Despite the decades of scientific and medical research proving beyond doubt the deadly effects of cigarette smoking, the number of existing smokers, and people taking up smoking, is still at incredulous levels.

The chilling statistics reveal:-

• 1 in 5 deaths in the US is attributed to smoking
• 440, 000 deaths, potentially 6 million years of potential life lost per year
• Smoking during pregnancy results in 1,000 infant deaths per year.

Most people when asked are at a loss to explain why anyone would continue to smoke, or take up smoking considering the high smoking related death rate; however it is important to understand that the reason is on more of a subconscious, rather than a conscious level.

The real reasons have to do with a mechanism that drives our behavior called the pleasure and pain mechanism. This mechanism is designed to drive us towards things that are pleasurable and safe, and drive us away from things that are painful and potentially harmful or dangerous. The mechanism for the most part is developed within the subconscious mind as the result of the input (either pleasure or pain) we receive from our experience of any behavior or activity. At times the pleasure/pain mechanism has more than one input however, in which case it is usually the input that is either the strongest or the most immediate that moulds our behavior with respect to the activity in question. The problem with this mechanism where smoking is concerned is twofold:-

1. A delay of years before the negative effects are experienced which renders this delayed feedback ineffective as it becomes a purely conscious input.

2. Smoking does have elements of pleasure in the short term (such as a relaxing effect of the deep breathing, and is still seen as a somewhat cool thing to do by some young people because of its rebellious connotations). Being a short term feedback, this pleasure feedback is what a smoker responds too.

Imagine for a moment if instead of the current situation with smoking, if everyone who took up smoking and smoked for only a week died as a result of the usual smoking related illnesses, how many people do you think would take up smoking given this scenario? I would suggest it would be as close to zero as you could get.

While there is currently a delay of years before the real pain resulting from smoking is felt, I believe the time is almost at hand where this will change although not in the way that you might think. The enormous cost to the healthcare system for self inflicted and preventable health problems such as those resulting from smoking, will mean a change to the responsibility for these healthcare costs within the next few years, such as:

• Smokers will be forced to pay excessive health insurance premiums compared to non-smokers.
• Countries with free or subsidized healthcare will withdraw this support for preventable health problems such as smoking, forcing smokers to pay high private insurance costs or be left without access to healthcare.
• Also, governments may impose even higher taxes on tobacco products making the price of cigarettes even more prohibitive.

These measures may provide enough short term pain to encourage some smokers to quit, however they are a little way off just yet.

So whats the solution?
There is no magic bullet when it comes to any habit including smoking; however understanding the mechanism of the habit is a starting point. What smokers need to understand is that any habit such as smoking, is a program or list of instructions that have been placed in the subconscious mind through repetition that respond similar to a computer program. Like a computer program the instructions in your habit program are activated by certain actions or triggers. The triggers can be inputs such as stress, a time trigger such as every 30 minutes, or perhaps after a meal. You dont have to think about lighting up because your subconscious mind is programmed to respond to the triggers.

Tips
The relaxing effect of smoking can be attributed to the deep breathing when drawing in the smoke, so when you feel like a cigarette in response to one of your triggers, use your imagination instead and visualize a cigarette in your mouth, then take slow deep breathes instead of reaching for a real cigarette. The more times you do this the more you will override your smoking program and replace it with the new deep breathing habit instead. If you want to install a subconscious pain response to help quit smoking then try this. Find a quiet place where you can be alone:

1. Imagine youre in your 40s or 50s and the doctor is telling you that you only have a couple of months to live, imagine the fear that would run through your body at that moment.
2. Imagine youre on your death bed saying goodbye to your loved ones, children or partner. How would that feel inside?
3. Imagine your cigarette packet has an LCD screen on it. Every time you open the pack the screen lights up with a live feed from the future of your children or partner at your funeral grieving for you and wanting to know why you had to die so young.

Are these scenarios completely fictitious? The future video feed may be but as for the dying younger than you should, sadly that is a mathematical certainty. While weve all heard of smokers who have lived to an old age, these people are rare exceptions of perhaps 1 person in 1000 or more. Id hate to bet my life savings at those odds let alone my life, how about you?

If youre serious about saving your life and kicking the smoking habit, then try the visualization techniques above every day to program it into your subconscious. You can also think of all the money youll save by quitting. Alternatively you can look for a good quit smoking program, but ensure that the one you choose addresses the problems of the underlying subconscious programming of the habit. The money you spend on a good program will be trivial compared to the money youll save on cigarettes and is a small price to pay for your life. With regards to smoking, only one person can save your life, and that person is YOU.

2006 Colin L Wolfenden