NationStates Jolt Archive

We've all seen those anti-smoking campaign ads; we've heard the horror stories and lets face it, we know we're all going to die one day and that's an undeniable fact of life like taxes and assholes. What if you were given a better reason to quit smoking than what was being offered to you right now?

I ran across this little time line graphic and I found it to be quite inspiring. It says only good things about if you were to quit smoking this very moment. It doesn't give any negative facts; it just tells you what good will come and I think we need to focus on the good when kicking the habit (any habit). It's all too easy to use scare tactics.

Click here (http://www.healthbolt.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/smoking_timeline_2070x1530.gif)

Anyone have something inspiring to share to help out those on NSG? Give them a positive message instead of telling them about all the negative shit they know about?

That's cool.

The best way to quit smoking to stop buying the tobacco you need to keep up the habit.

Like the war on drugs, the fight against tobacco through advertising has had next to no effect on people. Yes, it can screw up your life and prolonged use can end your life, but people still choose to smoke. Not just that, they still choose to get off their ass to go out and buy the smokes. Maybe, just maybe, we should let people live their lives as they see fit, let them choose how they live and how they die, and let them be responsible for their own well being.

Just a thought.

$4/pack. If you smoke a pack a day, that's almost $1,500 dollars per year added back in to your account to spend on things far nicer and more lasting than a cheap pile of tobacco. I don't know about you, but I can get a lot more out of $1,500 than 365 packs of cigarrettes.

If I died, i'd like it to be because of something I love.

The best way to quit smoking to stop buying the tobacco you need to keep up the habit.

Like the war on drugs, the fight against tobacco through advertising has had next to no effect on people. Yes, it can screw up your life and prolonged use can end your life, but people still choose to smoke. Not just that, they still choose to get off their ass to go out and buy the smokes. Maybe, just maybe, we should let people live their lives as they see fit, let them choose how they live and how they die, and let them be responsible for their own well being.

Just a thought.

Here here, If someone chooses to do something then let them. The advertising business (not that they need to) would save millions if they stopped running their anti-smoking campaign. Now i'm not saying to stop telling people that smoking is dangerous, leave that information available on say a website perhaps. But let a person do what they do and then face the consequences of it.

The best way to quit smoking to stop buying the tobacco you need to keep up the habit.

Like the war on drugs, the fight against tobacco through advertising has had next to no effect on people. Yes, it can screw up your life and prolonged use can end your life, but people still choose to smoke. Not just that, they still choose to get off their ass to go out and buy the smokes. Maybe, just maybe, we should let people live their lives as they see fit, let them choose how they live and how they die, and let them be responsible for their own well being.

Just a thought.

Only if we don't have to pay for their lung cancer treatments if they smoke.

If I died, i'd like it to be because of something I love.

Good call. :)

The best way to quit smoking to stop buying the tobacco you need to keep up the habit.

Like the war on drugs, the fight against tobacco through advertising has had next to no effect on people. Yes, it can screw up your life and prolonged use can end your life, but people still choose to smoke. Not just that, they still choose to get off their ass to go out and buy the smokes. Maybe, just maybe, we should let people live their lives as they see fit, let them choose how they live and how they die, and let them be responsible for their own well being.

Just a thought.

Umm... Are you sure?

Quitting smoking is much like quitting, say, caffeine use. (Although of course, far more people are addicted to caffeine, and few try to quit it.)

You can go cold-turkey. Just stop.

Or you can do a phased quitting to avoid physical withdrawal symptoms. (I needed to do this for caffeine, due to the headaches). In this you just set a schedule. Find out what you currently smoke, then smoke a bit less one week, then a bit less the next, and so on. You might even have two-week periods.

Either one works...

But the key ingredient to quitting is... WANTING TO. If you try to quit because other people are pressuring you, or because you just have some vague sense that it's bad and you shouldn't be doing it, you're not likely to succeed. Like with all things you do, your strength has to come from within.

Quitting smoking is much like quitting, say, caffeine use. (Although of course, far more people are addicted to caffeine, and few try to quit it.)

You can go cold-turkey. Just stop.

