Quitting Smoking
Nobody needs to be told that smoking is bad for your health – that’s a song that’s been played on repeat for the past 10 years. The impacts of smoking to your health are large, and the fear/smear campaign against tobacco has done a good job of preventing many would-be smokers from picking up the habit in the first place ; this attitude has a good place in our culture, especially when the leading cause of death is due to cardio-vascular related disease, but in some ways it’s not the answer. There are many people who realise the negative impacts of smoking, and have tried quitting in the past with either great difficulty, or with picking the habit back up in short time. For these people, the tobacco smear campaign adds undue (due?) stress as a constant reminder that they are harming themselves, despite their best efforts to change.
The Art Habit of Smoking
A smoker isn’t just someone who inhales burning tobacco smoke in addition to who they are in their day-to-day life. Being a smoker means having a relationship with smoking: it means having something to keep your hands busy so your mind can focus; it’s something to distract our mind away from pressing issues to gain additional perspective; it’s a tool for helping you clear your mind; a tool for transitioning from work to rest; a pause in the morning or evening to aid in digestion; something to distract from boredom or restlessness. My point is that, for many people, smoking isn’t about nicotine or tobacco–it’s everything else. For many, “breaking the habit” might actually mean “changing the lifestyle”. Shameless plug, but this is why we’ve developed a smoking cessation program.
Our Program
Ultimately, in order to successfully quit you need to learn your habit, and why you actually have a dependency. Maybe it is the nicotine and you just need help curbing withdrawal symptoms to get past the early hump. It could be learning what else you rely on smoking for, and finding a healthy alternative. Most often it’s a bit of both. If you’ve been stuck on quitting, ended up smoking again, or just want some help for your first attempt, it doesn’t hurt to reach out for support. If your problem is the stress, anxiety or withdrawal, Dr. Marcoux has an acupuncture program to reduce the most challenging impulses. If you’re problem is deep rooted, I have a 6-week program that has you changing your habits over time, to tease out and change whatever other dependencies on smoking you might have.
Click here for more information on the smoking cessation program.
