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Essential Oils And Recipes That Can Help Quit Smoking

Essential Oils And Recipes That Can Help Quit Smoking Essential Oil Benefits

Hi gang, thrilled to see my Olive Nation ballooning to astronomical numbers! Just goes to show that more and more people are really making an active attempt to live healthy lives using essential oils.

You know, lots of people have been asking me this question since I started dabbling in essential oils – ‘Hey Olivia, if your oils are so wonderful, can they make me go cold turkey and stop smoking?’

My answer’s always the same – Not even Jesus himself can make you stop smoking if your mind’s not set on it. You gotta decide before we can prescribe man…

But the reasons why I’ve put this topic off for literally years are as follows: First off, I’ll be honest with y’all – There are millions of people suffering from all types of diseases and ailments, not their fault.

So I like to focus on them as opposed to people who actually willingly brought harm to themselves. And secondly, it’s not that I’m afraid of the massively powerful Tobacco companies that have amassed billions of dollars over the years peddling poison to all corners of the planet.

In all seriousness though, the real reason why I’ve put off drug and alcohol related topics is because I know how tough and brutal an addiction can be. And I’d never want to make anyone feel judged, especially not for something as serious as an addiction.

So, instead of telling you how bad cigarettes are, or how smoking will kill you (you should know that by now), I’ll take my ever unbiased and faithful educative approach to it.

I’ll give you a little history on smoking, how it evolved, how we got to where we are now and what any type of smoke actually does to your body. Hopefully and by the time we’re done, nobody’s going to need to tell you to quit anything if you love yourself.

Alright then, I hope you enjoy Olivia’s ultimate guide to quitting smoking.

What Is Smoking? History 101

Essential Oils And Recipes That Can Help Quit Smoking Essential Oil Benefits

According to the medical professionals, smoking is the practice of burning a substance down and inhaling the smoke, tasting it, and then absorbing it into the bloodstream. The practice is primarily used as a way to administer recreational drugs since combustion vaporizes and delivers active substances in the lungs for rapid absorption.

Of course, there are plenty of substances that are commonly smoked including Cannabis, Opium, Crack, PCP, Meth, Heroin among others. But the most common and widespread substance smoked daily by billions of people all over the world is Tobacco – in the form of cigarettes.

Let’s back it up a bit here, shall we? I did promise you a little history after all. Most of us probably thought that smoking began back in the early 19th century. Well, did you know that smoking can be dated to as early as 5000BCE? That’s way before the Pyramids were built.

Of course, early smoking was heavily tied with religious ceremonies where shamans performed offerings to their gods and altered their minds for purposes of spiritual enlightenment and divination. It was only after European exploration and the colonization era that the practice of smoking (tobacco in particular) spread like wildfire to all corners of the globe.

From here’s where most of us catch up. Because believe it or not, there was a time when cigarette smoking was so damn popular you could even light one up in a hospital with the doctors – and not too long ago mind you, just a couple decades.

There were ads everywhere depicting smoking as the coolest, hippest thing you could do. You could literally smoke anywhere and nobody would care. But that’s because no one was the wiser back then. Tobacco companies worked really hard to hide the truth about smoking from the general population.

Eventually, the truth did come out somewhere mid-19th century as more and more people began noticing prevalent health effects associated with tobacco. Even as the evidence mounted and blew to irrefutable heaps back in the 80’s, tobacco companies still claimed contributory negligence – and they were powerful enough to get all health authorities to back them up.

Sadly, it wasn’t until 1998 that the law finally stepped in recognizing smoking for what it really was, restricting it and ordering health compensation for affected people setting the stage for what was to be the largest civil suit in US history.

Today, we know all about the deadly effects of smoking. But what baffles is that the trend still continues worldwide even with all the knowledge and proof we have today! Like I said, I’m not here to judge, just show you what’s been going on before you were born and what happens every single time you puff up.

Why Smoking Is Bad For You?

Essential Oils And Recipes That Can Help Quit Smoking Essential Oil Benefits

Sure, you know that smoking is bad for you; but the real question is, do you really know how bad it is for your health? I don’t think you do. Check out a few facts about your favorite past time.

Smoking not only causes damage to nearly every single organ in your body (from lungs to skin), but it’s actually directly responsible for a wide range of diseases as well.

About 500,000 people die every year in the US alone from tobacco related diseases. That means that 1 out of every 5 deaths in our county is because of smoking cigarettes.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, it is estimated that 1 out of every 2 smokers (that means 50% of all smokers) will die from a smoking related ailment or disease. The icing on the smoky cake is that smoking cuts down the live expectancy of men by 12 years, and women by 11.

