Many smokers have been smoking cigarettes for the past years, or even decade. Smoking has become a part of their everyday routine, from the moment they get up from their bed in the mornings up to the time that lie down again for a goodnight sleep. Just imagine how difficult it would be for them to stop smoking, a long-time habit in their routine, when they have been doing it for quite some time already. This is the reason why when they decide to quit smoking, they still have some cravings from time to time; and at times give in to the urge.
Usually, smokers have really allotted a portion of their time for smoking alone. And even without time, they can multi-task and perform their other jobs while they puff a stick. Just a few minutes is what they need to be able to finish one cigarette, and they can make sure that they have just the time to do so.
Smokers can use all the excuses they can get just to be able to puff a cigarette. You may see some people driving their cars with one hand holding a stick while the other holds the wheel. There are also times when you see a smoker light up a cigarette after a stressful event. When people are having fun, dancing in the clubs, drinking alcohol, they too smoke. And the most common time when people smoke is right after a satisfying meal. When they are too full to do other things, they smoke because they feel that it helps them digest whatever they have eaten.
People who smoke can do so every time they feel like doing so. They may bring up excuses like stress, boredom, peer pressure or just the usual “it’s a part of me” excuse. The bottom line is that they have these urges and cravings which they feel should be satisfied right then and there. Smoking must have really been a part of their life.
But, if smoking is really a part of your life now, how would you handle these things when you have finally decided to stop smoking? The act of quitting alone is a difficult task, but the part where you have to eliminate a practice from your usual routine is a lot more difficult. However, if you are really determined to live a healthier non-smoking life, you will have a way to do so.
You may try to do other things in substitute for smoking. Some people who have tried quitting may recommend you to chew a gum instead of lighting a cigarette. The important thing is that you have something to keep your mind off the idea that you are craving for a stick. You may try munching and chomping on unsalted sunflower seeds, or you may also try going for a walk when you feel like smoking. As you fight the urge to smoke, you will realize that It will become less harder for you to refrain from smoking the next time your cravings kick in. Trying to stop smoking is not an easy thing to do, but with the right motivations and with sufficient support from others, you can reach your goal and have a healthier lifestyle.
Millions of young guys and even girls start to smoke because they think that it makes them look more mature and cool. But most of the times they are very wrong. It may feel empowering to hold the cigarette in your hand, but once you hold it, you hold it for life, which then turns out to be quite a short one. You must be careful that you do not cough your way to death, for that would indeed be a pity! You must quit smoking so as to live a healthier and longer life.
If you have finally decided to quit smoking once and for all, do not look back. Do not think twice about your decision to quit. There are various self-help techniques you can try but the fact is, most people need assistance in their endeavor to end their addiction to smoking.
• A very popular method of getting rid of the addiction is by easing your transition into non-smoking by using nicotine replacement products. They do not alleviate your nicotine cravings but take the edge off them so that you can transit through them without picking up a cigarette. You should be able to use these products as long as your doctor gives the okay.
• There are many organizations that help people quit smoking. You can also join a group, utilize talk therapy, or even undergo hypnosis to help ease your cravings. These methods can be used in combination with other methods.
• You should do some research to help quit smoking. By doing that, you can find out whether your addiction is mainly physical or psychological or a combination of both. An addiction to Nicotine is mainly physical-you crave it and hence need to have it. If you fall in this category, using Nicotine replacement products such as patches is going to be a perfect solution to help you through the transition.
• The psychological addiction to smoking is more complicated. It manifests when you have to light a cigarette when in stress, with certain foods and drinks like coffee, when you get up in the morning and so on. These may be physical, no doubt, but you also possess a psychological attachment without which you feel lost.
• If you fall in the latter category, you need to actually substitute the physical act of puffing on a cigarette with another physical activity. Switching to Nicotine gums is an effective way of getting rid of both the physical and psychological element. It helps give you some of the oral involvement that puffing on a cigarette does. You chew gum instead of smoking cigarettes, but you are still doing something.
It might also help if you have support from people who have been there. You can either buddy up with a friend or join a group. Having others in a support group gives you feeling of accountability and makes sure that you stay on course.
These are some effective steps that you can take to help you quit smoking. It is ultimately your discretion as to which method you find suits you most.
