Why am I not quitting ?

The lightheaded feeling that may accompany the act of smoking gives the smoker a false sense of pleasure or release. However, smoking actually causes a decline in physical and intellectual functioning. Stressful tasks (to include situations where you cannot smoke for a prolonged period of time) can lead to restlessness, insomnia, anxiety, anger, irritability, impatience and other symptoms similar to that of nicotine withdrawal. Are you really smoking to increase your concentration or relieve stress? Or are you smoking to alleviate the beginning symptoms of nicotine withdrawal?

This is similar to the appearance of smoking increases concentration and relieving stress. Smoking is a stimulant, not a relaxant. Smoking raises your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. Does that sound relaxing? The increases in heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate are due to stimulation of the adrenal glands resulting in a release (or surge) of epinephrine. Again, are you really smoking to relax? Or are you smoking to alleviate the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal?

I will have to admit, this is probably the only valid reason not to start a smoking cessation program today. However, I would encourage you to take and review the quizzes, look over the material on this website, and consider reevaluating whether it is your time to quit. Just the fact you are on this website is a good indication you are there or pretty close. The two biggest barriers to smoking cessation using A+ Smoker’s Control™ are people just trying half-heartedly to quit because of someone else’s prodding, or when they received it as a gift. Remember, 40% of smokers have made a conscious effort to quit within the last year.

Just as smoking is a risk factor for lung disease, it is also risk factor in quickening the progression of a chronic illness once it is diagnosed. According to Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD): “Reduction of total personal exposure to tobacco smoke, occupational dust and chemicals, and indoor and outdoor air pollution are important goals to prevent the onset and progression of COPD. This is true of any stage of disease. Smoking cessation is the single most effective and cost effective intervention to reduce the risk of developing COPD and to stop its progression.

If you are currently smoking, chances are you’ve tried to quit. Since you currently smoke, and you’ve tried to quit, you have failed at least once. Turn the possibility of failure into a positive. Learn from failure in the past and capitalize on your knowledge of it. This should be one of your top priorities – recognizing your particular reasons you quit smoking and then started again. Was it peer pressure? A particular situation in your daily life which triggered a craving? Was it an emotional situation such as a break up, medical emergency or death in the family?

Congratulations! That is a respectable and notable start. However, continuing to smoke is not allowing your body to repair the damage from all those years of heavy smoking. If your plan is to continue to smoke less and less, then continue to do so. If you have reached a plateau and cannot seem to find a way to complete your smoking cessation plan, please consider using A+ Smoker’s Control™ to help give you that final push.

This is a tricky excuse. There really are no references for “safe smoking.” Because you smoke less does not mean you are not inhaling longer and more. Are you not smoking as much as you used to? You don’t smoke as much as your friends? If you are reading this to begin with, you are concerned about your smoking. Are you looking for a justification to continue to smoke? As mentioned elsewhere, the only true excuse is if you really feel in your heart you are not ready to quit. Even still, the fact you are reading this is reason to believe you are at least concerned. I would encourage you to do a little more research and weigh the pluses and minuses of continuing to smoke and smoking cessation.

While it is true there is a minor increase in basal metabolic rate, the great majority of the weight gain is simply hand-to-mouth disease.  Identify this as a concern, write it down, and while you are forming your plan to quit smoking, allow yourself to subconsciously think of ways to deal with this hurdle.  Do you need to find something else to do with your hands instead of reaching for a candy bar?  Do you need to keep a healthy snack readily available?  Are you drinking enough water?  Are you keeping a water bottle by your side instead of a pack of cigarettes?  Instead of smoking a cigarette can you take a walk around the block?  When was the last time you walked around the block?  Is now, in addition to smoking cessation, a good time to start an exercise program anyway?  Are you making a justification to continue one bad habit to alleviate the possibility of another one?  Are you already overweight?  Things that make you go hmmmm….

Body Mass Index (BMI) Calculator -> weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared

Weight in pounds divided by 2.2 gives weight in kilograms
Height in inches x .0253 gives height in meters.  Then multiply that number by itself.

The World Health Organization International Classification of adult underweight, overweight and obesity according to BMI

Classification	BMI
Underweight
Severe thinness	< 15.99
Moderate thinness	16.00-16.99
Mild thinness	17.00-18.49
Normal range	18.50-24.99
Overweight	> 25.00
Pre-obese	25.00-29.99
Obese	> 30.00
Obese class I	30.00-34.99
Obese class II (Morbidly Obese)	35.00-39.99
Obese class III (Super Morbidly Obese)	>40.00

The problem is only half of people with the most common lung disease of smokers, Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease or COPD, are clinically recognized.[Audio Digest COPD and smoking cessation] It is estimated 10%-15% of people over the age of 55 have significant COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease). [Audio Digest COPD and smoking cessation] Smoking is the major contributor to this. Please remember COPD is irreversible. Once you have it, it is progressive and cannot be cured. There currently is no test available to tell which person will get COPD or, of the people who will eventually get it, how soon. The reason COPD is underestimated is because it is not usually recognized and diagnosed until it is clinically apparent and moderately advanced. We start smoking when we are teenagers but most people who are diagnosed and have come to clinical attention with COPD are in their later stages of life after several decades of smoking. This is because of our very large lung reserve. As with any lung disease, it is not going to become clinically apparent until one has destroyed 50% or more of their underlying lung function. This is why, for a chronic disease such as COPD, it doesn’t become manifest until a very late stage.

A little bit of a cough now might be the warning signs of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease). The key is to quit before you get COPD. Once you have it, it is progressive and irreversible (but smoking cessation can still slow the progression and decrease the number of acute attacks/illnesses). Also ask yourself the following questions [from www.goldcopd.com]: 1) Do I cough several times most days? 2) Do I bring up phlegm or mucus most days? 3) Do I get out of breath more easily than others my age? 4) Am I older than 40 years? 5) Am I a current smoker or an ex-smoker? Answering yes to three or more of these questions increases the possibility you already have COPD. But only your healthcare provider can evaluate that. Do you think any of your “smoking buddies” would answer yes to three or more of these questions? Do you see people older than yourself who might answer yes to three or more of these questions? Do you have a “sedentary lifestyle” where you cannot assess whether you get out of breath more easily than others your age?