Is Smoking Damaging Your Brain?

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health. We know all about its connection with heart and lung disease. One thing that is more rarely talked about however is the connection between smoking and the deterioration of the brain and cognitive functioning.

According to one study, there is a direct link between smoking and brain damage. A particular compound found in tobacco known as NNK was isolated as a subject for study. NNK is a chemical substance that can become carcinogenic in the body. It appears that NNK does not harm brain cells directly but rather causes neuro-inflammation which in itself can lead to such conditions as multiple sclerosis.

The research found that NNK provoked an exaggerated response from the brain’s immune cells known as microglia. These cells are designed to attack unhealthy cells in the brain. When provoked by NNK, these cells started to attack healthy brain cells rather than the unhealthy ones they are designed to attack. The study further suggested that inhaling second-hand smoke could lead to neuro-inflammation as well.

Anyone who has ever had a friend or relative develop dementia knows that it is the kind of disorder that creeps up on the person until they no longer realise that their cognitive functioning is deteriorating. Disorders such as this are becoming more and more prevalent and yet there are many things we can do to promote the health of the brain. These include eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, minimising alcohol consumption, stress reduction, learning new things and of course stopping smoking. It appears that when we treat our brains well and give them what they need, they can go on producing new cells late into life.

Anyone who smokes or has been a smoker knows that stopping smoking can be tricky. Most people who successfully stop smoking and completely eradicate their desire for it have given up more than once.

The desire to smoke creates what we sometimes refer to as a “smoking trance”. A narrowed-down focus of attention is created and in that moment, the desire to smoke the cigarette becomes paramount. Once the cigarette is smoked, the trance is broken and it is at this point that someone will often view the smoking of the cigarette as disgusting or something similar.

In the moment of smoking, some kind of pleasure is usually experienced if only momentarily. All the things you know about its effects on your health fly out the window.

There are many things we do in hypnotherapy to reduce this association of pleasure with smoking. One of these is to build the sense of pleasure with not smoking and the sense of pain with continued smoking. This is because we humans very much operate in life based on pleasure and pain.

Imagine all the painful things you could attach to continued smoking. Your children finding out, your partner finding out, no longer being able to continue a loved activity, financial cost, your skin ageing, ill-health, loss of cognitive functioning as described above. The list is probably endless.

Now imagine all the pleasure you could attach to stopping smoking. The sense of achievement, no longer being a slave to it, no longer having to find places to smoke, no longer feeling that inner conflict about it, looking younger, better sense of taste and smell, a clear head. The list is probably endless.

The beauty of using hypnotherapy to stop smoking is that when you are in the state of absorption that is hypnosis, we can really build the pain of continued smoking and the pleasure of no longer smoking. And once you no longer smoke, then every part of you can start to repair itself, function better and be better as you age - including your brain.