In the midst of your Monday morning business meeting, do you find yourself fantasizing about puffing out warm wispy halo-shaped rings of smoke? Instead of your hour-long lunch break at 1, have you been repeatedly taking numerous 10 minute cigarette breaks all morning? Is the owner of the nearest hole-in-the-wall cigarette shop fast becoming your best friend? Well, if your answer to all these questions is a resounding YES, then it’s time to consider the alarming possibility that you are suffering from an addiction to smoking. The first smoking fact you need to internalize is that, this addiction is sure to have a negative effect on your life. Sooner or later, you will be entrapped, victimized by your own habits, feeding into a vicious cycle of withdrawal and abuse, draining your valuable resources, both monetary and intellectual, into a pursuit that is worthless, useless, of practically no beneficial effect, but with possibly fatal consequences.
Once you have confronted the fact of your addiction, you have to ask yourself the question: Are a few minutes of self gratification worth putting your life and livelihood at stake? Does this self-indulgence behavior not fade in comparison to the fact that you may be putting the health of those you love and cherish, at terrible risk? Yes, if you don’t already know, the smoke you emit while you indulge yourself (second hand smoke) may be causing severe damage to the heart and lungs, and various other important organs of your children, your spouse, your friends, colleagues, your unborn child, or even the strangers you pass as you walk on the streets.
In addition to this, the effects of tobacco smoke could actually be slowing your body and brain down, by distorting your perception of time. In this way it’s highly likely that you will take double the amount of time your non-smoking colleague takes to complete the same amount of work. Judging from this estimate, he is also sure to get that promotion both of you want in half the amount of time that you take!
If that is not motivation enough to make you try to quit, just consider the sheer monetary losses you are incurring. You could be saving up to 3000 dollars a year if you quit! Was that your spouse in the next room just now, grumbling that the two of you never have enough money left over to take a relaxing trip to the mountains?
After having read through these alarming smoking facts, perhaps you are quietly muttering to yourself now, “I tried, but I just couldn’t”. Yes, we understand the sense of frustration that is experienced by those of you who tried, but were sucked back into the vortex, afraid to face the debilitating withdrawal effects. This is arguably the most difficult aspect of addiction to overcome. Yet if you can grit your teeth and get through that difficult, challenging phase, there are incalculable benefits waiting on the other side:
o Your health is sure to improve, as is your children’s. Think about it: you are protecting your children and their friends from repeated ear, chest, nasal infections, and life-threatening diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease because of second hand smoke
o You will be working faster without the disruptions caused by numerous cigarette breaks. Your performance at work is sure to improve once you look at the computer screen with a mind free from the smoke-induced stupor
o that usually slows you down at work. In no time you will be back in the race for that long-awaited, but never achieved promotion!
o Your relationship with your spouse or partner is sure to improve. Not only will you be more attentive and alert to his or her emotional requirements, you will also improve your physical appearance by degrees. You no longer have to hide the nicotine stains on your teeth and fingernails. And you can speak freely and comfortably without worrying about displeasing your audience with oral malodor, or halitosis that is so common among smokers. So now you have the money, time and the physical confidence to take that long overdue holiday with your significant other!
After considering these vital smoking facts, you are sure to have understood that tobacco smoking, whether you smoke a pipe, a hookah, or a common cigarette, is, as the cigarette boxes perfunctorily say, INJURIOUS TO HEALTH. So the sooner you embark on that journey toward de-addiction, the better for you. Not only will it boost your self-image and infuse yourself with a new-found sense of confidence, it will also endear you to your friends and family. When you quit smoking, you show them that you are a responsible member of the community, who is judicious about not only his own health, but also responsible and accountable for those lives which are woven around his. So take that difficult step, gather all your friends and family members around you enlist their help and support and quit, once and for all. See you on the other side!
Side Effects of SmokingTobacco companies have solicited the ‘benefits’ of smoking cigarettes with phrases that deem tobacco as a natural product and by making it seem as safe as breathing oxygen. However it is too apparent that cigarettes can kill! Although there has been a lot of research into this field, and although science tells us that it can damage our lungs, many of us believe we can overcome the side effects of smoking.
Smoking has a lot of unwanted side effects other than the huge list of serious problems that can develop as a result of smoking. There are a lot of minor problems, such as respiratory trouble, coughs and colds which are as a result of a weakening immune system which happens due to the smoke.
