking for over a month now.  The big question most people ask themselves is, “Now what?”.  Remaining smoke free and living a healthly lifestyle will be an adjustment for you, so lets review things you will want to consider as a non-smoker.

With your new life as a non smoker your body will begin repairing itself within the first 8 hours of quitting.  The longer that you quit the more your body will be repairing itself.  You will be dramatically lowering your risk of coronary disease, heart attack, stroke, and lung problems.

Life as a non smoker, you will also have the ability to exercise more effectively. Working out and exercise will help speed the process of repairing your body.  Doing simple cardio will increase your lung and blood capacity putting more oxygen in your system and increasing the repair of your cells.  Consider joining a gym or fitness club, you will find that you have a whole new level of energy, and enjoy the sensation of working out.  Exercise will make you less likely to pick up smoking again.

Another thing to expect in your new life as a non smoker is money!!!  Yes, you will have lots more money to spend.  Whether you choose to enjoy your extra money or start stashing it away you will have a lot more monye at your disposal.  If you smoked a pack a day, you will be saving over $200 dollars a month.  That is a good chunk of change to do things with.  Just make sure that it does not go back to smoking.

Not only will you be benefiting from quitting smoking, but the people around you will benefit as well. Your family, co-workers, and friends will not have to wait on you to smoke, and enjoy a better smelling you. Your children will have their parent around to guide them and watch them grow up.  Overall, everyone in your life will be benefiting from your new life as a non smoker.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Name: John Durham
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Hi, my name is John and I am proud to say that I am smoke free for almost 5 years! I have recently decided to start writing for Stopcigarettes.net to help those who want to quit the habit.  Quitting Smoking is a very difficult thing to do and hopefully this the resources on this website can help aid other to becoming smoke free.