Diary of A Quitter

It is nearly 2 months since I quitted.

I haven’t been out running over the last 2 weeks as I had a bad sinus infection and I was taking antibiotics. I noticed that my recovery was quicker as a non smoker. I remember as a smoker getting an infection it took longer and if was a lot harder to shake off.

Christmas is nearly upon us and I am longer forward to having nights out and really enjoying being a non smoker.

I have had a couple of nights out already and the I must say the hang over the following morning isn’t nearly as bad.  There are so many benefits of being a non smoker such as  health, financial and no bad hang over’s!!!!

 Mervyn

 

ESB’s employees prefer Easyway To Stop Smoking

Survey shows 70% remains off cigarettes

 

A recent survey among ESB employees shows that 70% of employees attending Easyway To Stop Smoking clinics have stayed off the cigarettes.

 

Rosemary Ryan, from ESB’s Occupational Health Services, explains the company has a range of services to help employeers who want to stop smoking but the most popular and successful method among ESB staff is Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking.

 

“ESB actively encourages and assists employees who wish to stop smoking. We provide free advice, support and other methods. However the majority of those who decide to stop smoking go for the Easyway and the results so far are excellent,” she says.

 

“Quitting smoking is the most positive lifestyle choice someone can make for him or herself and their family. Overall, everyone thought the seminar was excellent and very informative. We have had very good feedback from the participants,” she adds.

 

Jacinta Buckley, from ESB’s Head Office restaurant, attended the course recently. “It’s a really good course for anyone who is ready to give up. I recommend it highly and it is a fantastic course. I came away from the course and I did not even want to smoke, I feel fantastic,” she says.

 

This is the first year ESB organizes Allen Carr’s EasyWay to Stop Smoking seminars for its employeers. However, ESB employees have been benefiting from the programme since 2006.

 

Until this year, ESB Occupational Health Service had been providing a 50% refund for  staff attending Allen Carr courses, registering for the seminars individually and claiming their discount through ESB.

 

After this success, ESB decided to organize Easyway To Stop Smoking courses in-house. In 2008 year alone, five seminars have been organized for ESB staff across the country, including ESB’s Head Office in Dublin; Tuam, Co. Galway; and Sligo, with almost 100 attendees in total.

Smoking Through Distress

In the Irish Times today Alison Healy writes:  SMOKERS ARE poorly equipped to deal with distress without resorting to cigarettes because of their implicit belief that smoking helps them to deal with difficult feelings, a conference for psychologists was told yesterday.

Nigel Vahey of NUI Maynooth said research had found that a key psychological component of tobacco-dependence involved the implicit belief that smoking was an effective way of regulating unpalatable feelings.

“In other words, to the degree that smokers implicitly believe that smoking can enhance their enjoyment and reduce their distress, then they are more likely to engage in smoking as a means of controlling and coping with fluctuating feelings throughout the day,” he said.

Smoking was used as a way to avoid dealing with painful thoughts and emotions but this was unproductive as it did not make those feelings go away permanently.

“Such people who smoke to regulate their feelings, whether consciously or unconsciously, become very poorly equipped to cope with distress of any sort without recourse to smoking,” Mr Vahey said.

This made quitting even more difficult.

“Smokers must not only cope with biological cravings for nicotine, but must also learn to cope with distressing feelings in more productive ways.”

He said treatment that dealt with this issue was more successful long term than nicotine replacement therapy or other medications. END

This is why the Allen Carr Easy Way Clinics a have such a high success rate as it deals with the issues and does not use any replacement therapies or medications.