Quite Smoking

10 Tips for Quitting Smoking

I recently celebrated my one-year anniversary of quitting smoking. Well, of finally quitting … like most smokers, I had tried to quit many times and failed. But this quit stuck, and I’d like to share the top 10 things that made this quit successful when the others failed.

1. Commit Thyself Fully. In the quits that failed, I was only half into it. I told myself I wanted to quit, but I always felt in the back of my mind that I’d fail. I didn’t write anything down, I didn’t tell everybody (maybe my wife, but just her). This time, I wrote it down. I wrote down a plan. I blogged about it. I made a vow to my daughter. I told family and friends I was quitting. I went online and joined a quit forum. I had rewards. Many of these will be in the following tips, but the point is that I fully committed, and there was no turning back. I didn’t make it easy for myself to fail.

2. Make a Plan. You can’t just up and say, “I’m gonna quit today.” You have to prepare yourself. Plan it out. Have a system of rewards, a support system, a person to call if you’re in trouble. Write down what you’ll do when you get an urge. Print it out. Post it up on your wall, at home and at work. If you wait until you get the urge to figure out what you’re going to do, you’ve already lost. You have to be ready when those urges come.

3. Know Your Motivation. When the urge comes, your mind will rationalize. “What’s the harm?” And you’ll forget why you’re doing this. Know why you’re doing this BEFORE that urge comes. Is it for your kids? For your wife? For you health? So you can run? Because the girl you like doesn’t like smokers? Have a very good reason or reasons for quitting. List them out. Print them out. Put it on a wall. And remind yourself of those reasons every day, every urge.

4. Not One Puff, Ever (N.O.P.E.). The mind is a tricky thing. It will tell you that one cigarette won’t hurt. And it’s hard to argue with that logic, especially when you’re in the middle of an urge. And those urges are super hard to argue with. Don’t give in. Tell yourself, before the urges come, that you will not smoke a single puff, ever again. Because the truth is, that one puff WILL hurt. One puff leads to a second, and a third, and soon you’re not quitting, you’re smoking. Don’t fool yourself. A single puff will almost always lead to a recession. DO NOT TAKE A SINGLE PUFF!

5. Join a Forum. One of the things that helped the most in this quit was an online forum for quitters (quitsmoking.about.com) … you don’t feel so alone when you’re miserable. Misery loves company, after all. Go online, introduce yourself, get to know the others who are going through the exact same thing, post about your crappy experience, and read about others who are even worse than you. Best rule: Post Before You Smoke. If you set this rule and stick to it, you will make it through your urge. Others will talk you through it. And they’ll celebrate with you when you make it through your first day, day 2, 3, and 4, week 1 and beyond. It’s great fun.

6. Reward Yourself. Set up a plan for your rewards. Definitely reward yourself after the first day, and the second, and the third. You can do the fourth if you want, but definitely after Week 1 and Week2. And month 1, and month 2. And 6 months and a year. Make them good rewards, that you’ll look forward to: CDs, books, DVDs, T-shirts, shoes, a massage, a bike, a dinner out at your favorite restaurant, a hotel stay … whatever you can afford. Even better: take whatever you would have spent on smoking each day, and put it in a jar. This is your Rewards Jar. Go crazy! Celebrate your every success! You deserve it.

7. Delay. If you have an urge, wait. Do the following things: take 10 deep breaths. Drink water. Eat a snack (at first it was candy and gum, then I switched to healthier stuff like carrots and frozen grapes and pretzels). Call your support person. Post on your smoking cessation forum. Exercise. DO WHATEVER IT TAKES, BUT DELAY, DELAY, DELAY. You will make it through it, and the urge will go away. When it does, celebrate! Take it one urge at a time, and you can do it.

8. Replace Negative Habits with Positive Ones. What do you do when you’re stressed? If you currently react to stress with a cigarette, you’ll need to find something else to do. Deep breathing, self massage of my neck and shoulders, and exercise have worked wonders for me. Other habits, such as what you do first thing in the morning, or what you do in the car, or wherever you usually smoke, should be replaced with better, more positive ones. Running has been my best positive habit, altho I have a few others that replaced smoking.

9. Make it Through Hell Week, then Heck Week, and You’re Golden. The hardest part of quitting is the first two days. If you can get past that, you’ve passed the nicotine withdrawal stage, and the rest is mostly mental. But all of the first week is hell. Which is why it’s called Hell Week. After that, it begins to get easier. Second week is Heck Week, and is still difficult, but not nearly as hellish as the first. After that, it was smooth sailing for me. I just had to deal with an occasional strong urge, but the rest of the urges were light, and I felt confident I could make it through anything.

