Let’s just say you are the owner of a global business. If you were handed a simple “fact sheet” on smoking and its related costs you would probably follow the example of a company like Dell Computers. In January of 2009 the company made it unacceptable to smoke anywhere on their domestic sites. This means that roughly 28,000 employees were told to quit, or at least do so during their workday.

Why? This particular company cited the known health risks associated with smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke and the subsequent reduction in health care costs. Are their arguments valid to big business? Well if you consider that in the United States alone more than five hundred billion dollars is lost each year to direct medical expenses and lost productivity, you could say that such a move is somewhat savvy.

Productivity losses in the United States hit around ninety-seven billion dollars each year just from premature deaths due to tobacco use. This doesn’t account for those who are mildly ill, or seriously ill, and who must miss days or weeks of work due to their tobacco use.

Big business is not alone in its battle to reduce the number of smokers, and governments around the world are beginning to bump up the rate of taxation on all tobacco products. For instance, in early 2009 the average rate of federal tax on a single pack of cigarettes in the United States was $1.01. Taiwan followed suit and doubled its rate of tax in 2009 from $.44 to $.88. In addition to federal or governmental tax boosts, many states and local areas also imposed restrictive financial penalties on tobacco products too.

This has caused a secondary effect that will probably reduce the number of smokers on a global basis as well. This is because the major cigarette brands have tried to recoup some of their financial losses and have begun to raise prices per carton and per pack too. Such dramatic cost increases will, hopefully, motivate more and more consumers to quit.

In addition to making it unacceptable to smoke on campus grounds, many big businesses, such as Dell, are also offering their employees entirely free access to smoking cessation programs. Such comprehensive treatment is usually successful, especially when it is supported in such a social setting as the workplace. Most quitters know that when they use cessation aids coupled with support programs they are far more likely to remain smoke-free. When it comes at no cost, the benefits are immeasurable.

Although there are scheduled changes in many health insurance policies, there are not likely to be restrictions on higher costs for many regular smokers. This is something that already applies to life insurance rates, and this is due to the fact that the average smoker shortens their life span by roughly thirteen years or more.

For instance, the average monthly premium for term insurance for a forty year-old non-smoker is usually around thirteen dollars per one hundred thousand dollars of coverage. A smoker of the same age is looking at roughly thirty dollars per month for the same plan. That is more than twice the rate, but that is because a smoker is taking such serious health risks with their lifestyle.

Life insurance companies don’t make up facts or use false numbers to demand higher premiums. Just consider that around six million people will die this year alone due to their smoking related illnesses. Consider too that direct health care costs for smoking related illness totals at around five hundred billion dollars around the globe. Clearly, such factors demonstrate that an insurance company is far more likely to have to pay out on a plan purchased by a smoker than a non-smoker and this justifies the higher monthly premiums.

When you think of smoking in terms of insurance, it is often easy to see why smokers seem to be so frequently financially penalized. For instance, smoking is the largest preventable cause of disease and premature death, and yet tens of billions of cigarettes are consumed each day of the year. Many people wrongly believe that heart disease is more connected to genetics and diet than anything else, but the fact is that one quarter of all heart disease related deaths are from smoking. It isn’t just cancer that kills smokers, and even those who contract serious illnesses can live for incredibly long periods of time afterward. These are all reasons that many insurance providers frown on smokers.

Even home insurance rates are higher for admitted smokers, and this has to do with the fact that most home fires are the direct result of smoking. Over one thousand Americans are killed each year in house fires that began with a cigarette or smoking activity. Thirty-five percent of those deaths are innocent children, and another twenty-five percent were neighbors or friends within or near the home that had the fire. This indicates that it isn’t just smokers who pay for their habits, and is yet another reason that insurance companies seek higher rates from those who choose to smoke.

By the year 2030 it is believed that smoking is going to kill one out of every six adults. This does not include the numbers who will die of secondhand smoke or the environmental pollution caused by the tobacco industry. The current global dollar amount tied to direct medical expenses for the treatment of smoking-related illness is roughly five hundred billion dollars per year.

In the United States, the budgetary figures connected to direct medical expenses, lost productivity and environmental harm stand at around one hundred billion, and a staggering five billion of that is directed towards treating illness in those who were exposed to secondhand smoke.

Obviously this means that much of the global debate about finding financial resources for health care could be ended simply through the elimination of smoking. Many big businesses have recognized this fact and implemented anti-smoking policies in their buildings and on their campuses, and many more offer employees access to free smoking cessation programs. They are doing this as a way of reducing health care costs, but also as a way of ensuring a healthy, productive, and well-trained pool of employees available for many years to come. Consider that smoking kills people roughly thirteen years earlier than they would have naturally died, and this means that the workforce is seriously threatened all of the time.

