COVID Fears are Inspiring More Smokers to Quit
PARAMUS, N.J.: According to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, smoking doubles the progression of COVID-19. That sobering statistic is among the reasons more people are willing to give up cigarettes and vaping — or at least trying to quit — than before the pandemic. If there is a silver lining to the spread of the coronavirus, it may be that it is providing that extra nudge for giving up a health risk that can also lead to heart disease, cancers, blocked arteries and pulmonary disease.
Hypnosis is one of the tools they are using. "One of the best things you can do for your health is to quit smoking," says Certified Clinical Hypnosis Practitioner Mary Beth Battaglia. "Anyone can quit on their own but it is challenging because with cigarettes you are breaking a habit and an addiction to nicotine. Hypnosis helps you be mindful in understanding why you are smoking. Nicotine can create an urge but oftentimes it is stress and boredom that become the triggers for a cigarette."
Battaglia, who is based in Oradell, N. J., adds that a cigarette can have an emotional component for some people, too. "A lot of people don't realize that cigarettes serve as an old friend that is always there for them throughout the good and bad times," she says, "and jettisoning an old friend is never easy." She finds that most motivated individuals can quit after four or five hypnosis sessions.
For those who want to extinguish their cigarette habit Battaglia offers these six tips:
- Practice distraction. Before smoking a cigarette, pause and try to focus on something else. The urge to smoke may pass.
- Put obstacles in the way. Create extra steps to get the cigarettes and keep the pack where it is not easily accessible. For example, keep cigarettes in the trunk when driving
- Go gradual. Each day smoke one less cigarette until there are none left to smoke
- Consider the money. Think about the difference an extra $3,000 a year (the average yearly cost of smoking) could make
- Pick the right time. Smokers who quit because others want them to don't fare as well as those who quit for themselves
- Enlist others' help. Create a positive support system to help you get through it
