Allen Carr is an Englishman who managed to quit smoking after 30 years of nicotine addiction. He expressed his feelings in the book "An Easy Way to Quit Smoking", which quickly became a real bestseller.
With the proceeds from the sale of books translated into 70 languages around the world, Allen Carr, along with his like-minded peers, opens a number of clinics where former smokers help those who want to overcome their passion for smoking. The writer opted for a healthy lifestyle and invented his own way to quit smoking Allen Carr.
The main difference from the accepted smoking cessation methods is the smokers' awareness of why to smoke and what a person gets when they give up the addiction. The author claims that it is fundamentally wrong to view nicotine addiction as just a bad habit. Opponents are asked the question: why can other habits be easily given up, but that 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 damage to health, as well as significant material costs, but people continue to indulge in their passion.
Why do people smoke?
The author says that the reason for the unsuccessful attempts to quit is a distortion of the human psyche, which causes the addict to start making excuses for why he smokes. The addict postpones the date of the final abandonment of the habit indefinitely: tomorrow, from Monday, in a month, then sometime, but not now.
A person's fear of the need to change their usual way of life makes it difficult to quit nicotine addiction today. A list of the most common expectations a smoker uses to justify himself is presented:
- Smoking cessation leads to health problems;
- gain weight without cigarettes;
- Smoking removes stress, has a calming effect;
- Nicotine improves the taste of food;
- Cigarette helps communication, liberation.
In reality, the opposite is the case. A person falls into the slavery of nicotine addiction who lacks the strength to give up. How does inhaling tobacco smoke affect a person:
- destroys the body, constantly inhaled nicotine. If a dose of a substance found only in a cigarette is injected into a vein, the poison kills the person instantly. Nicotine enters the body in smaller quantities with smoke, but is also more slowly deadly;
- Nicotine clouds the appetite and impairs the absorption of nutrients. Many who quit smoking experience an increased feeling of hunger that they want to satisfy quickly. Weight gain occurs when trying to replace the smoking habit with eating by eating overly sweet and fatty foods.
- Smoking disrupts the work of the entire organism and also destroys the nervous system, which increases the likelihood of stressful situations. A vicious circle turns out: nicotine contributes to the development of nervous tension, and to avoid this, another cigarette is smoked;
- The effects of tobacco smoke on the taste buds and sense of smell are negative and destructive. Over time, a smoker simply cannot properly gauge the taste of the dish.
- In a non-smoking company, the clouds of smoke from a burning cigarette cause discomfort and awkwardness. The smoker's breath is perceived as the stench of an overfilled ashtray. Clothing that has absorbed the smell of smoke is uncomfortable for others.
The smoker's fears are illusory. A full assessment of your deception, an understanding of drug addiction to nicotine, and a desire to move on to a healthy lifestyle are the main prerequisites for quitting smoking on your own.
Allen Carr does not recommend using the term "smoking cessation" as it is associated with the victim of a person who quits the addiction, which causes the opposite effect.
How nicotine addiction occurs
When a person lights a cigarette for the first time, they don't expect to become addicted for the rest of their life. The body that feels the mortal danger resists coughing, watery eyes and shortness of breath.
The desire to smoke arises as soon as the negative reaction of the body is overcome. Allen Carr calls the incipient addiction a kind of nicotine trap, the device of which helps to keep the person trapped in it as long as possible. Large manufacturers of tobacco products and various accessories for smoking are financially interested in millions of addicts in order to bring them a fabulous income from loss of health and ruined life.
Nicotine is a drug that is addictive in record time. When smoking a cigarette, each puff represents a mini narcotic dose. The poison enters the bloodstream and brain, causing a lack of oxygen. The effects of the toxic substance wear off after a few minutes or hours, then a new portion is required. The dosage should be increased gradually to achieve the desired condition.
Also contributes to addiction to smoking and surrounds addicts who justify their habit with illusory reasons: pleasure, fashion, prestige.
A person from childhood on an unconscious level summarizes hidden advertisements for tobacco products and smoking:
- addicted parents who smoke with children;
- movie characters with a cigarette in their mouth watching from movies and television screens;
- billboards advertising famous tobacco brands;
- cigarette maker Billboard Sport;
- beautiful packaging of tobacco products, accessories (ashtrays, lighters, cigarette holders, pipes).
Medical anti-advertising does not produce the desired effect and prints terrible pictures of the effects of smoking on packets of cigarettes. Young people see the time when the consequences break out as the distant future, especially since not all smokers develop lung cancer or tuberculosis.
Basics of the method
Allen Carr's easy way to quit smokingconsists in creating the joyful mood a person feels after being completely cured of an incurable disease. Inspired by happiness, a person can overcome all of the difficulties associated with making the ultimate decision to quit smoking. This is a radically new approach to the problem of nicotine addiction. After a short time, the former smoker changes completely to a healthy lifestyle, the cravings for nicotine and smoking no longer arise.
The methodology is based on a more detailed study of the smoking process:
- The realization that nicotine addiction is no pleasure at all.
- The person understands that he is actually a real drug addict.
- Every cigarette for the patient's own money helps to destroy his body and soul.
- Nobody can force a person to become addicted to drugs. This decision belongs to every smoker personally.
- Everyone understands very well that smoking is an addiction. After all, no parent wants their children to become addicted to nicotine.
- It is recommended that you maximize your desire to quit smoking, change your surroundings, and do what you love.
You cannot end your addiction by using a weaker drug. As a result, the use of nicotine patches, chewing gum, and pills is of poor efficiency.
As a result of an addiction, a person wants to have pleasure, but what the smoker aspires to by pumping poison into his body with each cigarette is what ordinary people get with no effort:
- expectation of joy from every day lived;
- good night's sleep;
- lack of guilt for their actions;
- happiness and well-being;
- Material savings.
Of course, Allen Carr's method is not for everyone. 6% of smokers who come to clinics cannot overcome their addiction. But don't give up. If one method fails, you will have to find another, a third, so as not to give up until you have completely won.