It is significant to note that most people who want to stop smoking could feasibly do so over the course of a seventy-two hour period. This is the average amount of time that it takes the human body to eliminate all traces of nicotine, and to actually combat the cravings tied to addiction. Most people don’t want to endure the nausea, restlessness, headaches and mood swings of the detoxification process, however, and this is the reason that most smoking cessation programs rely on some form of nicotine replacement treatment or NRT.

Are the costs of NRT comparable to costs of health care expenses related to conditions arising from cigarette smoking? Not at all, most NRTs are used for a period of six months or less, and come in at far less expense than medical care. Additionally, when people really plan their smoking cessation programs they will be able to join support groups and find alternative treatments to help them combat the addiction. This tends to ensure success over the long-term and is often the reason that someone remains smoke-free for the rest of their life.

What can smoking cost in a single year? It is estimated that heavy smokers can spend around five thousand dollars on their habit in a single year. That is enough for a fantastic vacation for a couple or even a small family. The thing is; a smoker is going to lose from five to fifteen years off of their life because of their habit. This means that they are wasting important time and money simply to feed their brain with a single unnecessary chemical.

Of course, it isn’t just the cost of an average pack of “smokes” that contribute to the remarkable statistics around the dollars and cents of smoking. Consider the costs to the environment, the lost wages, the health care, and the impact on the health of those who become ill thanks to secondhand smoke. Smoking also leads to things like high cholesterol and low calcium, so it isn’t just cancer that people seek medical care to address, and this adds up to hundreds of billions of dollars around the globe too.

Let’s just start with a few current facts – the first being that an average year sees around five hundred billion dollars spent in direct medical expenses around the world for smoking related illnesses. In the United States the figure is one hundred billion dollars for health care costs associated strictly with smoking, and five billion of it directed at those who have become ill due to secondhand smoke.

The next current fact is that five million of today’s current teenagers will die early because of the smoking habit that they have developed within the past year. These teens are frequent targets of tobacco company advertising, and there are only a few corporations in the United States, Great Britain and Japan that control these campaigns.

They are so successful at their work that they manage to hook around one hundred thousand underage smokers each year. They will show kids that smoking is not only socially appealing, but that it improves athletic performance or makes someone more sophisticated. Statistics indicate that half of the young people convinced by the ads will continue to smoke until they reach their forties, and that a quarter of them will die due to their habit.

Finally, it is vitally important to look at the total cost of smoking, and this means understanding that of the fifteen billion cigarettes sold each day less than half make it into a garbage can. The remains of these cigarettes take around twenty-five years to fully degrade and they leach toxins into the soil as they do so. This means that decades of poison will still exist from all of the cigarettes smoked just today alone.

We know all of the commercial or “pop culture” identities for the major tobacco brands including some famous cowboys and camels, but do we know the real companies behind the tobacco industry? The nickname of “Big Tobacco” is a somewhat negative title for the groups that comprise the industry in the United States and the United Kingdom. These groups are also frequently called the “big three” and include Philip Morris, Reynolds American, and Lorillard.

There are other tobacco companies all around the world too, and some of them can often fall under the identifying term of Big Tobacco too. For example, the four United States tobacco companies that were part of the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement with 46 of the states included Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation and the Lorillard Tobacco Company too.

What do consumers need to know about Big Tobacco in general? Does it help to know their names and in which countries they operate? Should we take their settlements with consumer groups as a sign of good? What are the important issues?

The most significant things to know about any of the major or key tobacco companies are that they produce a serious threat to the well-being of consumers. They produce products that cause billions of dollars of harm each year, and they are directly responsible for over five million deaths around the world each year as well.

Big Tobacco is just a corporate distribution system for smoking and non-smoking tobacco products that lead to a bevy of health problems and death. There is no nice way to view tobacco use because it is so tremendously harmful to the vast majority of people who use it on a regular basis. While there are some who argue that they knew a lifelong smoker who lived to an advanced age, the general or “average” smoker has a significantly shorter life span than the non-smoker. The quality of life of a smoker will also be reduced by their habit too.

Consider that a smoker may not develop the life-threatening cancers that tobacco use is well-known for, but they will develop some serious respiratory, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart, or even dental and vision problems from their smoking.

Tobacco use has become such a well-known evil that Big Tobacco has begun to sponsor websites and programs aimed at preventing underage use and prevention techniques for schools or parents to use as well.