From the above statistics, it’s clear that smoking causes far more deaths annually in the US than car accidents, alcohol use, HIV, and gun incidents COMBINED. Well imagine that. I bet you already feel like quitting now, don’t you?

Well we ain’t done yet. I’ve got a list of some of the chemicals you inhale every single time you smoke.   

  • Carbon Monoxide – found anywhere there’s combustion, especially in car exhaust fumes. This poisonous substance replaces oxygen in your system and starves all organs reducing their functionality. It is fatal in large doses.
  • Tar – This is a brown, sticky substance that coats your lungs affecting breathing.

These two plus a few more come with practically any type of smoking, be it cannabis, opium or an indoor coal and wood fire barbeque. But its tobacco that takes the cup, plate and entire trophy case for containing the most carcinogens, toxins and outright poisons.

Why Cigarette Smoke (Tobacco) Is The Worst?

Let’s find out about the 600 ingredients found in cigarettes alone. When burned, cigarettes create over 7000 chemicals with about 69 of those being carcinogenic and many others being poisons and toxins. Don’t believe me? Then let’s break it down.

1: Carcinogens in Cigarettes

Defined as any substance with the ability to aggravate or cause cancer. In cigarette smoke, the most potent carcinogens include:

  • Formaldehyde is one of the chemicals used in mortuaries to preserve dead bodies. It’s responsible for the eye, nose and throat irritation you get when smoking.
  • Benzene is usually found in gasoline and several pesticides. It is especially high in cigarette smoke and is responsible for over half of all human exposure to hazardous chemicals.
  • Vinyl Chloride – This is a man-made chemical used in the manufacture of plastics. Smokers get exposure from the cig-filters.

2: Poisons in Cigarettes

A poison is any substance that causes rigorous physical distress, injury, or death when introduced to a living organism. There are hundreds of poisonous gases in cigarettes including:

  • Carbon Monoxide – found in exhaust fumes and cigarette smoke. Fatal in large amounts.
  • Ammonia – Commonly used in fertilizers and household cleaning products. Used in cigarettes to boost the impact of nicotine in the body.
  • Nicotine is the addictive substance in tobacco and is also a poison used in pesticides.
  • Hydrogen Cyanide – If someone got the death sentence a few decades ago, chances are that this was the gas used to kill the person in the gas chambers. Plenty of it in cig smoke.

3: Toxic Metals in Cigarettes

Heavy metals are compounds with the potential to severely harm our health. They include:

  • Arsenic is commonly used in rat poison as well as pesticides used in farming of tobacco.
  • Cadmium is the toxic heavy metal used in regular batteries. Smokers have over 50% more cadmium in their bodies than no smokers.
  • Radioactive metals – Research shows cigarette smoke contains potent radioactive elements such as polonium and lead – 210.

6 Health Effects Of Smoking On Our Bodies

Essential Oils And Recipes That Can Help Quit Smoking Essential Oil Benefits

After seeing just a few of the chemicals that smokers inhale on a regular basis, I’m sure you’re wondering how on earth these guys survive past a month. Well, they don’t; with smoking, no one comes out unscathed.

I already told you earlier that smoking affects almost every single organ in your body. From your brain all the way to your little toe: here’s what I’m talking about.

1. Brain

Smoking increases the chances of having a stroke by almost 5 times. These strokes often cause death or severe brain damage. There is some good news though; this risk reduces to half within 2 years of quitting, and back to normal in 5 years.

2. Heart (Circulation)

Smoking leads to plaque buildup in the blood making arteries and veins narrower. This could lead to increased blood pressure and heart rate paving way for numerous cardiovascular problems including heart attacks. The carbon monoxide and nicotine also overwork the heart as well.

3. Lungs

Without a doubt, the lungs are probably the most obvious casualty of smoking. Smoke damages the lungs in a number of ways. Primarily, it’s the airways and alveoli that get damaged. The worst part is that the lung diseases don’t get noticed or diagnosed until it’s too late. Some of the common problems caused by smoking include bronchitis, COPD, asthma, emphysema, among others.

4. Reproductive System

For men, smoking can cause impotence by damaging blood vessels in the penis and lowering the sperm count. However, women who smoke will find it difficult to conceive and have increased risk of miscarriages, premature births, stillbirths, underweight babies or sudden infant death syndrome.

5. Skin

Smoking reduces the amount of oxygen going to the skin speeding up the aging process by about 20 years.

