We’re proud to be supporting Stoptober, a 28-day challenge by Public Health England (PHE) that runs throughout the month of October to encourage smokers to kick the habit.
The whole idea behind Stoptober is that if you manage to stop smoking for a period of 28 days, you’re five times more likely to give up for good. The campaign encourages as many smokers as possible to quit from 1st October by making use of the support that is available across the month.
Giving up smoking isn’t easy, but there are many different products, services and techniques that can help. This year we’re looking at the benefits of hypnotherapy as a supportive aid.
What is Hypnotherapy?
The concept of hypnotherapy is fairly simple. Essentially, a therapist will place you into a gentle state of ‘hypnosis’, a relaxed mode where you are more responsive to suggestion or direction. At this point, the therapist will then persuade your subconscious to give up smoking.
There are many myths surrounding hypnosis but it’s merely a state of heightened concentration and focus, where your body feels more relaxed and calm and in which, your mind is more open to ideas. It uses the increased susceptibility to suggestion, to convince you to stop smoking. The process is safe and does not involve any physical procedures or changes.
With this in mind, you can probably imagine the huge benefits this can serve to help you quit, whether through the elimination of cravings, or by associating the concept of smoking with unpleasant or nauseating images, like imaging that cigarettes taste like exhaust fumes, which has been a highly effective method of quitting.
Therapy at Home
Hypnosis audio programs for the home are a popular way of giving up cigarettes and can be an effective and affordable method as an alternative solution to seeing the therapist in person.
So Will Hypnotherapy Help Me Stop Smoking?
The good news is that hypnotherapy has around a 66% success rate according to the Quit Smoking Support website but it can take at least four sessions to work. The act of associating smoking with unpleasant images helps remove cravings and can be highly effective and it’s entirely possible that you’ll never want a cigarette again. Results do differ from person-to-person though, but with a high success rate, it’s certainly worth a try if you want to quit for good.
Benefits of Giving up Cigarettes
Smoking is still one of the biggest causes of preventable early death in England with over 78,000 people dying each year. But by quitting you can reduce blood pressure, improve your circulation and breathe more easily.
While smoking can cause illnesses such as heart disease, lung cancer and infertility, the good news is, it’s never too late to kick the habit to the kerb. Also, by giving up smoking you can increase your life expectancy, look younger and reduce stress.
A recent report from the PHE has revealed just one in every six adults in the UK are smokers, which is the lowest level in recent years with the number of ex-smokers reaching 14.6 million, compared to the 7.2 million adults in England who still smoke.
Did you know that as a Paycare Policyholder, hypnotherapy is included in your plan under the Professional Therapy Benefit. This allows you to claim back up to 100% of the costs up an annual limit, depending on your level of cover, please refer to policy documents for details.
Have you tried hypnotherapy to kick a habit? If so, we’d love to hear your experiences. Drop us a quick email to enquiries@paycare.org