According to the book Smoke: A Global History of Smoking, tobacco has been around longer than the wheel, originally connected to religious ceremonies over 7,000 years ago. For the majority of that time humans did not realize tobacco caused adverse health effects.
One of the first and most influential studies to definitively link smoking with cancer was "Smoking and Carcinoma of the Lung," published by The British Medical Journal in 1950. That 61-year-old study led to a new view of tobacco as a harmful activity.
Many smokers do not survive the habit; the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says smoking "...causes more than 5 million deaths per year." The CDC also says that if current trends continue, "...tobacco use will cause more than 8 million deaths annually by 2030."
Study Says Most U.S. Smokers Would Rather Quit Smoking
A Gallup poll released July 24, 2010 found 74% of smokers in America would like to quit smoking and many are managing to do so. In 2010, Cheryl Healton, chief executive of an anti-smoking non-profit group called the American Legacy Foundation, told the New York Times that in America former smokers (47 million in number) now outnumber current smokers (estimated at 45 million.) That trend, Healton added, is also seen in many other wealthy countries which have enacted laws to combat smoking.
Tobacco companies, who argue that they do not force anyone to smoke, have turned to marketing their products elsewhere. Back in 2003, Amanda Sanford, of the group Action on Smoking and Health, told BBC News Online that the rise of smoking in developing countries "...stems back to the actions of the tobacco companies. They are aggressively marketing their products to developing countries."
Quitting Smoking Good for Lungs and Energy Level
People who have quit smoking are often relieved and it's difficult to find individuals who regret their decision to stop smoking. Among other health benefits, former smokers talk of increased energy and better breathing.
"One of the great regrets of my life is that I smoked and if I could say anything to anybody starting out in life it would be, 'Whatever you do, don't smoke'," British actor and comedian Bill Nighy (of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Love Actually and Valkyrie) said of his former habit. "I have had to recover from that and I've been lucky that I have been able to stop."
Seeking the Method and the Motivation to Stop Smoking Cigarettes
A February 2010 edition of the UK-based The Daily Mail featured the article 'Willpower Works Better Than Patches.' Writer Fiona Macrae referenced an Australian study that looked at over 500 recent studies on quitting and the Australian study concluded that "...two-thirds to three-quarters of ex-smokers stopped unaided and that most said they had found it easier to quit than they had expected."
For smokers who try to quit "unaided" by picking a date and quitting, Dr. Jim Taylor, an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco, may have some helpful advice. Dr. Taylor writes on using motivation for change and says in a January, 2010 online article in Psychology Today that sticking to a goal requires "...unwavering determination to resist the obstacles and...engage in the moment-to-moment process of change."
Taylor says that full, deep change takes time and talks about the elements required to make change come and stay. He breaks it down in such a way that change becomes a process people can plan for and implement:
- determine just what we want to change and how we plan to do it;
- "pinpoint obstacles" that are keeping us from reaching our goal;
- spend some time exploring how others made the same change;
- think about obstacles that will come along and how to beat them;
- surround yourself with people helpful to your desire for change;
- persistence: "...maintain our determination to achieve our goals"; and
- remember that true change takes time and remain committed.
Quitting Smoking and The Motivation to Change: Your Wish is Your Command
And finally here is a quote from the Psychology Today website: "Motivation is literally the desire to do things. It's the difference between waking up before dawn to pound the pavement and lazing around the house all day. It's the crucial element in setting and attaining goals—and research shows you can influence your own levels of motivation and self-control.
"So figure out what you want, power through the pain period, and start being who you want to be."
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