Quitting smoking, the most beautiful project of the summer!

Everyone knows that smoking is dangerous. Prevention campaigns are there to remind us of this and no one dares to contradict them, as is unfortunately the case with alcohol. The all-powerful lobby of tobacco companies is losing the game, and to be convinced of this, it suffices to see how quickly these extremely wealthy companies are diversifying their investments.

Yet even if there are now medicines and well-defined routes, it is difficult to quit smoking because for a large percentage of smokers it is a real addiction. Even if the word is hard to hear, yet this is what the attitudes linked to a state of dependence are called. And even if the force of the gesture is important, it is the products contained in the smoke that will gradually induce this irrepressible desire to smoke. As the treatment is different according to the importance of this dependence, it must therefore be measured.

Tests on the internet

There are two tests for this. The first, the Fagerstrom test, measures addiction, the second, less known, the Demaria-Grimaldi test, measures motivation. From their results is deduced the weaning process. These two tools are available on many websites.

However, we must never forget two important concepts: there are as many smoking cessations as there are smokers and as Anne Borgne, one of our best specialists, so beautifully tells it.

The little papers

It is as if, in a region of the brain, there was a small box, empty at the start of the smoker’s life, and each message concerning tobacco corresponded to a small piece of paper that was going to be put in the box. Up to a certain filling level, the smoker is not aware of these messages, he is a satisfied or consenting smoker. Then, the level rises, the messages become conscious, and the smoker begins to tell himself that one day he will have to stop”. He has become a dissatisfied or dissonant smoker. Finally, when the box is full, he takes the decision to make a quit attempt.

Good luck !