«Too much of a good thing.» Could that apply to smoking as well? It’s the concept behind a form of aversion therapy used in some smoking cessation programs. The idea here is to have the smoker take drags off his or her cigarettes every six seconds for as long as possible, usually four or five cigarettes in a row. After a rest period of about five minutes, the smoker repeats the process. Sometimes there is a third rapid-smoking session the same day.
The result of such rapid-smoking is nausea and sometimes even vomiting. The goal is to associate the sickness with cigarettes such that the smoker is turned off to the idea of smoking for the rest of his or her life.
As with all stop-smoking programs, the success rate cannot always be validated, and the results may be exaggerated by those who profit from the program. There’s no doubt, however, that rapid-smoking aversion does work for many people. Long-term effectiveness has been documented.
All of us have the capacity to associate a negative reaction with a previously positive experience. I recall one evening having a particular brand of gin in my martini before dinner. Later that evening I became ill and, while it had nothing to do with the gin, I’ve never been able to drink that brand again.
Doctors call this the «bearnaise sauce syndrome», referring to the notion of becoming ill after eating that particular sauce. Patients frequently will never eat that food again. Almost everyone has experienced a similar situation.
The problem with rapid-smoking involves its safety, especially for heart patients. Researchers at Pennsylvania Safety University questioned the concept back in 1978. They found that subjects’ heart rates jumped considerably, as did their blood pressures and levels of a chemical in the blood called carboxyhaemoglobin. Worst of all, there were signs of heart irregularities on the electrocardiogram, although all the subjects were perfectly normal before the rapid smoking.
The Penn State researchers noted that the symptoms of rapid smoking, including dizziness and nausea, are the same as those for nicotine poisoning. The later could be a significant hazard for a person with a recent history of heart disease.
On the other hand, a 1984 publication stated that the use of rapid smoking was «safe and effective with mild to moderate cardiopulmonary disease and those who have had previous, uncomplicated heart attacks». The researchers, from three major medical centres, also found a high level of long-term success with the approach after two years.
Is this the approach for you? Before giving it a try, you might want to discuss it with your physician to be certain of its appropriateness in your own case.
*97\85\2*
Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol