It is often that said smoking is a dying habit – not only because the number of smokers is decreasing each year – but because it kills. The death rate is now higher than previously thought – tobacco kills up to two in every three smokers not one in every two, data from a large study suggests.
The BBC reports that the study tracked more than 200,000 Australian smokers and non-smokers above the age of 45 over six years. Smoking 10 cigarettes a day doubled the risk, while 20-a-day smokers were four to five times more likely to die.
Although someone who smokes could lead a long life, their habit makes this less likely. Smoking increases the risk of a multitude of health problems, including heart disease and cancer.
Cancer Research UK currently advises that half of all long-term smokers eventually die from cancer or other smoking-related illnesses.
And, according to the NHS, 10 million adults smoke in the UK with 300,000 children aged between 11 and 15 starting the habit each year.
But recent evidence suggests the figure may be higher.
Newer studies in UK women, British doctors and American Cancer Society volunteers have put the figure at up to 67%, says Professor Emily Banks, lead author of the Australian study.
“We knew smoking was bad, but we now have direct independent evidence that confirms the disturbing findings that have been emerging internationally.”
George Butterworth, tobacco policy manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “It’s a real concern that the devastation caused by smoking may be even greater than we previously thought.”
Stopping smoking can bring a person’s health risks back down.
Ten years after quitting, risk of lung cancer falls to half that of a smoker and risk of heart attack falls to the same as someone who has never smoked, according to NHS Smokefree.
But even after just 48 hours of not smoking, there is no nicotine in the body and the ability to taste and smell is greatly improved.
One of the surest and most effective ways to stop smoking is to used hypnotherapy which, using hypnotic techniques, can help to remove unwanted habits with precision and a total freedom from side effects.
The UK’s National Council for Hypnotherapy has around d 1800 qualified and well-trained hypnotherapists on its register all of whom can help people quit smoking.
Someone visiting a hypnotherapist to stop smoking might find, through the hypnotherapist, that they started within a peer group situation. Often this stems from our desire to blend in, to become part of a group, and of course in evolutionary terms people need to be accepted by a group as our protection comes from being within groups – that is how we evolved and survived.
With hypnotherapy the physical addiction to cigarettes can be over after just one week and research shows that, by quitting smoking with hypnosis, a person is three times more likely to give up than if they used nicotine patches.
So, following a recent decision to be ban smoking in cars carrying children as passengers, which will become law on 1 October and aims to protect young people under 18 from second-hand smoke, why not contact a therapist near you by using the NCH’s directory and change your life.