10. If You Fall, Get Up. And Learn From Your Mistakes. Yes, we all fail. That does not mean we are failures, or that we can never succeed. If you fall, it’s not the end of the world. Get up, brush yourself off, and try again. I failed numerous times before succeeding. But you know what? Each of those failures taught me something. Well, sometimes I repeated the same mistakes several times, but eventually I learned. Figure out what your obstacles to success are, and plan to overcome them in your next quit. And don’t wait a few months until your next quit. Give yourself a few days to plan and prepare, commit fully to it, and go for it!

BONUS TIP #11: THINK POSITIVE. This is the most important tip of all. I saved it for last. If you have a positive, can-do attitude, as corny as it may sound, you will succeed. Trust me. It works. Tell yourself that you can do it, and you will. Tell yourself that you can’t do it, and you definitely won’t. When things get rough, think positive! You CAN make it through the urge. You CAN make it through Hell Week. And you can. I did. So have millions of others. We are no better than you. 

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More Tips To Quit Smoking

Write a list of the reasons why you want to stop, and keep them with you. Refer to them when tempted to light up. You may wish to read a separate leaflet in this series, called 'Smoking - The Facts'. This gives the reasons why smoking is so harmful and lists the benefits of stopping.

Set a date for stopping, and stop completely. (Some people prefer the idea of cutting down gradually. However, research has shown that if you smoke fewer cigarettes than usual, you are likely to smoke more of each cigarette, and nicotine levels remain nearly the same. Therefore, it is usually best to stop once and for all from a set date.)

Tell everyone that you are giving up smoking. Friends and family often give support and may help you. Smoking by others in the household makes giving up harder. If appropriate, try to get other household members who smoke, or friends who smoke, to stop smoking at the same time. A team effort may be easier than going it alone.

Get rid of ashtrays, lighters, and all cigarettes.

Be prepared for some withdrawal symptoms. When you stop smoking, you are likely to get symptoms which may include: nausea (feeling sick), headaches, anxiety, irritability, craving, and just feeling awful. These symptoms are caused by the lack of nicotine that your body has been used to. They tend to peak after 12-24 hours, and then gradually ease over 2-4 weeks.

Anticipate a cough. It is normal for a smoker's cough to get worse when you stop smoking (as the airways "come back to life"). Many people say that this makes them feel worse for a while after stopping smoking and makes them tempted to restart smoking. Resist this temptation! The cough usually gradually eases.

Be aware of situations in which you are most likely to want to smoke. In particular, drinking alcohol is often associated with failing in an attempt to stop smoking. You should consider not drinking much alcohol in the first few weeks after stopping smoking. Try changing your routine for the first few weeks. For example, don't go to the pub for a while if that is a tempting place to smoke and drink alcohol. Also, if drinking tea and coffee are difficult times, try drinking mainly fruit juice and plenty of water instead.

Take one day at a time. Mark off each successful day on a calendar. Look at it when you feel tempted to smoke, and tell yourself that you don't want to start all over again.

Be positive. You can tell people that you don't smoke. You will smell better. After a few weeks you should feel better, taste your food more, and cough less. You will have more money. Perhaps put away the money, which you would have spent on cigarettes, for treats.

Food. Some people worry about gaining weight when they give up smoking, as the appetite may improve. Anticipate an increase in appetite, and try not to increase fatty or sugary foods as snacks. Try sugar-free gum and fruit instead.

Don't despair if you fail. Examine the reasons why you felt it was more difficult at that particular time. It will make you stronger next time. On average, people who eventually stop smoking have made 3 or 4 previous attempts.

Stop Smoking Clinics are available on the NHS. They have good success in helping people to stop smoking. Your doctor may refer you to one if you are keen to stop smoking but are finding it difficult to do so.

Various medicines can increase your chance of quitting. These include nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) which comes as gums, sprays, patches, tablets, lozenges, and inhalers. You can buy NRT without a prescription. Also, medicines called bupropion (trade name 'Zyban®') and varenicline (trade name 'Champix®') can help. These are available on prescription. See separate leaflets called 'Smoking - Nicotine Replacement Therapy', 'Smoking - Helping to Stop with Bupropion' and 'Smoking - Helping to Stop with Varenicline'.

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Nicotine Gum For Tobacco Preventions

Nicotine gum is the first widely available product containing nicotine in a tobacco-free form. Nicotine contains an ordinary chewing-gum base, but in addition contains nicotine bound to an ion-exchange resin.

As the result of the physical action of chewing molecules of nicotine are gradually dislodged from the resin.

The nicotine is then absorbed into the bloodstream through the membranes that line the inside of the mouth. The gum also contains a buffer, which maintains and acidity level that ensure the nicotine will be absorbed by the body as a steady rate.

The gum significantly decreases the severity of such withdrawal symptoms as irritability, anger, frustration, restlessness, impatience, sleepiness and increased appetite. A number of studies also suggest that the gum can significantly reduce, through if does not completely eliminate, carving for cigarettes.