The side effects of smoking that affect other aspects of your life cost you something else. Often times friendships or loved ones are the risk factor you can loose with smoking. Smoking leads to a terrible smell in the clothes you wear and is something you’ll carry with you wherever you tread. Many people hate smokers and smoking in the house isn’t always a safe option. If your clothes reek, the smell can be rubbed off on the sofas and it hangs in the air for a while as well.
Worse than that, smoking leads to bad breath. If your mouth smells, then people might not want to spend time around you. Chances of you finding a partner or even kissing your partner start to wane, of course, unless your partner smokes too!
Even your own house will stink of smoke, especially the curtains and the paint. The paint will turn yellowish over time and the curtains will need to be washed regularly.
Stopping a habit like smoking is tough for any individual. Once someone decides to quit, there can be some difficult side effects on the body since the system has already become addicted to nicotine. Anyone who is on the road towards quitting smoking has to keep it in their minds to have strong will power so that they can force themselves from being tempted to have a smoke. Involving yourself in several activities in and around the house is something that will allow you to keep your mind off the cigarettes. Keep yourself happy, and don’t let the idle mind be a devil’s workshop. So try not to be alone.
The other side effect is that it can have an immediate impact on your finances. Depending on how much you smoke and where you are living, the finances will still be hit by the packs of cigarettes you buy. Five pounds a packet of twenty cigarettes in the UK alone accounts for over 1800 pounds every year if one smokes a whole pack a day! That’s surely one foreign trip gone up in smoke! You only way to avoid the side effects of smoking is to quit once and for all
The nicotine patch has been available in markets for a long time. It is used in cases where a smoker is trying to quit smoking. These things are designed in such a way that it will give the body a continuous dose of nicotine be it day or night. It’s also very easy to use! Just put on one in the morning, and at night you take it off, and the next day you use another one.
If you’re a regular smoker, you’ll see that once you’ve taken a puff, you’ll feel satisfied with yourself since the nicotine levels are high in your body, but once it starts to drop, you’ll be itching to have another one. A patch with the proper dosage will result in no urge to have another puff and will help you stay happy and satisfied as you try to lay off cigarettes.
Smokers are recommended to use nicotine patch therapy, by treatment programs that aim to reduce the dependence on tobacco. The treatment can last for up to twenty weeks, or till one can overcome the habit of smoking by abstaining from it. Nicotine patches are generally safe as well, so you don’t have to worry about severe side-effects. Short-lived side effects of prolonged use of patches can be a tingling feeling, a mild itch, or a burning sensation on the skin where the patch is.
The patch gives the body a relatively small dose so that one can control the cravings and gradually reduce the amount of nicotine needed for one’s body. Tobacco smoke contains toxics like carbon monoxide, tar and carcinogens which the patch is free of. Smoking can cause high blood pressure and high heart rates, but there’s nothing of the kind in case of patches, since they deliver it directly into the blood in tiny quantities compared to a cigarette.
Patches deliver a certain amount of nicotine to the body and sometimes bodily demands exceed the supply. This is one drawback of using the patch.
It is common for anyone who’s trying to quit actually changing one’s schedule and giving up the rituals of taking out a smoke and the lighter whenever one’s leaving the house. Breaking a ritual that’s become a part of one’s life is hard, so try and replace them with walks after meals, a bottle of cold water after one wakes up in the morning and trying one’s best to avoid pubs or any place with a lot of smokers around.
The changes you bring to your life when you start using nicotine patches need to be changes that become permanent in your life. Smoking, like any habit, are hard to break once you become accustomed to it. So just like you’ve become addicted to smoking, if you can detach yourself from cigarettes you’ll be able to live smoke free again.
So prepare yourself for the life of a non-smoker. The first few weeks of trying to quit will be the toughest, but remind yourself that in a month or so from now you won’t be craving cigarettes anymore and you will finally have control over your life. It’s important to quit smoking today so your life does not go up in smoke tomorrow.
Your families and friends have suddenly turned into your enemies, right? They tell you to do something else besides smoke, when all you would like to do is breathe in the poison. You have seemed to lose yourself in your addiction. The people around you tell you to stop smoking, but you are too adamant to listen to them. Well, if that is the case, you should realize that cigarettes are very harmful for your health, and it’s important to learn how to stop smoking.
Millions of people are addicted to this terrible habit. The victims are as young as ten years old, and they could continue smoking till the age of 50 or more. Cigarettes contain nicotine which when seeps into the blood stream, creates a “high”. This is why people who smoke get hooked on to the habit within the first few times only.