Or you can do a phased quitting to avoid physical withdrawal symptoms. (I needed to do this for caffeine, due to the headaches). In this you just set a schedule. Find out what you currently smoke, then smoke a bit less one week, then a bit less the next, and so on. You might even have two-week periods.

Either one works...

But the key ingredient to quitting is... WANTING TO. If you try to quit because other people are pressuring you, or because you just have some vague sense that it's bad and you shouldn't be doing it, you're not likely to succeed. Like with all things you do, your strength has to come from within.

I've concluded the same from my observations. Everyone I know who has quit smoking did so after some major event, and did it cold turkey. Supposedly, cold turkey isn't the best way to do it, but it's how everyone I know has. My dad quit after heart surgery, and another friend quit after moving to a new state and transferring to a new job.

I've concluded the same from my observations. Everyone I know who has quit smoking did so after some major event, and did it cold turkey. Supposedly, cold turkey isn't the best way to do it, but it's how everyone I know has. My dad quit after heart surgery, and another friend quit after moving to a new state and transferring to a new job.

I smoke, and I've quit several times, none of them intending to quit forever. Just long enough to see how addicted I was physically and psychologically. I've concluded that I'm not addicted in either way - I had no withdrawals nor some neurotic "craving" that -holics talk about. If/when I do intend to quit forever, it'll be a cold turkey. I'd only do the phased approach if I got withdrawals like I did with caffeine.

I smoke, and I've quit several times, none of them intending to quit forever. Just long enough to see how addicted I was physically and psychologically. I've concluded that I'm not addicted in either way - I had no withdrawals nor some neurotic "craving" that -holics talk about. If/when I do intend to quit forever, it'll be a cold turkey. I'd only do the phased approach if I got withdrawals like I did with caffeine.

Sounds like you might have some fortunate genetics working in your favor. I've heard smoking described as more difficult to quit than alcohol or cocaine, though I've never been a smoker myself and wouldn't know.

Only if we don't have to pay for their lung cancer treatments if they smoke.

We pay treatments for fatsoes. I guess you have a problem with that too?

Only if we don't have to pay for their lung cancer treatments if they smoke.

Saying someone shouldn't get public health care for lung cancer because they shouldn't have been smoking anyway is like saying you shouldn't rescue someone out trapped in a well because they shouldn't have been down there to begin with.

We pay treatments for fatsoes. I guess you have a problem with that too?

Some do. I think there was a "fat tax" proposed once someplace. Can't recall exactly where, though.

Some do. I think there was a "fat tax" proposed once someplace. Can't recall exactly where, though.

Hehe, a fat tax...that would fix our (the US) budget deficit...

As for quitting? No thanks. Not for at least five years.

Some do. I think there was a "fat tax" proposed once someplace. Can't recall exactly where, though.

In several countries. But it's just a proposal.

In several countries. But it's just a proposal.

At least I wasn't dreaming it up - I knew I'd heard something like that! :p

Sounds like you might have some fortunate genetics working in your favor. I've heard smoking described as more difficult to quit than alcohol or cocaine, though I've never been a smoker myself and wouldn't know.

you mean that if you were a smoker, you would know? :eek:

how hard is it to quit cocaine? :p

Sounds like you might have some fortunate genetics working in your favor. I've heard smoking described as more difficult to quit than alcohol or cocaine, though I've never been a smoker myself and wouldn't know.

Yeah, I've heard that nicotine is The Most Addictive Substance On Earth (tm). I really, really don't buy that. First how do you measure "how addictive" something is compared to another thing? And second... well. Cocaine has far greater pleasure stimulus, as does alcohol for that matter, and both also have much worse withdrawals.

But yes, my genes are l33t. :)

Meh.

Thanks for the "help".

what worked for me was sports, namely kendo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendo).

I had to choose between holding my own for more than 30'' in a fight or smoking, and that enabled me to keep not smoking to this day (well ok, now I'm more into Tae Kwon Do, but the principle is the same).

you want to make people quit smoking, make them work out so much they have to chose between smoking or living :p

I think the number 1 reason people smoke is the nicotine gum (now, now I'm a goody goody but I try everything) now I have eaten allot of bad food in my time but that stuff is proof that there is a such thing as evil in the universe :eek:

my genes are l33t. :)

*releases eggs for fertilization*

What you get when you quit smoking is freedom. I did't realize that until I quit.
Never again being mad because I have cigarettes BUT I LOST THE LIGHTER. Or riding the bike after drink, in the night, to the nearest store because during the party I RAN OUT OF CIGS.

