The benefits of smoking? Don’t you mean: the benefits of quitting smoking?
Well actually, there are some benefits to smoking, and if we take a look at them, then we might be able to learn more about what we need to do in order to successfully quit.
1) Weight loss – smoking helps you lose weight, there is no doubt about it. I am not sure in how many different ways that it does this, but one way is that every time you take a hit from a cigarette, our brain releases a tiny bit of our stored fat and turns it into usable energy. Now that is a simplification there but the general idea is that we can actually “feed” ourselves with smoking because it somehow triggers this conversion of fat. Most smokers will recognize this is happening because they can wake up each day and simply drink coffee and smoke all day long and skip both breakfast and lunch. They don’t have to eat any food at all until dinner. Now all smokers are different but many of them will function this way. Obviously this is not a very healthy way to live but you can see that it would result in tremendous weight loss.
Pretty much everyone gains at least 5 to 10 pounds after quitting smoking.
The only way to counteract that is to take action. Change your eating habits a bit, eat a bit healthier when you quit smoking, and add in some daily exercise. If you do a little bit of both then things should even out, and you won’t see much weight gain, if any. But you have to actively fight against it.
2) Social interaction - smoking provides for social interaction. It provides an excuse for it. If you quit, you will miss out on the “smoking circle” outside of the office, or where ever you used to smoke with others. That can be hard, so don’t give it up. Buy some toothpicks or chewing sticks at the health food store and take them out there when they all go out to smoke and socialize with them. Don’t allow yourself to feel deprived of this social element. Stay in the loop and don’t mind the smoking.
3) Stress reduction - this one is actually a myth, cigarettes don’t actually reduce stress. Those who are hooked on cigarettes think that they do, because nicotine withdrawal is so stressful, and smoking a cigarette removes the stress of withdrawal. But this “stress reduction” is not a benefit of smoking, because the nicotine withdrawal causes the stress!