But, as you know nicotine is not good for your health. This issue has been circulating in the media so many times that you must already be aware of its harmful effects. Therefore isn’t it time that you decide to put an end to this habit? Here are some steps that you can take to teach you how to stop smoking.
The first thing to remember would be that you need to have the 3 Ps etched into your brain. These three Ps are Planning, Preparation and Progress. Not only do you have to prepare your self for the long journey of quitting but the ways to stick to your plan. You must ensure that you stay faithful to your promise at all times.
Secondly, you have to develop great will power to never waver from your plan. What you can also do is practice yoga and meditation. This will lessen your stress, and if you are less stressed you have a better chance of not resorting to smoking. These exercises will help you to relax, so you won’t feel pressured to reach for those packs of cigarettes!
Try to remove away all things from your home or workplace that could tempt you to smoke. You should put away your ash trays, and avoid all the smoking joints and pubs that will only push you all over the edge again.
Whenever you feel like lighting up cigarettes, you should eat something to fill up your stomach. You can even drink water to kill your urges.
Let others like your friends and relatives know that you are deciding to quit. This way, they will support you and you will find it a lot easier to give up smoking.
There are about 15 million people who decide to quit every day, but only 3% become successful. The rest just cave in after a few months. Clinical studies have shown that smoking causes people to become disables, sick and succumb to an array of diseases and conditions. Since the first Surgeon General’s Report in 1964, over 12 million have been reported to have died. Moreover, in US alone, over 50,000 deaths occur because of smoking. So if you are unwilling to end your life in such a manner, it is necessary that you know how to stop smoking.
If you think being a smoking machine will make you look cool then you are only fooling yourself. Sticking cigarettes in your mouth by the dozen does not make you look “hip” or “different”. In fact, you will be just another average Joe who can’t kick the habit. Even though you may not feel the ill-effects of smoking on your health today, they are bound to sneak up on you eventually. This is why it’s important to seek help on quitting smoking now, because you never know when your body is going to turn against you.
Smoking is not an issue about right or wrong, it’s an issue about practicality. Logic and science have rationalized that smoking is injurious to health, not only to you, but to others as well. Passive smoke or second hand smoke has become a major problem for the non-smokers of today, since wherever they turn; they are covered in misty nicotine smoke that chokes them up completely.
You have a responsibility to maintain towards others, and even if you decided that your own life is not worth saving and therefore you shouldn’t stop smoking, you cannot decide the same for the others too. For their sake, you have to kick this terrible habit out through the window. So what can you do about it? How can you get to quit smoking?
First, really decide that you will stop smoking. This may seem to be a laughable matter, since you will think that it is very simple and easy. But this is not true at all. You have to stop smoking not just because your family or friends have urged you to do so, but because you have to save yourself. This is for your own good, and the faster you realize that, the stronger your promise will be to put a stop to it.
Secondly, you have to put away anything that could tempt you to go for that poisonous substance again. Make sure that you throw away all the packs, and even put away the ash-trays in the closet where you will not be able to reach easily.
Third, you can tell your friends and family about this resolution. You will be surprised to see how much help and support your will receive. But you will have to stay true to the promise that you make to yourself and the people around you will help you to keep it.
Make a list to point out the various factors for which you are willing to quit. If you have this list with you all the time, whenever you get tempted, you can glance at the list again and again to remind yourself about being stern about your promise.
Find out the times of the day when you are in the habit of smoking a lot, say after a meal, or in the evening or whenever you are alone and need to think. What you need to do during these times is to find out a better way to do things so that they will keep your mind off the subject of smoking. For example, if you are in the habit of having cigarettes in the evening, you can take a walk instead.
Drink a lot of water and eat fruits every day. This will bring you body metabolism to a balance that will de-stress you so that you do not resort to smoking.
Calculate how much you spend every month in order to buy a packet of cigarettes for yourself every week. The figure that you will arrive will make your eyes pop out. When you buy a pack, it may seem that you are spending only a sliver of your entire monthly income, but if you add up the numbers of an entire year, you will see that the added sum blows through the roof!
These steps are your help for quitting smoking. If you follow them as your rules, you will be able to resist yourself from breaking your promise to quit, and getting back to this horrible habit again. This is why it is important to stick to your convictions and never let your faith and strength waver.