6. Cancer

With all its carcinogens, it’s no surprise that smoking is responsible for about 35% of all cancer deaths in the US and 80% lung cancer deaths. Similarly, smoking increases the chances of getting cancer of the mouth, throat, gullet, liver, kidney, cervix, stomach, bladder, pancreas, and colon.

Why You Should Quit Smoking Immediately!  

By now, I think the answer to that is pretty obvious. You quit to live a longer, healthier and more productive life. Quitting smoking reduces all the above health risk we talked about.

In just 2 years, the risk of a stroke reduces to half, and back down to that of a non-smoker in 5 years. For most of the cancer types, the risk drops by half within 5 smoke free years while lung cancer risk takes 10 free years to drop to half – same for heart disease which takes 15 years to drop to that of a non-smoker.

Overall, a person’s health starts improving and recovering once they stop smoking.

Essential Oils For Quitting Smoking

Essential Oils And Recipes That Can Help Quit Smoking Essential Oil Benefits

You’ll notice that I skipped all the usual recommendations for quitting smoking such as nicotine patches, e-cigs, and all that nonsense. Don’t let em fool you; whether you chew it, sniff it, use pipes or hookas to smoke, there is absolutely no safe way to use tobacco.

Even with chewing, the heavy metals, toxins and poisons used in farming are still heavily present. For the other smokable drugs such as heroin or crack, well, they’ll still kill you even if you inject or sniff them.

In the case of marijuana, there’s still tons of debate about the health effects of the edibles. But the results are encouraging ever since medical marijuana was legalized. So even if half-heartedly, I can say that there is a safe way to consume marijuana.

Used properly, essential oils have the power to stimulate both your mind and body in ways that smoking cessation medication cannot. Research shows that in addition to fighting off those incessant cravings, essential oils also help lessen anxiety, stress, and calms the nervous system. What’s more, some essential oils will actually combat the withdrawal effects of tobacco such as headaches, nausea and dizziness.

So, are you ready to stop smoking? Great, because all you need is an iron will, and some of the following essential oils.

1. Black Pepper Essential Oil

If we’re talking about quitting smoking, few things can beat the sweet smell of pepper. In a study, Black pepper has actually been touted as the very best oil for both quitting smoking and beating the withdrawal symptoms.

That’s because when inhaled, it stimulates the respiratory system in a way that closely mimics what cigarette smoke does. So not only does this fool the body into thinking you’ve smoked, it also helps keep the cravings at bay all while bringing anxiety levels down.

2. Citrus Essential Oils

There’s a reason why I’ve generalized this one as opposed to picking out individual oils. That’s because there’s a wide range of citrus essential oils that will really come in handy on your journey to quitting.

From orange to lemon, grapefruit, and tangerine, you’ll need to choose the right citrus blend for your particular situation. Here’s what I’m talking about; do you feel angry, anxious and irritable? Or maybe it’s the nausea, dizziness, and lethargy that are getting you down.

Citrus oils like orange and lemon will help give you an uplifting effect while grapefruit and lime will stimulate, rejuvenate and energize you. It’s all about finding the right blend for you.

3. Angelica Essential Oil

For most people, the hardest part about quitting smoking is curbing the cravings and withdrawal symptoms. And this is exactly where this special essential oil steps in. Also known as the Oil of Angels, Angelica essential oil is ripe with calming, relaxing components that float to your nose in a sweet unforgettable aroma.

A 2013 study has actually named it among the most useful one when it comes to curbing nicotine cravings. Likewise, Angelica oil has also shown significant benefits to repairing a smoker’s lungs along with reversing numerous respiratory issues.

4. Lavender, Bergamot, and Chamomile Essential Oils

Not all smoking cessation essential oils have to be inhaled to work. Sometimes, topical application might just be what the doctor ordered. In addition to reaping the aromatherapeutic benefits of all the above oils, topical application opens up a whole new way to beat the habit.

We’ve already seen how anxiety and stress are never far behind after quitting. So if you can combine a massage with these three essential oils, then you’ll be beating the cravings and withdrawals at the same time.

Essential Oil Blends And Recipes For Smoking Cessation

Essential Oils And Recipes That Can Help Quit Smoking Essential Oil Benefits

Recipe 1: DIY Anti-Smoking Inhaler

What you need

  • Black Pepper essential oil – 5 drops
  • Angelica essential oil – 5 drops
  • Cotton wicks
  • Plastic inhaler cartridges

Direction

In a precious study, researchers gave smokers a cigarette substitute that was either a black pepper vapor, menthol vapor, or an empty cartridge to act as the placebo. The participants were deprived of cigarettes for an entire day and then given one of the substitute vapors.

