Why do Smokers and Vapers need support after they have stopped?
Did you know that if you are a smoker or vaper your brain lights up like a Christmas tree each time you encounter the smell of a cigarette or vape? The prefrontal cortex of the brain is reactivated by the mere smell. The previously recorded associations are reactivated as the urge kicks in and tells you it is time to smoke. If after you have stopped, you haven’t learned how to deal with the urge when it is activated, you are toast! You go right back to smoking or vaping! Whereas, if you have learned to integrate the tools you will learn with the Choose a Smokefree Life method you will be able to recognize that you are simply having a desire to smoke and you have a choice to either give in or keep choosing freedom. That is the difference between being obsessed and being free.
This is backed up by the research out of Yale University. They call it the “sleeper effect” of being off one’s substance of choice for an addict. And let’s face it, nicotine makes smokers and vapers addicts. The sleeper effect lasts for about 90 days after an addict stops using their drug of choice. This is the length of time it takes for the brain to reset itself so that the cigarette or the vape no longer appears as the solution to the nicotine addict’s problems. That is why most nicotine addicts need ongoing support after they have stopped, and why most people who stop without support go back to smoking or vaping, about 70%.
Thus, the support my clients receive after they have stopped lasts for 90 days from their stop date. Let’s face it: anybody can stop for a few days or weeks or months by “toughing it out”, but if they have developed no skills for dealing with their urges in a positive way, they will most likely go back feeling baffled and even more hopeless.
The way out of the fear of their urges is by having tools to recognize the urges and to become empowered with concrete techniques to make positive choices moment to moment. My clients are not miserable, overweight, obsessed with going back, or unhappy they have stopped. They are finally free, full of hope, on the road to recovery, and at peace. Isn’t that way every nicotine addict wants? With ongoing support that is initiated by Choose a Smokefree Life in the form or regular phone calls mutually determined by the client and my support team, and by ongoing emails, my clients have the confidence they are 100% on the right track. With this built-in accountability and support the brain learns in those 90 days how to deal with life on life’s terms without the need for nicotine.
Is this too much support?
Remember, my clients are ex-smokers or ex-vapers, having smoked or vaped for decades. They will never be non-smokers or non-vapers. Non-smokers do not need to do this work, but my clients do! The quality of their lives depends on it.
If you know or love a smoker or vaper, let them know I offer free, no obligation half-hour consultations when I will outline how this approach works and why. My better than 80% success rate speaks for itself. 512-758-1910 Chooseasmokefreelife.com
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