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If you think smokeless tobacco is "up to snuff" and not dangerous, think again. Whatever you like to call it - spitting, dipping or chewing - it is every bit as hazardous as smoking. A lot of medical professionals judge more so because people are not as aware of the dangers. Cancers of the mouth, lips, tongue and throat can swiftly progress in people who use smokeless tobacco and leave grotesque and debilitating - even lethal - results.

Even with the dangerous and painful effects of smokeless tobacco, quitting with conventional methods is very difficult. Many people believe the reason lies in nicotine, a natural, super toxic element found in tobacco that is the plant's defense against being eaten by bugs. Judging equal amounts, nicotine is more lethal than strychnine or snake venom, and three times deadlier than arsenic.

When dipping, the nicotine makes its way to the brain in less than 10 seconds, where it generates a flood of dopamine, which brings about a relaxing sensation. Nicotine also increases adrenaline production, so it both energizes and calms. However, the emotional component of smokeless tobacco addiction is much stronger and leads to far more impediments to quitting smokeless tobacco than nicotine.

Many users had their first dip as early as nine years old. In as little as a few months, using smokeless tobacco becomes an ingrained habit that produces reliable stress relief. In addition to the psychological conditioning, a social conditioning occurs, as images of many sports celebrities dipping also attract young users.

Understanding that there are individual emotional and physical factors that contribute to a chewing habit makes it easier to develop a plan to prevail smokeless tobacco addiction. Let's examine each component individually and look at effective methods to curb them.

Dipping for Relaxation and Pleasure: Just like using a pacifier to soothe an anxious infant, over the course of time, people who use tobacco products start to associate putting something in their mouths with relaxation and satisfaction. Curbing the effects of tobacco usage means addressing all issues of the addiction.

Tobacco Dipping is a Conditioned Response: The classic example of a conditioned response relates to Pavlov and his dogs, which were trained to anticipate food - and thus began salivating - when a bell was rung. In relation, if, for example, you always chew tobacco after each meal, you will consequently acquire a desire to chew when you get finished eating.

In your mind, the images of pushing the plate away and laying down your napkin may be linked to using snuff, even though you are not conscious of it. Developing awareness of the trigger images or situations can help you defeat cravings.

The Physical Addiction to Nicotine, But ! : In spite of the intense addiction, doctors say that the physical component of nicotine addiction is broken after people quit using tobacco for a week. It's my strong belief that nicotine addiction comprises a mere 10 percent of smokeless tobacco dependency. Therefore, 90 percent of the fight to quit dipping involves overcoming the emotional and mental components. So what does this mean for people like you who want to quit?

Quitting becomes much more feasible if you can:

A. Address and remove the tension or anxiety that compels you to use smokeless tobacco B. Cancel the conditioned responses to chew in particular settings

But how does one surmount those issues?

Self-hypnosis offers a way to tackle the emotional and psychological elements of the addiction while reducing struggles, which will eliminate the withdrawal symptoms. When we recognize how self-hypnosis works, it makes the decision to quit dipping much easier to undertake.

When people dip for relaxation and pleasure, it is to pacify stressful feelings. People often play the same images over in their heads, like a bad movie, which leaves them feeling tense and anxious. Using self-hypnosis and various Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques, you retrain your brain to immediately and naturally prohibit stress-inducing images and substitute them with calming pictures and mental movies. This creates relaxation and satisfaction while eradicating cravings and oral compulsions. You shake the inclination to put the chew in your mouth, and you won't get any urge to substitute food in its place. This subdues weight gain.

In order to battle the conditioned response of chewing smokeless tobacco, the NLP Flash technique removes the associations of dipping during certain activities or situations. This means your subconscious will no longer trigger the craving. Further, the Flash can even be used to create a compulsion to reject smokeless tobacco.

Drawing on specific and strategic NLP techniques makes the decision to quit dipping easy and painless by sidestepping cravings, withdrawal and weight gain. The method is dependent on retraining the unconscious mind to adhere to the same thought patterns that create your mental addiction to smokeless tobacco in the first place, to eliminate the compulsion.

Your brain is a powerful toolfar more powerful than an addiction. With steadfastness and the aid of self-hypnosis and NLP, you can quit smokeless tobacco forever.