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There were two other advantages on the health side that never occurred to me until I had
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stopped smoking. One was that I used to have repetitive nightmares every night. I would dream that!
was being chased. I can only assume that these nightmares were the result of the body being
deprived of nicotine throughout the night and the insecure feeling that would result. Now the only
nightmare that I have is that I occasionally dream that I am smoking again. This is quite a common
dream among ex-smokers. Some worry that it means that they are still subconsciously pining for a
cigarette. Don't worry about it. The fact that it was a nightmare means that you are very pleased
not to be a smoker. There is that twilight zone after any nightmare when you wake up and are not
sure whether it is a genuine catastrophe, but isn't it marvelous when you realize that it was only a
dream?
When I described being chased every night in a dream, I originally typed 'chaste'. Perhaps this
was just a 'Freudian slip', but it does give me a convenient lead into the second advantage. At
clinics, when covering the effect that smoking has on concentration, I would some times say: 'Which
organ in your body has the greatest need of a good supply of blood?' The stupid grins, usually on the
faces of the men, would indicate that they had missed the point. However, they were absolutely right.
Being a somewhat shy Englishman, I find the subject rather embarrassing, and I have no intention
of doing a miniature 'Kinsey' report by going into detail about the adverse effect that smoking had on
my own sexual activity and enjoyment, or that of other ex-smokers with whom I have discussed the
subject. Again, I was not aware of this effect until some time after I had stopped smoking and had
attributed my sexual prowess and activity, or rather lack of it, to advancing years.
However, if you watch natural-science films, you will be aware that the first rule of nature is
survival, and that the second rule is survival of the species, or reproduction. Nature ensures that
reproduction does not take place unless the partners feel physically healthy and know that they
have secured a safe home, territory, supply of food and a suitable mate. Man's ingenuity has enabled
him to bend these rules somewhat, however, I know for a fact that smoking can lead to impotency. I can
also assure you, that when you feel fit and healthy, you'll enjoy sex much more and more often.
Smokers also suffer the illusion that the ill-effects of smoking are overstated. The reverse is the
case. There is no doubt that cigarettes are the No. 1 cause of death in society. The trouble is that in
many cases where cigarettes cause the death or are a contributory factor, it is not blamed on
cigarettes in the statistics.
It has been estimated that 44 per cent of household fires are caused by cigarettes, and I wonder how
many road accidents have been caused by cigarettes during that split second when you take your eye
off the road to light up.
I am normally a careful driver, but the nearest I came to death (except from smoking itself) was-
when trying to roll a cigarette while driving, and I hate to think of the number of times I coughed a
cigarette out of my mouth while driving it always seemed to end up between the seats. I am sure
many other smoking drivers have had the experience of trying to locate the burning cigarette with one
hand while trying to drive with the other.
The effect of the brainwashing is that we tend to think like the man who, having fallen off a 100-
storey building, is heard to say, as he passes the fiftieth floor, 'So far, so good!' We think that as we
have got away with it so far, one more cigarette won't make the difference.
Try to see it another way, the 'habit' is a continuous chain for life, each cigarette creating the
need for the next. When you start the habit you light a fuse. The trouble is, YOU DON'T KNOW
HOW LONG THE FUSE IS. Every time that you light a cigarette you are one step nearer to the
bomb exploding. HOW WILL YOU KNOW IF IT'S THE NEXT ONE?
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18 Energy
Moat smokers are aware of the effect that this progressive process of gunging-up and starvation of
oxygen and nutrients has on their lungs. However, they are not so aware of the effect it has on their
energy level.
One of the subtleties of the smoking trap is that the effects it has on us, both physical and mental,
happen so gradually and imperceptibly that we are not aware of them and regard them as normal.
It is very similar to the effects of bad eating habits. The pot-belly appears so gradually that it
causes us no alarm. We look at people who are grossly overweight and wonder how they could
possibly have allowed themselves to reach that state.
But supposing it happened overnight. You went to bed weighing ten stone, trim, rippling with
muscles and not an ounce of fat on your body. You awoke weighing thirteen stone, fat, bloated and
pot-bellied. Instead of waking up feeling fully rested and full of energy, you wake up feeling miserable,
lethargic and you can hardly open your eyes. You would be panic-stricken, wondering what awful
disease you had contracted overnight. Yet the disease is exactly the same. The fact that it took you
twenty years to reach that state is irrelevant.
So it is with smoking. If I could immediately transfer you into your mind and body to give you a
direct comparison on how you would feel having stopped smoking for just three weeks, that is all I
would need to do to persuade you to quit. You would think: 'Will I really feel this good?' Or what it
really amounts to: 'Have I really sunk that low?' I emphasize that I don't just mean how you would
feel healthier and have more energy, but how you would feel more confident and relaxed and better
able to concentrate.
As a teenager, I can remember rushing around just for the hell of it. For thirty-odd years, I was
permanently tired and lethargic. I used to struggle to wake up at nine o'clock in the morning. After
my evening meal I would lie on a settee watching television and nod off after five minutes. Because
my father used to be the same, I thought this behavior was normal. I believed that energy was the
exclusive prerogative of children and teenagers, and that old age began in the early twenties.
Shortly after I extinguished ray final cigarette, I was relieved that the congestion and the coughing
disappeared, and I haven't had an asthma or bronchitis attack since. However something truly
marvelous and unexpected also happened. I started waking at seven o'clock in the morning feeling
completely rested and full of energy, actually wanting to exercise, jog and swim. At forty-eight I
couldn't run a step or swim a stroke. My sporting activities were confined to such dynamic pursuits
as green bowling, affectionately referred to as the old man's game, and golf, for which I had to use a
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