Your decision to quit smoking has many benefits. Beyond the health benefits, your clothes will smell better, your teeth will be whiter and your fingers won’t have those yellow stains, so use the tips provided below to make quitting a little easier. Refer to it when you need extra help.
Try to stop smoking by using the method that is easiest for your needs. Never choose to quit smoking by going cold turkey. This method of quitting has a 95 percent failure rate. Because nicotine is so addicting, a patch, medication, or therapy may be helpful. These things will help you with any withdrawal symptoms you may experience, and make quitting successfully much more likely.
If you are sincere in your effort to quit, find a support group and stick with them. Support groups can help you learn how to cope with the physical and emotional challenges you may experience while quitting. These individuals can offer support, guidance, and great tips to help you quit. There may be a support group for people who are trying to quit in your community. Look at places such as community colleges or churches.
When quitting smoking, take each day as it comes. Don’t think about quitting forever; instead focus on today. Reaching your goal one day at a time is easier to deal with mentally and physically. As each day passes, extend your timeline a little more into the future.
Many ex-smokers have found that hypnosis works when quitting smoking. Seeing a licensed hypnotist can be effective and has proven successful for many people. During hypnosis, the hypnotist will give you positive affirmations while you are hypnotized. When you are awakened from this trance, you might not be as interested in cigarettes as you were before, making your goal more attainable.
You might want to look into therapy to help with nicotine replacement. As you are going through nicotine withdrawal, you might feel irritable, restless, frustrated or depressed. Cravings can often be overwhelming. You can try nicotine-replacement therapy if you are having nicotine withdrawal. People who use these products have twice as much likelihood of quitting for good as those who go cold turkey. It is very dangerous to smoke while using these products; therefore, to protect yourself avoid smoking if you are using nicotine replacement therapies.
Stay in the present moment, and take quitting one day at a time. Quitting is a process. Don’t waste your time thinking about next year, next month or even next week. Today is all you should be worrying about, so make sure you’re not smoking right now and your todays will start adding up to forever.
Do not try to quit all alone. Get support from your family and friends and tell them that you are attempting to quit smoking and that you would like it if they help you accomplish that goal. Having a support group is the single best thing you can do for yourself. Sometimes by talking to others who are dealing with the same withdrawals and issues that you are will help you be able to lean on each other and finally stop the habit.
When attempting to quit smoking, you should make friends and family aware of your planned changes. When you share this information with those closest to you, they can help you remain focused on quitting. A supportive group of loved ones can give you the push you need to stick to your plans for quitting.
You may want to smoke an alternative brand of cigarettes when you are considering quitting the habit. Switch to a lighter cigarette or a cigarette whose taste you don’t enjoy. Smoke them as you would your normal brand and inhale them the same. You will enjoy smoking less. This is a great first step down the road to quitting!
If you are creating a quit plan, be sure to write a list of all the ways you can give up the habit. Customizing and personalizing the list will make it more effective. Everyone has their own ways of getting things done. It is important to find what your best options are. Creating this personalized list does just that.
One of the best things you can do to help yourself quit is to not falter if you have a relapse in judgement. Most former smokers had to try more than once before succeeding at kicking their nicotine habits. Instead of expecting perfection from yourself, just quit for as long as possible. If you start smoking again, decide on a new quit date. Make a habit of quitting, and try to make it longer every time you quit. At some point, you will be so skilled at quitting that it will become permanent.
If you simply cannot quit smoking straight out, make use of nicotine gums or skin patches. Using these nicotine-providing OTC products in conjunction with your own personal willpower will fight off the rough symptoms of withdrawal.
It is important that you stop smoking immediately. A future date will be too tempting to postpone and put off, so it’s best to decide that today is the day you will quit. Quitting smoking has immediate health effects, and starts to reduce the risk of developing some deadly medical conditions right away. Protecting your family from secondhand smoke can be an important reason to quit.
Prior to starting to quit smoking, be able to stay committed to quitting for good. A lot of people aren’t successful because they aren’t in the correct mindset or they easily give up. You may stay committed through thinking of the reasons why you want to quit.
Workout every day. Once you have quit smoking, it will be easier to adopt a fitness program. Endurance and lung capacity will improve noticeably. You will also avoid gaining weight. Although you get tremendous benefits from the endorphin’s produced through exercise, it won’t replace the nicotine high, but at least it will help calm down your cravings to smoke.
If you quit smoking, you’ll be improving not only your own health, but the health of those close to you. Secondhand smoke can affect the health of anyone around you who come into constant contact with it. When you’re stopping smoking you will also be stopping how much you expose your loved ones to the dangerous chemicals in secondhand smoke. By stopping smoking, you will not only protect yourself, but you will also protect your loved ones.