Having an extra $34K in the back pocket is a good idea.

Yeah, I've heard that nicotine is The Most Addictive Substance On Earth (tm). I really, really don't buy that. First how do you measure "how addictive" something is compared to another thing? And second... well. Cocaine has far greater pleasure stimulus, as does alcohol for that matter, and both also have much worse withdrawals.

But yes, my genes are l33t. :)I think this is where that trademark comes from -
http://www.tfy.drugsense.org/tfy/addictvn.htm

Basically the article says that how great a pleasure stimulus is the least important quality when considering a drug's addictiveness.

It quotes Dr Kozlowki as saying that "If the question is How hard is it to stop? then nicotine a very impressive drug," and "Its urges are very similar to heroin."

In terms of Dependence Nicotine is consistently ranked higher than Heroin, Cocaine, Alcohol, Caffeine, and Marijuana.

Dependence is defined as how difficult it is for the user to quit, the relapse rate, the percentage of people who eventually become dependent, the rating users give their own need for the substance and the degree to which the substance will be used in the face of evidence that it causes harm.

With regards to withdrawl symptoms and intoxication Nicotine is often ranked very low. Yet users become very heavily dependent on it.

If you want to quit smoking, pay a 300-pound Samoan pro wrestler to follow you around for about two weeks and kick you in a very painful body part if you try to light up. Soon you will associate smoking with beihg kicked in the shins/kidneys/face/groin/head/having-your-hands-stomped-on-with-golf-cleats.

Having nenver smoked myself, I think all smokers should consider this type of therapy. ;)

my husband quit smoking about 5 years ago, and he said after about a week food started tasting better. I noticed that after about 2 weeks he was sleeping better, he didn't wake up in the middle of the night for a smoke, and he wasn't snoring anymore or tossing and turning.

We pay treatments for fatsoes. I guess you have a problem with that too?

We do? Did we get a national health service I'm not aware of?

Giving up smoking is easy, I've done it hundreds of times
:D

i've had much more successes with flirting since i gave up smoking, i.e. people actually stick around for a bit to be flirted with rather than turning their back on me immediately. only my own inhibitions and personality stop me now.

The Betrothed/R. Kipling

“You must choose between me and your cigar.”
— Breach of Promise Case, circa 1885.


OPEN the old cigar-box, get me a Cuba stout,
For things are running crossways, and Maggie and I are out.

We quarrelled about Havanas—we fought o’er a good cheroot,
And I knew she is exacting, and she says I am a brute.

Open the old cigar-box—let me consider a space;
In the soft blue veil of the vapour musing on Maggie’s face.

Maggie is pretty to look at—Maggie’s a loving lass,
But the prettiest cheeks must wrinkle, the truest of loves must pass.

There’s peace in a Larranaga, there’s calm in a Henry Clay;
But the best cigar in an hour is finished and thrown away—

Thrown away for another as perfect and ripe and brown—
But I could not throw away Maggie for fear o’ the talk o’ the town!

Maggie, my wife at fifty—grey and dour and old—
With never another Maggie to purchase for love or gold!

And the light of Days that have Been the dark of the Days that Are,
And Love’s torch stinking and stale, like the butt of a dead cigar—

The butt of a dead cigar you are bound to keep in your pocket—
With never a new one to light tho’ it’s charred and black to the socket!

Open the old cigar-box—let me consider a while.
Here is a mild Manila—there is a wifely smile.

Which is the better portion—bondage bought with a ring,
Or a harem of dusky beauties, fifty tied in a string?

Counsellors cunning and silent—comforters true and tried,
And never a one of the fifty to sneer at a rival bride?

Thought in the early morning, solace in time of woes,
Peace in the hush of the twilight, balm ere my eyelids close,

This will the fifty give me, asking nought in return,
With only a Suttee’s passion—to do their duty and burn.

This will the fifty give me. When they are spent and dead,
Five times other fifties shall be my servants instead.

