Different people have highly varying levels and types of addiction, and this can affect how long it takes to quit. The bottom line is that it IS important to quit. Cigarettes are rank poisoning. No question.
The human body is not made to inhale nicotine and tar laden smoke full of cancer-causing chemicals. In fact, all humans have inherited a natural defence mechanism – ‘the cough’ that tries to remove it from our lungs as soon as possible.
The secret of dual addictions…Nicotine addiction is split into two parts = physical addiction to nicotine, and mental addiction – you ‘need’ a cigarette. The vital thing to remember is that it is not possible to quit by just attacking the nicotine addiction. Both physical and mental addictions need to be taken down at the same time.
Furthermore, if just the physical nicotine addiction is attacked, this can have the effect of making addiction worse resulting in failure to quit.
Here’s why: If the nicotine is replaced with something else such as nicotine patches, this tells the subconscious that the nicotine is ‘precious and desirable’ because it is being replaced, not removed. The subconscious will then fight any attempt to cut off the precious nicotine. This manifests as extreme cravings. So … how long does it take to quit smoking?
Here’s the key to how long it takes:
Amazingly, most people who are completely addicted can still sleep all night without waking up and needing to smoke. Plus in the same way, some people are social smokers and others are daily smokers. So, how do they not smoke at these times and have no cravings?
This is because the subconscious mind is trained to know when a cigarette is ‘needed’. This also affects how long it can take to give up smoking, because it is not the number of cigarettes, nor the nicotine addiction that matters, but what mental addiction triggers are stored in the smokers mind.
The good news is that this also means the mental process can be reversed. And it doesn’t need to take much time at all – how long it takes to quit is totally up to you.
Let’s explain further…Examples of mental smoking addictions and what they reveal about how to quit:
These reveal how the addiction can be reversed, and how long it can take. If a person is used to going for extended periods without smoking, it is easier to quit not because of lower nicotine addiction, but because the subconscious accepts that nicotine is not as ‘precious’ to them as it is for constant smokers.
For example, you will have seen that a person can go into a meeting knowing that no smoking is allowed, and go the entire length of the meeting … until a few minutes before it is supposed to end, then the cravings begin to return. The dormant subconscious addiction awakes because it knows it is now ‘allowed’ to have cigarette.
Another example is a person with a bad cold can easily stop for week or more.
Why? How is this possible when smokers trying to use will power find it so difficult to quit? The reason is that smoking addiction is mostly psychological, so the subconscious can be trained to think the opposite with the right treatment. If done the right way, you can quit quickly, immediately and forever.
Cutting down, or using NRT (Nicotine Replacement Therapy) such as nicotine patches, is not the right way and is far less likely to work as you will now understand.
But with the right treatment, you can stop almost immediately. Cravings can last from a week to a month, but easy to deal with if you quit the right way.