One ex-smoker who used nicotine gum as an aid in quitting put it this way. The potential user should realize up front that   chewing the gum is not the same as having a cigarette. When you light up, you get that nice feeling of satisfaction right away. With the gum it takes longer, and it’s less intense. Using the gun doesn’t make you stop wanting a cigarette. It just makes it somewhat more bearable not to have one.

Thus it is of great importance that smokers planning to the nicotine gum realize that they must adopt as many other ways of dealing as they can. Studies have shown that smokers who do use the gum are more likely to succeed gum in quitting if, in addition, psychological, they had a great deal of behavioral, psychological environmental and social support.

Guideline:

Researchers who have studied the gum and smoker who have used it warm smoker starting out with nicorette that they should expect to experience some initial resistance. The first few time you try it. You may find the taste disagreeable. To use the gum successfully you must go through a period getting used to it, much as you went through a   period of getting used to cigarettes when   you first started smoking.

The first few times you try it, the gum may have a strong metallic taste. You may find that it burns your mouth .But don’t give up. Both researchers and successful quitters strongly recommend

That you stay with it. As the days go try and you become more adept at using it.

The gum will become less and less bothersome and more and more satisfying.

Study the instructions that come with your prescriptions thoroughly before beginning use of the gum.

Women should take precautions to avoid pregnancy while using the nicotine gum.

If you suspect you have become pregnant, discontinue use immediately and consult   your physician.

Nicorette gum is stickier than some other kinds of gum and may stick to or damage

Dental work or pull out fillings. People with dentures, bridge, braces or other extensive dental work should check with their dentist before using the gum.

Recent studies ex-smokers who have switched nicotine gum may become physically dependent. If the gum is stopped suddenly, they may develop withdrawal symptoms, including irritability, anxiety restlessness impatience and difficulty concentrating. Some of the expert’s advice that when ex-smokers using the gum are ready to discontinue it, they should gradually reduce their dose over a long period rather than stopping abruptly.

Posted in Health Tips, How To Quit Smoking | Tags: Health, Health Care, Health Care & Tips, Health Care Tips For Women, Health Tips, Healthy Eating Tips, How To Quite Smoking, Live Healthy, Nicotine Gum, Nicotine Gum For Tobacco Preventions, Quit Smoking, Stop Smokings, Tobacco Preventions, Useful Tips, World Of Health

Tricks To Quit Smoking

Everybody know well that smoking is hazards for health and damages the lungs, so to improve your lifeline you should quit smoking. It also leads to heart attack. There are two elements in the tobacco smoke: carbon monoxide and nicotine. The tar which is an essential element of a cigarette leads to cancer. So it is better to quit smoking.

It is very difficult to quit smoking and there is not any trick to do it nicely. However here are some tricks that can help smokers to quit this nasty and useless habit:

1. Experts says that it takes 21 days for a new thought pattern to become automatic, which is required to eliminate a habit. Three weeks without smoking is enough to quit it. But any smoker or alcoholic who is trying to quit can tell you, the first few days are very much harder. After that demand for smoking weeks and the long intervals make this demand dim and the smokers feel good.

2. To chew a gum seems to be obvious, but doctors say that it really works. The nice flavor of gum makes the mouth fresh. This act makes smoking less attractive. The act of chewing relives the desire for oral stimulation and keeps the mouth busy. Smokers often make an option for nicotine gums, but sugarless mint-flavored gum works just as well.

3. Drink more water, it overcome carvings and gives strength the positive goal of becoming healthy, when carving hits it will be a good trick to drink water slowly. Water washes away all the urge to smoke and toxins from smoking at the same time. The carving lasts just for 15 seconds. As you finish the glass of water you have distracted yourself and, carving goes away.

4. Taste of menthol or peppermint makes the mouth of smoker cool, fresh, and clean. It tricks the brain to feel less desire for the hot intake of smoke. Keep mints everywhere, so that they are always handy, especially in car, purse, pockets and all around the house.

5. Chewing grapes is another substitute to oral-stimulation technique, but natural chemicals and antioxidants in grapes work to relieve carvings.

6. All experts are not agreeing on the usefulness of nicotine substitutes also called nicotine replacement therapy. However they do not break the physical addiction to smoking. But they can be useful tools in overcoming the psychological side of the smoking addiction, which is a big part of the equation for many smokers. Patches and gum should only be used in combination with counseling or a support group, they are not likely to work on their own. Patches and gum come in three different strengths. Smokers should start with the strongest amount if they smoke more than 25 cigarettes a day, the weakest version if they smoke fewer than 7 cigarettes a day.

7. Put a calendar on the wall where smoker could see it well. Then he could mark off those days when he gone off without a cigarette. In the first and second week give him a gift which he likes most, like a chocolate, some fruit or a game. Do something valuable to celebrate this occasion, like giving him a dinner in a remarkable restaurant.

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