Are you thinking of quitting smoking? If so, you should know that you will enjoy some immediate benefits within hours of that last cigarette. In fact, it is a good idea to really get informed about the health benefits you will get from this decision. Why? Because you should know right from the start that anyone who tries to quit smoking is in for a challenge. Cigarettes contain a substance known as nicotine, and though it is highly toxic it is also addictive. This addictiveness makes it very hard to eliminate from the daily routine, and this is usually the primary challenge for those who want to quit.

So, before you let people know that you are going to stop smoking, you should sit down and consider the many ways in which your mind will lead you back towards cigarettes. You should then understand how the body reacts without the toxins from those cigarettes, in order to develop a really good defense. Only by constructing a list of responses to the most challenging scenarios will you be able to recognize them and overcome them when they occur.

One of the most common mistakes made is for a smoker to allow themselves “just one” to take the edge off their desire for a smoke. The truth is that each day free of nicotine is going to reduce the potency of the craving, and that “one” cigarette will give the urge an ever stronger edge rather than a weaker one. If you realize that blood pressure and heart rate increase with each puff of a cigarette it is easy to see how self-defeating the “just one” strategy becomes. All of the good work of a day or two without smoking is undone in a few minute’s time unless the individual refuses to smoke.

The next mistake is to think that the momentary urge is just too strong to defeat, but in reality the average craving “peaks” at around three minutes in total duration. This means that if the individual can find something to do for around fifteen minutes during the time of their craving they will defeat it.

One of the best lines of defense is to find a quitting buddy who will be available by phone at any time. This is the person who understands your struggle and will serve as a cheerleader or coach throughout your periods of weakness or intense cravings. Simply talking to them about the upcoming weekend, a new restaurant, or something in the news will see the most intense cravings all the way through to the end.

There are many strategies for quitting, but the strongest ones start with the simple acceptance that it is going to be hard work to stop smoking.

Is there a right way to stop smoking? No, there are many ways that even a long-term smoker can use to give up the habit. The thing to remember is that statistics and studies can often indicate the most successful path to follow. For instance, many heavy smokers benefit from a combination of nicotine replacement therapy and a prescription medication too.

The best way to begin the process of smoking cessation is to meet with a doctor to discuss all of the options. It is important to accept that you are probably addicted to nicotine and this is going to make the process somewhat difficult. Most smokers don’t think that they are suffering from addiction, but nicotine is the primary component of the modern cigarette and it is one of the world’s most addictive substances.

This means that you should consider the best replacement therapy for your needs. There are gums, patches, lozenges, sprays and inhalers that all work differently to supply the quitter with a small stream of nicotine throughout the day. The one you and your doctor choose is going to have to meet your lifestyle and your smoking habits.

For example, do you think that you like the “hand to mouth” pattern of traditional smoking? Do you also smoke a pack or more per day? If you do, the inhalers are probably the best choice for you.

If, on the other hand, you smoke only a few cigarettes each day and find that you do so when bored, you might want to consider the gums or lozenges that supply you with nicotine only at the times you crave it.

The next step is to consider using a stop smoking medication that also helps your brain chemicals to balance out without causing the discomfort of withdrawal as well. Remember that nicotine withdrawal can come with anxiety, nausea, sleeplessness, headache and more and a good medication can eliminate many of these issues.

In addition to using a good combination of nicotine treatments, you will want to also consider some alternative approaches. For example, many people visit a hypnotist or find a licensed acupuncture provider. You could also join a support group or take up a new hobby that fills the time that you might otherwise have been smoking.

Although smoking does cause a lot of serious risks to the health, after only a short period of time the quitter will see many of the problems entirely eliminated and many of the risks ended.

Everyone has heard about NRTs or nicotine replacement treatments, and many also know about alternative therapies to help someone give up smoking as well. While these are essential components to a smoking cessation program, the real results come from a few secret tips.

For one thing, few people can succeed in their first efforts to stop smoking if they are ill-prepared for the challenge. This means that knowledge and research are essential. If you don’t know what you are about to experience you might be too overcome by the cravings, urges or feelings to continue. If, however, you know the approximate time frame that the worst of these feelings will last, then you have a clear cut goal or finish line.

This is the first big secret – learning and planning. Before you even contact your doctor to discuss the right NRT for your needs, begin reading about nicotine addiction, withdrawal symptoms, and alternative approaches to giving up the habit. This is the only way to understand the many challenges ahead and to get yourself ready for the battle.

