Abstract:
Consider this: Everything about the smoking habit is
excellent for health and well-being. Everything, that is,
except the cigarette! Taking hourly breaks, to stretch
one's legs and eyes, spend time in nature, with company
and breathing deep, all provide significant health benefits
both mental and physical, which would partly explain the
difficulty in giving up the habit (apart from the nicotine
addiction). The inbuilt advantages of the smoking habit
are the cues for taking such breaks, i.e., the
addiction/craving, as well as when to end the break, i.e.
reaching the end of the cigarette. While smoking
represents a negative addiction, developing such a habit
without the cigarette, could be considered a positive
addiction, a concept initially proposed by William
Glasser (1976), to explain how our bodies are wired to
respond positively to healthy experiences, and eventually
crave more once developed. This paper links the
evidencefor the health benefits of each component of the
smoking ritual (without the cigarette), and develops the
case for all people to engage in similar rituals.
