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If you think smokeless tobacco is "up to snuff" and not dangerous, think again. Whatever it is called - dipping, chewing or spitting - it is every bit as dangerous as smoking. Many doctors think more so because users are unaware of the threats. Cancers of the lips, tongue, mouth and throat can rapidly develop in people who use smokeless tobacco and leave debilitating and grotesque - even lethal - results.

Regardless of the painful and dangerous consequences of smokeless tobacco, quitting with traditional ways remains extremely demanding. Many people believe the reason lies in nicotine, a natural, super toxic element found in tobacco that is the plant's guard to prevent being eaten by bugs. Evaluating equal quantities, nicotine is more lethal than snake venom or strychnine, and three times more lethal than arsenic.

When dipping, the nicotine travels to the brain in less than 10 seconds, where it creates a flood of dopamine, which brings about a relaxing feeling. Nicotine also accelerates adrenaline production, so it both energizes and calms. However, the emotional element of smokeless tobacco addiction is much stronger and leads to far more challenges 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 yields reliable stress relief. In addition to the psychological conditioning, a social conditioning takes place, as images of many athletes dipping also attract young users.

Understanding that there are individual physical and emotional reasons that contribute to a chewing habit makes it easier to develop a plan to overcome smokeless tobacco addiction. Let's look at each element separately and look at effective methods to curb them.

Dipping for Relaxation and Pleasure: Just like using a pacifier to soothe a restless toddler, 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 facets of the addiction.

Dipping Tobacco 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 accordance, if, for example, you always chew tobacco after each meal, you will consequently develop a desire to chew when you finish eating.

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

The Physical Addiction to Nicotine, But ! : In spite of the intense addiction, medical professionals maintain that the physical component of nicotine addiction is eliminated after people quit using tobacco for seven days. It's my firm belief that nicotine addiction comprises a mere 10 percent of smokeless tobacco dependency. As such, 90 percent of the fight to quit dipping involves overcoming the mental and emotional components. So what does this mean for people like you who wish to quit?

Quitting becomes much easier if you can:

A. Deal with and eliminate the anxiety and tension that compels you to use smokeless tobacco B. Cancel the conditioned responses to chew in specific situations

But how does one triumph over those issues?

Self-hypnosis offers a way to deal with the psychological and emotional components of the addiction while eliminating struggles, which will eliminate the symptoms of withdrawal. When we appreciate how self-hypnosis works, it makes the decision to quit dipping much easier to assume.

When people dip for relaxation and pleasure, it's to pacify stressful feelings. People often play the same images over in their heads, like a bad movie, which leaves them feeling anxious and tense. With self-hypnosis and various Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques, you retrain your brain to immediately and naturally stop stress-inducing images and substitute them with soothing ideas and mental movies. This produces relaxation and satisfaction while eliminating cravings and oral compulsions. You shake the craving to put the chew in your mouth, and you do not get any desire to substitute food in its place. This quells weight gain.

To combat 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 won't trigger the compulsion. Further, the Flash can even be used to create a compulsion to reject smokeless tobacco.

Employing specific and strategic NLP methods makes the decision to quit dipping effortless and painless by evading symptoms of withdrawal, cravings and weight gain. The process involves training 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 habit.

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