Eliminating any reminders of your life as a smoker can help you to quit. Throw out or give away all your lighters and ashtrays. Clean your home from top to bottom and launder all your clothing to eliminate the odor of smoke. Cleaning all of these items will help keep things that trigger your desire for a smoke at bay.
Great advice when quitting is to stop smoking altogether. The most effective way to begin a smoke-free life is to just stop the habit. Just stop and never let yourself start again. The cold turkey method will seem very difficult. It has been proven to be effective, as time goes by.
Smoking is sometimes the thing that individuals turn to in times of stress. Find other techniques you can use to relax when you feel stressed. Try yoga or meditating and it can aid you in relieving your stress levels and it is a healthier alternative to smoking.
To increase your motivation to stop smoking, keep in mind that your loved ones would be negatively impacted if you became sick as a result of smoking. There are statistics which state that as many as one in five American deaths are related to smoking. Do not allow yourself to become a statistic.
Replace smoking with exercise. Exercise causes your body to release mood-boosting endorphins, and physical activity provides distraction from your cravings when they do strike. Furthermore, the activity will make you less likely to gain weight as you stop smoking.
Try exercising to replace your smoking habit. Exercise causes your body to release mood-boosting endorphins, and physical activity provides distraction from your cravings when they do strike. You should also exercise to counteract certain side effects of quitting, such as weight gain.
Write down a mantra for why you are quitting. Repeat your mantra to yourself when you feel a strong craving. This will allow you to take control of your addiction, in an effort to optimize your chance for success.
Call someone for help and support when your willpower weakens and you are close to having a cigarette. The person can be a friend, family member or even a coworker. Just make sure that it’s someone who will listen to your feelings and respond honestly. Not only does the act of talking on the phone distract you from your craving, you’ll also receive valuable social support that will last much longer than the phone call.
If you want to give up your smoking habit, you should first consider the short-term difficulties that you are going to have to overcome. Many people relapse after quitting, within a few months. When you are stressed out or tired, it can sometimes be mighty tempting to smoke a cigarette. You need to know what your triggers are.
Many people have discovered that counseling can help them to stop smoking. Many people can’t quit because of emotional attachments to smoking, or issues about self-esteem. Once you deal with the issue, urges to smoke may become less frequent. Talk to your physician about referring you to a reputable practitioner.
If you feel a need to calm anxiety during smoking cessation, you may want to consider nicotine replacement products. You might choose a nicotine patch or nicotine gum. Either will help to minimize feelings of withdrawal, while keeping you from puffing away on a cigarette. Wait until you’ve quit smoking to stop using these aids. At that point, you can taper off them so that you become nicotine free without experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
Deep breathing is one effective way to cope with cravings. When you are focusing on your breathing, focus also on why you want to quit smoking. It can also assist in providing oxygen for your lungs, and this will refresh you. These techniques are simple, effective and, best of all, free!
Decide on something to use as a reward for yourself to reinforce your decision to quit smoking. Quitting smoking means that you will have a good amount of extra money to spend on a couple of extra things. Buy yourself a treat with the money you save to reward yourself for your hard work and dedication. Having a tangible reward for not smoking will help motivate you to continue.
Find alternate methods of keeping your mouth occupied if needing to have something in your mouth is a component of your addiction. Many quitters like to use gum, hard candy, or mints to keep their mouths occupied. For other people, electronic cigarettes fit the bill.
You should not try to quit smoking for the sake of others. Even though you may love these people, chances are you will only stop smoking when you are ready to do it yourself. Smoking is an amazing way to love yourself, and sticking to it will ensure you don’t disappoint yourself or your loved ones.
Create some sort of rewards system for yourself while you are quitting. If you are no longer buying cigarettes, you will have a lot of extra spending money. Put this money aside and sporadically reward yourself with it. This kind of benefit will keep you motivated.
If you’re still not clear about why you need to quit smoking, research the dangerous consequences of long-term smoking. Look at pictures of lung cancer or gum cancers. Also take some time to read dedication pages made by loved ones who have lost someone due to smoking.
If you enjoy writing, you may discover that a detailed journal helps win the battle to quit smoking. Many smokers use cigarettes to relax or calm down. The journal writing can replace this and become a healthy way to combat stress. It is also less expensive.
What are your triggers as a smoker? An example of triggers would be work, stress or maybe other people. Keep temptation at bay by avoiding your known triggers. If you can’t avoid all of your triggers, then come up with an alternative way to deal with them.
You are no doubt already aware of the many health benefits of not smoking. However, benefits alone will not compel most people to quit smoking. Apply all of them that are appropriate to your situation to keep your motivation up and beat those intense cravings. You’ll be rejuvenating your body and enjoying your new freedom from nicotine in no time!
