Smoking breaks during office hours now cost the Irish economy up to €5m per day in productivity according to the Office of Tobacco Control.

For every staff member who takes a smoking break every hour, a company looses over 6 hours productivity per week per smoker,” says Brenda Sweeney Director of Allen Carr Easyway Clinics. “That is 7.5 weeks of productivity per smoker per year and that doesn’t include absenteeism due to smoking related illnesses.”

“According to Dr Michael Boland, chairperson of the Office of Tobacco Control, the majority of smokers ‘want to quit’ and employers should actively assist employees who want to give up,” says Brenda.

“Investing time and resources in smoking cessation programmes is a win-win situation for both employers and employees. The medium to long-term benefits are significant.”

Many corporations in Ireland have chosen Allen Carr’s method to assist employees who wish to stop smoking, including Waterford City Council, AXA and ESB. In 2008, five seminars were organized for ESB staff across the country with almost 100 attendees in total. A recent follow-up survey indicated that 70% of those that attended the seminar remain off cigarettes.

Easyway is offering 10% discount for corporate clinics booked for January, February and March. For more information, contact 1890 379929 or visit www.easyway.ie.

Allen Carr Easyway may yet be holding a clinic in the White House as it may be Obama’s next port of call in his effort to quit his habit.

“Obama is due to become president of the USA on January 20^th so time is ticking away for him to kick his smoking addiction for good. He has tried other methods but none have worked as he is still smoking. So our clinics in the States have offered to help him overcome his addiction before taking up office,” explains Brenda Sweeney, director of Allen Carr’s Easyway in Ireland.  The White House is a smoke free zone since First Lady Hillary Clinton made it a rule when she resided there. Perhaps more to the point, Obama’s wife, Michelle, reportedly insisted he renounce cigarettes as a condition for allowing him to run for president.  “Obviously if Obama accepts the offer it will be done in the strictest confidence on a one to one basis,” says Brenda.

In a country where cigarettes are responsible for one in five deaths and smoking costs tens of billions of dollars in health care, the president-elect has also been under pressure to set an example by giving up his reported two-decade-old habit.

Available in Ireland since 1998, Allen Carr’s Easyway is without doubt the most successful method of helping people to stop smoking in the world. Since 1983 over eight million copies of Allen Carr’s Easyway to stop smoking books have been sold and thousands of smokers have attended clinics of which there are now over 70 worldwide.

Other celebrity clients of Easyway include Sir Richard Branson, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Goldie Hawn, Dave Stewart, Bruce Oldfield, Julie Christie, Ruby Wax, Johnny Cash, Gian Luca Vialli, Barry Sheen, Kerry Packer, Susannah York, Marie Helvin, John Sessions, Lord & Lady Bonham Carter, David Cameron, Lady Astor, Leslie Grantham, Dennis Waterman, Rula Lenska, John Cougar Mellencamp, Rick Parfitt, Martin Clunes, Lisa Stansfield, Robson Green, Vicky Binns, George Melly, Derek Jameson, Sean Bean, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Linda Robson…and many others who wish to remain anonymous.

In Ireland, companies which have introduced the Easyway Stop Smoking Clinics for their employees include ESB, AXA, Waterford City Council, AGF Irish Life Holdings, Project Management, Aer Rianta and Musgraves Supervalue.

Allen Carr Easyway can be contacted on 1890 379929 and website is www.easyway.ie.

It’s 2009 and my new years resolution is to start saving for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand which is in approximately 1,000 days.  I smoked 30 a day which  would normally cost me €12 per day. Therefore I intend to save €12,000 by the World Cup. Another friend of mine has quit since the New Year and he is also doing the same.

I think this is a real tangible way to demonstrate the financial savings of being a non smoker.

As it happened I had bad sinusitis over the Christmas Holidays however I truly feel that it could of developed into something worse if I was still smoking.

Merv

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

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.

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.

Liquid Smoking, a new fruit-flavoured herbal drink that claims to be an alternative to cigarettes, is not designed to help smokers stop their habit but cheat the smoking ban, according to Brenda Sweeney, director of Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking clinics in Ireland.

The product is expected to hit the shelves before Christmas and claims to deliver a similar fix to cigarettes.

United Drinks and Beauty Corporation, inventors of this drink, hope that it will go on sale just in time for Christmas. They say that the drink doesn’t contain nicotine, but instead has a mix of roots from South African plants. The company hopes Liquid Smoking to be as popular as Red Bull in bars and used as a mixer in drinks.

Martin Hartman, chief executive of the company, said there was no research proving the drink was harmful in any way. He said the company is waiting for clearance from health authorities in Holland to be able to sell the product in Europe and quickly roll out across the globe as there is a queue of interested parties looking for the distribution rights from different parts of the globe.

However those who help smokers quit the habit such as Brenda Carr from Allen Carr Easy Way Clinics are not happy. “The drink is targeting those smokers who want a replacement to cigarettes inside public premises, where it is no longer possible to smoke, due to the smoking ban,” explains Sweeney. “People shouldn’t think this product will help them stop smoking. It is just a temporary replacement for those who are really craving a cigarette in the pub but have no intention of stopping. It is encouraging the habit, more than fighting it.”

The drink doesn’t contain nicotine but a distilled mix of roots, with similar properties to nicotine. “The product hasn’t got the clearance from the relevant health authorities so we will have to wait and see if it will get approved, as for now we don’t know exactly what effects will have on the consumers,” adds Sweeney.

“We welcome any new healthy alternatives to help people stop smoking. However, we don’t consider this product will have any benefits for those who are genuinely trying to stop smoking. We strongly recommend they don’t replace cigarettes with another form of nicotine or, indeed, other substances that might create the same level of addiction.”

Allen Carr’s method is drug-free, instantaneous and easy. It works by undoing the brainwashing associated with smoking. The therapy lasts for five hours and the clinics offer a three month money back guarantee.

Celebrities who have used the Easyway method include actors like Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sean Bean, Ellen DeGeneres and Julie Christie, and musicians like Johnny Cash, George Harrison and Lisa Stansfield. Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson is also among Allen Carr’s method’s fans.

The Irish Easyway clinics are held in Dublin and Cork and also offer a corporate service. Easyway’s corporate clients include ESB, AXA, Waterford City Council, among many more.

Allen Carr Easyway can be contacted on 1890 379929 and website is www.easyway.ie. 

Dental researchers at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, observed a group of cigarette smokers with chronic gum disease over one year and found some symptoms were more likely to improve in the people who quit during the study period.

Chronic gum disease, which is characterised by inflamed gums that increasingly recede from the teeth, can lead to tooth loss in its advanced stages if preventive action is not taken.

The researchers’ findings, revealed today in the academic publication, the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, therefore provide yet another reason for smokers worldwide to quit their habit for the good of their health.

Statistics show that smokers are still up to six times more likely to develop gum disease than non-smokers, because the detrimental effect the habit has on their body’s immune system makes them less well-equipped to fight back.

I am heading away for the weekend with my two boys and looking forward to not being under pressure to find an opportunity to have a smoke.  Smoking is becoming more of a distant memory although I still have some cravings they don’t last as long and are manageable. 

As mentioned before the most immediate benefit is feeling much better when I waken up in the mornings – getting up is not as difficult as it was and I have more energy.  Didn’t get a chance to have a run this week but intend to get back into it after the weekend. 

Mervyn

Have a look at Richard Branson talking about how he gave up cigarettes using the Allen Carr method. Also read the comments underneath the video as they are very inspirational!