As it turns out, people who inhaled black pepper vapor experienced substantially less cravings, withdrawals, and reduced anxiety compared to those with menthol or the unflavored placebo. That’s why black pepper remains king in smoking cessation. To use this recipe, set up the inhaler and cotton wicks and then saturate the wicks in the above blend. Give the inhaler a couple whiffs whenever the craving for tobacco rears its ugly head.

Recipe 2: Addiction Kicker Blend

What you need

  • Black Pepper essential oil – 20 drops
  • Grapefruit essential oil – 15 drops
  • Bergamot essential oil – 15 drops
  • Angelica essential oil – 10 drops
  • Small glass bottle

Direction

Kicking a nicotine addiction is no easy feat; especially with all the substitutes currently available. But trust me, the last thing you want is to chew some nicotine gum all day or cover your entire body with nicotine patches.

What you need is an essential oil recipe that has all the benefits and none of the demerits. Just drip all the above oils in a small container and shake well to mix. Carry the blend with you and give it a couple whiffs whenever the need arises.

Recipe 3: Smoke Ceasing Smelling Salts

Ingredients

  • Angelica essential oil – 10 drops
  • Lemon essential oil – 10 drops
  • Roman Chamomile or Lavender essential oil – 10 drops
  • Sea Salts

Direction

Here’s another way to carry a personal whiffer around as you combat some nasty cravings. Start by adding in the 30 drops of essential oils in a small bottle and top it off with a bit of sea salt. Again, whenever the urge hits you, just pop the blend out and inhale deeply for a couple of minutes.

Recipe 4: De-Stress Smokers Massage Recipe

What you need

  • Lavender essential oil – 15 drops
  • Bergamot essential oil – 10 drops
  • Peppermint essential oil – 5 drops
  • Roman Chamomile essential oil – 5 drops
  • Fractionated coconut oil – 2 oz.
  • Masseuse (or just an extra pair of hands)

Direction

Like I said earlier, not all smoking cessation essential oils have to be inhaled to work. Sometimes, topical application might just be what your mind, body and soul need. Topical application opens up a whole new way to beat the habit and reduce stress, anxiety, and other negative emotions.

So if you can combine a massage with the above essential oils, then you’ll be beating the cravings and withdrawals at the same time. Mix up all the essential oils in a small bowl and dilute with the coconut oil. Call in some help and enjoy a full body massage that will make you forget what smoking is.

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Essential Oils And Recipes That Can Help Quit Smoking Essential Oil Benefits

Essential Oils And Recipes That Can Help Quit Smoking Essential Oil Benefits

The Final Word

There you have it gang; everything you need to know about smoking, it’s roots, history, effects and what have you. I’ve armed you with everything you could possibly need to kick the potentially fatal habit of smoking in the gonads using essential oils.

Now, the ball is totally in your court. It’s up to you to decide whether you’ll kick the ball out of the court, or light it up and smoke it. And one more thing; I’ve really spoken out against tobacco companies, no words have been minced. So if anything happens to me, you know where to start looking… in the millions of other graves that Tobacco giants have been digging for us since early 1900’s.

 

Rating: 5

Milan Bisui

Monday 13th of March 2023

Thank you for the informative article on how essential oils can help with quitting smoking. The suggested recipes and tips are very helpful in supporting individuals who are trying to overcome their addiction to cigarettes. It's great to know that natural remedies like essential oils can provide a healthier and more sustainable approach to quitting smoking. Keep up the good work!

Also Read : What Are The Effects Of Excessive Smoking

Olivia

Sunday 26th of March 2023

Thanks Milan.

Regards, Olivia

Lorraine

Monday 31st of December 2018

I am going to give this a try. I totally believe in the healing power of essential oils, and have been trying to quit for some time. This will be one more remedy i must try i will keep all posted if it works thanks for all the wonderful information.

Olivia

Monday 31st of December 2018

Hi Lorraine,

Sure, no worries, let me know how you go.

Regards, Olivia

Bonnie Floyd

Monday 17th of December 2018

I am so excited to order up these oil?s ?and give them to my son and cousin! My son is 47 and abuses marijuana as well as smoking cigarettes for years. He has earnestly tried to quit cigarettes. Same with the cousin. I'm praying these help them. Thank you, Bonnie

Olivia

Tuesday 18th of December 2018

Hi Bonnie,

No worries, you're welcome.

Regards, Olivia