For example, if you learn that many people prefer the inhaler varieties of NRTs because it gives them the old “hand to mouth” pattern, you might realize that it is something you will want for yourself too. Alternately, you might realize that you have a very specific smoking pattern and that you must find alternative activities to do during such moments. If you are just in the advanced planning stage you will have the time to find a support group, or some sort of physical activity that will make it utterly impossible to light up.

Prior to beginning the smoking cessation program you might also want to find a special “buddy” or mentor who is going to quit with you or who has already overcome the challenges you will face. While friends and family can be great at encouraging you and cheering you on, any research is going to tell you that you need an objective person to really nudge you on in your battle to eliminate nicotine from your life.

Here we come to the next secret, and that is understanding that you are overcoming an addiction just as much as you are ending an old habit. Nicotine is one of the most toxic and addictive substances in the world, and it takes over seventy-two hours of hard-core detoxing to eliminate it from the body. Few people can endure this, and if you understand how powerful it is you will be able to recognize your “enemy” each time it rears its ugly head.

When is the best time to quit smoking? Realistically, any time is the right time to quit, but for each person there is usually the stronger moment to make the choice. For example, many successful quitters state that they selected an official “quit date” and mentally prepared themselves for that moment. Others used something like a birthday or a major event in their lives to serve as the strongest inspiration to turn over a new leaf and give up smoking.

Additionally, one of the best times to quit is after you have made all of the choices and done all of the necessary preparation. For instance, if you are going to quit smoking you are going to have to accept that you have an addiction to nicotine. No one who has a hard time giving up cigarettes can say that they are not addicted. Nicotine is one of the world’s strongest poisons, but it also happens to be powerfully addictive too.

This means that you should sit down with your doctor to choose the right nicotine replacement treatment for your needs. While many people initially resist the idea of using the patches, lozenges, gum, inhalers or sprays, they change their mind when they learn about nicotine withdrawal. For one thing, those who quit using the old-fashioned “cold turkey” approach will have to go through seventy-two hours of actual withdrawal. This could mean three or more days of serious nausea, headaches, restlessness, and more. Additionally, even a single moment of weakness during which time a single drag on a cigarette occurs will put the quitter at halfway back the distance they have already come.

This is the reason that most people opt for some sort of nicotine replacement. Additionally, a physician might provide a heavier smoker with a prescription medication especially designed to combat some of the worst parts of serious withdrawal such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia.

After selecting the NRT and any supplementary medication, the quitter should also determine the alternative treatments that they will use to combat their nicotine addiction. For example, they might make a regular appointment with an acupuncture provider, or they might join a health club or even a support group. There are many online and “in person” support groups for those who have decided to quit and it is often very therapeutic to speak with others who are struggling with the same difficulties and concerns.

Once all of your tools are in place, then you should set the date and free yourself from cigarette smoking.

There are many over the counter products to help someone to stop smoking. For example, there are gums, lozenges, and stick-on patches that deliver small amounts of nicotine into the blood stream in order to help someone get through periods of intense craving. There are many online and in-person support groups for people hoping to quit smoking as well, and then there are a wide array of alternative treatments that include journaling, acupuncture, and hypnosis.

Among all of the alternatives it is hypnosis alone that works on a very unique level. This is because hypnotists seek to help smokers view smoking as the one thing that they would not want to do. They help them to retrain their thought processes around smoking and view it as an undesirable activity rather than one they are fighting to avoid.

Let’s look at this way; a smoker resists the urge to have a cigarette. The non-smoker has absolutely no desire to pick up a cigarette in the first place. If someone who was trying to quit smoking could think like the non-smoker then the battle is over, and this is the goal of most smoking hypnosis.

How is it done? It will vary with practitioners, but most treatments will ask the participant to focus on their smoking problem and the desired results. The mind and body are guided into a deep state of relaxation and even visualization where the subconscious is seeded with the thoughts and images that illustrate the waking person’s goals. This is a very simplified explanation of the process, but it does give a clear explanation of what the hypnotist and the smoker will work to accomplish.

Most people don’t believe that they can be hypnotized, but the fact of the matter is that even in a completely waking state, the subconscious mind can be given specific messages that will help with any stop smoking efforts.

Now, the important thing to remember is that smoking has emotional and physical effects on the body, and hypnotism is not going to automatically provide someone with the tools they need to overcome the strongest urges created by nicotine withdrawal. Even when someone decides to stop smoking without the help of patches or gum they can experience a few days or even weeks of nicotine withdrawal. This is the main reason to plan any smoking cessation program because it will require a bit of groundwork and support that cannot be accomplished at the last minute. Integrating hypnosis into such plans is a great way to find success and to stop smoking for good.