Allen Carr is an Englishman who managed to quit smoking after 30 years of nicotine addiction. He laid out his feelings in the book "An easy way to quit smoking", which in a short time became a real bestseller.
With the proceeds from the sale of books that have been translated into 70 languages of the world, Allen Carr, together with his like-minded people, opens a series of clinics in which former smokers help those who wish to overcome their passion for smoking. Choosing a healthy lifestyle, the writer invented his own way to easily quit smoking Allen Carr.
The main difference from the accepted ways to quit smoking is the awareness of smokers why there is a need to smoke, what a person gets if he gives up addiction. The author claims that it is fundamentally wrong to consider nicotine addiction just a bad habit. Opponents are asked the question: why other habits can be easily abandoned, but this does not work with smoking. Although the signs accompanying the process are extremely unpleasant: a terrible smell from the mouth, an unpleasant aftertaste after smoking a cigarette, obvious harm to health, plus considerable material costs, but people continue to indulge in their passion.
Why do people smoke
The writer says that the reason for the unsuccessful attempts to quit smoking is a deformation of the human psyche, as a result of which the addict begins to come up with excuses for why he smokes. The addict postpones the date of the final abandonment of the habit indefinitely: tomorrow, Monday, in a month, then someday, but not now.
A person's fear of the need to change their usual way of life makes it difficult to end nicotine addiction today. A list of the most frequent expectations a smoker uses to justify himself is put forward:
- quitting smoking will lead to health problems;
- gaining excess weight without cigarettes;
- smoking removes stress, has a calming effect;
- nicotine enhances the taste of food;
- a cigarette helps communication, liberation.
In reality, the opposite is true. A person falls into the slavery of nicotine addiction, from which he lacks the strength. How does inhalation of tobacco smoke affect a person:
- destroys the body, constantly inhaled nicotine. If a dose of a substance contained in just one cigarette is injected into a vein, the poison will instantly kill the person. With smoke, nicotine enters the body in smaller quantities, but it also has a lethal effect only at a slower pace;
- Nicotine dulls appetite, interferes with the absorption of nutrients. Quitting smoking, many feel an increased sense of hunger, which they rush to satisfy. Weight gain occurs when trying to replace the smoking habit with food, eating excessively sweet and fatty foods;
- disrupting the work of the whole organism, smoking also destroys the nervous system, increasing the likelihood of stressful situations. It turns out a vicious circle: nicotine contributes to the onset of nervous tension, and to avoid it, another cigarette is smoked;
- the effects of tobacco smoke on taste buds and sense of smell are negative and destructive. Over time, a smoker simply cannot fully appreciate the taste of the dish;
- in a non-smoking company, the puffs of smoke from a burning cigarette cause inconvenience and awkwardness. The smoker's breath is perceived as the stench from an overflowing ashtray. Clothes that have absorbed the smell of smoke are unpleasant to others.
The smoker's fears are illusory. A comprehensive assessment of your delusion, understanding of drug addiction to nicotine, the desire to switch to a healthy lifestyle is the main condition to stop smoking on your own.
Allen Carr recommends against using the expression “quit smoking”, as it is associated with the victim of a person who quits the addiction, causing the opposite effect.
How nicotine addiction occurs
When a person lights a cigarette for the first time, they do not assume that they are becoming addicted for the rest of their life. The body, sensing mortal danger, resists coughing, watery eyes, shortness of breath.
The desire to smoke arises as soon as the negative reaction of the body is overcome. Allen Carr calls the beginning addiction a kind of nicotine trap, the device of which fully contributes to keeping the person trapped in it as long as possible. Large manufacturers of tobacco products and various accessories for smoking are financially interested in making millions of addicted people, through loss of health and ruined life, bring them fabulous income.
Nicotine is a drug that is addictive in record time. When smoking a cigarette, each puff represents a narcotic mini dose. The poison enters the bloodstream and the brain, causing oxygen deprivation. The effect of the poisonous substance passes after a few minutes or hours, then a new portion is required. The dosage should be gradually increased to achieve the desired state.
Also contributes to the addiction to smoking, the surrounding addicts, who justify their habit of illusory reasons: pleasure, fashion, prestige.
A person from childhood on the subconscious level summarizes hidden advertising of tobacco products and smoking:
- addicted parents who smoke with children;
- movie characters with a cigarette in their mouths, watching from movies and TV screens;
- billboards with advertising of famous tobacco brands;
- cigarette makers billboard sports;
- beautiful packaging of tobacco products, accessories (ashtrays, lighters, cigarette holders, pipes).
Medical anti-advertising does not produce the desired effect, printing terrible pictures of the consequences of smoking on cigarette packs. Young people consider the time of the onset of the consequences to be the distant future, especially since not all smokers get sick with lung cancer or tuberculosis.
Basics of the method
Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smokingis to create the joyful mood that a person feels after being completely cured of a terminal illness. Inspired by happiness, a person can overcome all the difficulties associated with the final decision to quit smoking. This is a fundamentally new approach to the problem of nicotine addiction. After a short time, the former smoker completely switches to a healthy lifestyle, the craving for nicotine and smoking no longer arises.
The methodology is based on a more detailed examination of the smoking process:
- The realization that nicotine addiction does not bring any pleasure at all.
- The person understands that, in fact, he is a real drug addict.
- Each cigarette for the patient's own money helps to destroy his body and soul.
- Nobody can force a person to become a drug addict. This decision belongs to each smoker personally.
- Everyone understands perfectly well that smoking is an addiction. After all, no parent wants their children to become addicted to nicotine.
- It is recommended to maximally encourage your desire to quit smoking, change the environment, do what you love.
You cannot end addiction by using a weaker drug. Therefore, the use of nicotine patch, chewing gum, pills is of low efficiency.
As a result of any addiction, a person wants to get pleasure, but what a smoker strives for, pumping poison in his body with each cigarette, ordinary people get without any effort:
- expectation of joy from every day lived;
- good rest at night;
- lack of guilt for their actions;
- cheerfulness and well-being;
- material savings.
Of course, Allen Carr's method is not for everyone. 6% of smokers who go to clinics cannot overcome their addiction. But do not give up. If one method fails, you need to find another, a third, not to give up until complete victory.