If you’ve ever carried out a DNA test, for example to research your ancestry or find unknown family members, then you’ll be all too aware that your DNA is what makes you distinctively you. Its famously recognizable double helix is present in every cell of your body and it carries a mass of genetic information and instructions. It governs the way you look and the way you change and develop all through life.
Your DNA is, of course, unique. Although 99.9 per cent of it is shared with every other human. And, (for heaven’s sake!), about 85 per cent of your DNA is shared with the common house mouse.
Smoking and your DNA
Your DNA does inevitably change or mutate: no one goes through life with pristine DNA that doesn’t change at all. There are many different types of mutation and some of the most harmful are those caused by contact with chemicals, air pollution, sunlight and, you’ve guessed it, smoking cigarettes. The chemicals which are released into your blood stream when you smoke may, for example, bind with the chemical structure of your DNA. This can change the instructions – it’s obvious what happens if your tumour-suppressing DNA is compromised, for example.
The changes caused by smoking to your DNA are changes to the very you-ness of you. The body which served you so well as a child is being undermined by the adult you, every time you inhale cigarette smoke. There are plenty of people on the planet who live in areas of extreme air pollution who have no choice about the dangerous chemicals they inhale.
I practice hypnotherapy for smoking in London and online, and it’s my job to invite my clients to really think about and understand why they actively make the choice to damage their precious DNA. And then to help release them from their addiction. If you’d like to take the first step on a journey towards becoming permanently nicotine-free then you can book a Discovery call with me to discuss this. You can also read more about some of the lesser known health risks of smoking, a case study or learn about some way that early life can influence nicotine addiction.