The furrows of far-off Java, the isles of the Spanish Main,
When they hear my harem is empty will send me my brides again.

I will take no heed to their raiment, nor food for their mouths withal,
So long as the gulls are nesting, so long as the showers fall.

I will scent ’em with best vanilla, with tea will I temper their hides,
And the Moor and the Mormon shall envy who read of the tale of my brides.

For Maggie has written a letter to give me my choice between
The wee little whimpering Love and the great god Nick o’ Teen.

And I have been servant of Love for barely a twelvemonth clear,
But I have been Priest of Cabanas a matter of seven year;

And the gloom of my bachelor days is flecked with the cheery light
Of stumps that I burned to Friendship and Pleasure and Work and Fight.

And I turn my eyes to the future that Maggie and I must prove,
But the only light on the marshes is the Will-o’-the-Wisp of Love.

Will it see me safe through my journey or leave me bogged in the mire?
Since a puff of tobacco can cloud it, shall I follow the fitful fire?

Open the old cigar-box—let me consider anew—
Old friends, and who is Maggie that I should abandon you?

A million surplus Maggies are willing to bear the yoke;
And a woman is only a woman, but a good Cigar is a Smoke.

Light me another Cuba—I hold to my first-sworn vows.
If Maggie will have no rival, I’ll have no Maggie for Spouse!

Haven't smoking rates halved in North America over the past three decades? Smoking is really looked down upon in society these days. Even potheads and other drug users won't touch it.

Cool, now I have another way to badger my smoker friends. Bwa-ha-haa!

Haven't smoking rates halved in North America over the past three decades? Smoking is really looked down upon in society these days. Even potheads and other drug users won't touch it.

Not even. I watch adults START smoking, which is so bizarre...I thought the only smokers left were people who start at age 14 when they think it's cool and can't ever stop. Why somebody would begin a smoking habit at 30 is seriously beyond me.

Everybody ignored the poem.

Now I'm a feller with a heart of gold with the ways of a gentleman I've been told...

:D

Everybody ignored the poem.

tl;dr

Awesome timeline thingy!

Quitting smoking wasn't easy but I am proud that I was able to accomplish that. It took me years to finally quit, but I finally succeeded, after many failings, by weening myself off to the point where I was smoking 2 ciggs a day for about a month. I then went down to 1 smoke a day for a week and quit. I was still a bit of an asshole to people for a couple of weeks. THen, after a couple of years I actually stopped craving them altogether.

I experienced the good stuff in that timeline firsthand. Smell and taste returned. Energy returned. Bronchial problems ceased. I even got sick much much less and my frequent headaches decreased by half.

Got this from another site:

After 20 minutes of not smoking:

* Your blood pressure and pulse decrease
* The temperature of your hands and feet increases

After 8 hours of not smoking:

* The carbon monoxide level in your blood returns to normal
* Oxygen levels in your blood increase

After 24 hours of not smoking:

* Your chance of heart attack decreases

After 48 hours of not smoking:

* Your nerve endings adjust to the absence of nicotine
* Your ability to taste and smell begins to return (Don't quite understand this part - I smell and taste just fine.. they should've said improves, not returns)

After 72 hours of not smoking:

* Bronchial tubes relax (Also after 72 hours all nicotine has left your system)

After 2 weeks to 3 months of not smoking:

* Your circulation improves
* Your exercise tolerance improves

After 1-9 months of not smoking:

* Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease
* Cilia in the lungs regrow, increasing the ability of the lungs to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce infection
* Your overall energy level increases

After 1 year of not smoking:

* Your risk of dying from heart disease decreases to half that of a lifelong smoker's risk

After 5 years of not smoking:

* Your risk of dying from lung cancer decreases to half that of a lifelong smoker's risk

After 10 years of not smoking

* Your risk of dying from lung cancer drops to almost the same rate as a lifelong NON-smoker
* Your risk of other cancers, such as cancer of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases

$4/pack. If you smoke a pack a day, that's almost $1,500 dollars per year added back in to your account to spend on things far nicer and more lasting than a cheap pile of tobacco. I don't know about you, but I can get a lot more out of $1,500 than 365 packs of cigarrettes.

Hell yeah.