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Smoking is an addictive and dangerous habit that affects millions of people around the globe. Today, we are aware of the dangers of smoking, and smokers are encouraged to quit smoking for their own health. This is not an easy feat, as most smokers start at an extremely young age. The average age at which many people begin to smoke is only thirteen years old.

A habit formed at that age is not easily broken. Nicotine affects many parts of the body and it is hard to break this addiction without some help. There are many different diseases which can be caused by smoking. Most smokers will need some help on how to quit smoking and a variety of different methods exist for this very purpose.

There are many different reasons why people start smoking and continue to smoke. The main reason that people start 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 rebellious teenagers, hence 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 portrayed on television or in movies can lead you to believe that smoking is a harmless activity. Parents can wield the biggest influence over their children by setting a good example on how to quit smoking. Parents who smoke are far more likely to have children who start smoking.

Nicotine is the drug within tobacco that smokers crave. Nicotine can affect your mind and body in many harmful ways. Nicotine, once inhaled into the lungs reaches the brain in a mere eight seconds. Once in your brain, nicotine affects your heart rate and blood pressure. Over time it can increase your bad cholesterol and cause the narrowing of your arteries. Nicotine in concentrated doses is a lethal poison, so you can 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 effect of smoking. More serious smoking related diseases include emphysema and cancer. Strokes and heart disease are also closely linked to cigarette smoking. A person who stops smoking will greatly reduce their risk of developing these diseases for every year they go without smoking.

The outcome of these medical conditions caused by smoking is grim. Lung cancer is nearly always fatal unless caught very early and 80% of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking. Lung and heart disease can take years from your life unless you are able to quit smoking. There is no cure for emphysema, only limited treatment options, plus the damage to your lungs cannot 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 best method for you as an individual. Nicotine patches and gums are designed 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 is effective for up to 11% of the smokers who choose this option. Other frequently used methods to quit smoking include an herbal kit that can guide you through quitting. It has a success rate similar to that of nicotine patches and gums.

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

The reason hypnotherapy for smoking cessation is so effective is that it while the physical addiction to nicotine makes up only about 10% of the smoking addiction, the mental and emotional aspects of the habit make up about 90% of the cigarette smoking addiction. Hypnosis treats this aspect of the addiction.

In addition, 45% of the smoking behavior is caused by stress, and hypnotherapy has proven to be a safe and effective tool that can help reprogram the mind to divert you away from stressful thoughts, and towards relaxing, positive 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 prompted by conditioned responses. This occurs when smoking is associated with other situations at the unconscious level of mind. For example, if you smoke while watching television, your unconscious will associate the image of a cigarette in your hand with the image of the TV. Each time you watch TV, your unconscious flashes an image of the cigarette in your hand, and you feel the compulsion to smoke.

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

In summary: While most smokers believe that their inability to quit smoking is based on their addiction to nicotine, in truth it is the psychological aspects of a smoking habit 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 hypnotherapists continue to skyrocket, there are excellent hypnosis CDs available that can greatly reduce its cost. Since everyone is unique, 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 enjoy the best possible outcome. In any case, the fee for the best hypnosis CDs & DVDs equates to far less than the amount that an average smoker wastes every month on buying cigarettes.

Alan B. Densky, CH developed the Video Hypnosis stop smoking technology which helps smokers easily quit the habit. He also created many ways to quit smoking using Ericksonian Hypnotherapy and NLP. Visit his Neuro-VISION self development hypnosis site for free hypnosis videos and downloads.