Stopping smoking when you're aged 50+

Stopping smoking at any age gives you a better level of health. It can be as quick as 20 minutes for you to get a marginal gain. An effective way to break the habit once and for all can be hypnotherapy.

It’s all about one thing: putting a distance between you and the thought of a cigarette (it’s the same process for a vape, or a nicotine pouch). 

How does stop-smoking hypnotherapy work when you’re aged over 50?

As you age and keep smoking, you bring far more thoughts and deeply ingrained habits. Excuses that stand in the way.

For example:

• You can tell yourself it’s who you are. The “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” defence.
• You’ve tried quitting before, but always drifted back to smoking.
• Your friends/social circle still smoke.
• You feel OK; you’ve not had any health scares.
• You’ve a list of excuses and you’re good at deflecting when others (who more than likely love you) suggest it’s time to quit. You tell them it’s nagging.

It’s never too late to quit smoking. 

With hypnotherapy, deeply ingrained habits can be changed to such an extent that you can get to a point where, quite simply, even the thought of a cigarette doesn’t bother you. It passes you by. It might even repulse you.

What I’m saying is that you put an emotional distance between you and the thought of a cigarette. You become a non-smoker. Smoking means nothing to you.

Health benefits of quitting smoking – even after 50

I don’t want this to turn into the usual hectoring and finger-wagging.

You already know smoking’s bad.

I want to focus on the fact that stopping can give you a level of health back.

• Even if you’ve been a die-hard smoker for, say, 40 years, there can be healing. Your lungs can begin to repair themselves. You get better lung function and cut the risk of further damage.
• According to the NHS, this is how a non-smoker starts to benefit. And the benefit is fast.
• After 20 minutes, your pulse and blood pressure become normal. In only eight hours, your blood changes for the better. Your oxygen level increases, and your carbon monoxide drops.
• It takes just a day to lower your chance of a heart attack. Within two days, there’s no carbon monoxide left in your body. The mucus in your lungs reduces, and you get your sense of taste and smell back.
• Give it 72 hours, and your breathing eases as bronchial tubes relax, and energy levels increase. Somewhere between three to nine months, your lung capacity grows by up to 10% while coughing, wheezing, and breathing problems fall away.
• Stick with it, and after a year, your chance of a heart attack halves. And after 15 years, the risk of a heart attack is the same as someone who has never smoked. 

You’re never too old.

As I mentioned above, even with 40 years of non-stop smoking, you can get a level of health back. The American Cancer Society has found that even stopping smoking at 65 can give you years more life.

What happens in a hypnotherapy session?

I guide you into a deep relaxation, at which point, I will "talk" to your subconscious. In effect, I'll send a message to your mind that you can change the habit.

And it only works with your consent. You have to agree to hypnotherapy. This isn’t mind control – it’s you relaxing enough to let in a new message, for your brain to process and change the behaviour at its very deepest level.

Put simply, hypnotherapy boosts your motivation and dials down any reasons you may have for smoking, such as:

• Work pressure.
• Home stress.
• Relationship troubles.
• You feel a social pressure to smoke.
• You like a cheeky one when you drive alone – you don’t feel judged.

We can dial down the cravings.

How effective is hypnotherapy for smoking?

New Scientist Magazine found hypnotherapy to be the most effective method for breaking the smoking habit. In 2021, they concluded that 86% of participants who used hypnosis to quit smoking were still smoke-free after six months. 

What happens in a hypnotherapy session?

The process starts with a chat about things such as: why you want to give up now, past attempts to stop and guiding you through what will happen.

Hypnosis itself is seen as having various stages. There’s:

• Induction. Simply getting you into a relaxed state of mind.
• Deepening. ‘Drifting off’ into hypnosis. In effect, being in an even more relaxed state.
• Suggestion. Now that you’re in this relaxed state of hypnosis, it’s easier for the hypnotherapist to talk to your subconscious. As I said at the start, you’re now forming a new habit. You can believe that having a cigarette is no longer the answer. Smoking has nothing to do with you. To be clear, you’re still in control and you only accept suggestions that you choose to accept.
• Emergence. This is where hypnosis ends. You’re relaxed and fully aware. 

What to understand about hypnotherapy: It's not mind control. Throughout everything that happens, you are in control. You don’t have to go along with it if you don’t want to.

The secret to success: Commitment

Well, it isn’t a secret. It’s just one word. Commitment. You have to want this and believe in yourself. It has to be your idea to come to hypnotherapy, and you have to want to stop, then there’s every chance of success.

How many hypnotherapy sessions will I need?

The 64 million dollar question. It can be as few as two. But it will depend on how long you’ve been smoking for, your belief in the process and what else is going on in your life. 

A personal story: Why this matters to me

I have never smoked, but my dad did – well after he was 50 years old. And the ending wasn’t pleasant. 

But, to take the positive out of what happened, it gave me a first-hand understanding of what happens to some smokers who don’t quit. 

And I don’t wish this on anyone.

Ready to quit?

If you’d like to stub out your final cigarette, hypnotherapy gives you a really good chance to quit once and for all - be bigger than your excuses - as well as regain a greater level of health.

And, working with a hypnotherapist means you don’t have to go it alone: you instantly have a supporter and a practical way to stop once and for all.