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Introduction – 

Smoking – The majority of tobacco users claim to experience intense urges to smoke or use tobacco. However, you can resist these desires. No matter whether you smoke a cigarette or chew tobacco, keep in mind that, even though the need to use tobacco may be strong at the time, it normally goes away in 5 to 10 minutes. Each time you are successful in suppressing a need, you go one step closer to quitting smoking.

Why is Smoking So Addictive?

Your addiction to smoking is due to nicotine, the primary component of tobacco. Your brain quickly becomes acclimated to it and starts to seek more and more the sensation you used to get from smoking just one cigarette. Your brain eventually develops the ability to anticipate when you will light up a cigarette. You feel miserable and worn out so you decide “I need a cigarette,” and the cycle repeats.

However, it goes beyond brain chemistry. Some circumstances make you desire to smoke. Each person has unique triggers. Yours might be the taste of specific meals, the sight of a carton of cigarettes in the store, the smell of cigarette smoke, or a cup of coffee in the morning. Sometimes a trigger is just how you’re feeling—happy or sad. Finding the triggers that make you crave smoking and making an effort to avoid them is one of the most important steps in successfully stopping.

12 Ways To Quit Smoking – 

The hardest days of quitting smoking will be the first few. Decide on a date and stick to it to stop smoking. Before your quit date, make a list of your motivations, and read it daily both before and after you quit. Create a strategy for quitting. You’ll be able to maintain your motivation and attention. Here are some suggestions to get you going:

• Record your smoking habits, including when, why, and what you were doing at the time. Your smoking triggers are listed here. Going forward, you ought to stay away from these as much as you can.
• Prior to quitting, refrain from smoking in specific situations (such as during your break at work or after supper).
• Make a list of things you can do in place of smoking, such as going on vigorous walks or chewing gum. When the need to smoke strikes, you must be prepared to do anything else.
• Consult your doctor before using prescription drugs or nicotine replacement therapy patches or gum (see below). These can help some people reduce cravings.
• Join a programme or group that supports quitting smoking. To find groups close to you, contact your local American Lung Association chapter.
• Inform your loved ones of your intention to stop smoking and let them know how they may help.

1. Create a Plan – As you undoubtedly already know, there are numerous approaches to quitting smoking. Some are more effective than others. The strategy that you can stick to is always the best. Consider which of the following might be most helpful to you:

2. Cold turkey (no outside help) –  90% of people who try to stop smoking do so without any outside assistance, including aids, counselling, or medication. 

3. Psychological treatment – Working with a therapist to seek Nicotine alternatives involves collaboration. Together, you’ll identify your triggers (such as feelings or circumstances that make you want to smoke) and come up with a strategy to deal with the urges. It can be used as a backup plan or as your primary approach. Even 3-minute sessions that are brief have been demonstrated to be beneficial.

Programs vary, but generally speaking they assist you in choosing a quit date, provide you with tools to accomplish the transition, and instruct you on how to manage the process and avoid relapsing. Numerous clinics and hospitals offer individual and group counselling sessions with counsellors for nothing or at a modest cost. If that’s not an option, you can phone the quit-smoking hotline in your state.

4. Nicotine replacement therapy – These medications employ carefully controlled nicotine levels that get smaller as you take them, allowing you to gradually wean yourself off nicotine before stopping altogether. They help you control your urges and lessen the severity of withdrawal symptoms. If you use one of these products, you can have a chance of giving up smoking that is up to 70% higher. Consult your doctor before beginning if you are breastfeeding or pregnant.

The nicotine that is released into your body by patches that are applied directly to your skin. Since they are over-the-counter (OTC), a prescription is not necessary. Starting to use the patch a few days prior to your intended quitting date and utilising it in conjunction with another nicotine product may be more beneficial.

Nicotine gum is another option. Your dosage is based on how frequently you smoke. Stop and place it in your cheek when you experience a tingle in your mouth. Resuming eating when the feeling stops. Repeat this as necessary until the sensation stops, which normally happens after about 30 minutes. You should chew one piece every hour or two for the first six weeks. A 12-week course of treatment is recommended. Consult your doctor if you feel the need to continue.

Taken after meals, nicotine lozenges are over-the-counter pills. In your mouth, they disintegrate. Your dosage is based on how frequently you smoke. The course of treatment should last 12 weeks. Nicotine is delivered through sprays through the mouth or nose. Some of them can be purchased without a prescription, while others require a trip to the doctor. The recommended usage period is 12 weeks, same as other nicotine medications. You can inhale a nicotine puff thanks to inhalers. You can only obtain one with a prescription, and you’ll use it for roughly 12 weeks.

5. Prescription medications – These medications are only available with a prescription from your doctor. To give either drug time to accumulate in your system, you would need to start taking it before your intended quit date.

If you require a prescription, varenicline (Chantix) is likely the first medication you will take. You love smoking less because it interacts with the area of your brain that responds to nicotine. It lessens withdrawal symptoms as well. It is safe to combine varenicline with nicotine products, and one study suggests that doing so may increase the likelihood that you will successfully stop smoking. Vomiting, headaches, insomnia, nausea, and other side effects are possible.

Antidepressant bupropion lessens your desire to smoke. If varenicline doesn’t work or if you can’t take it for some reason, you’re most likely to develop it. Take it alone unless your doctor instructs you to take it with nicotine products. Sleeplessness, nightmares, and a dry mouth are typical side effects.

6. Hypnosis – You will be put into a trance-like state by a skilled hypnotist. They’ll then offer advice on how to stop having the temptation to smoke. Doctors are still unsure of the efficacy or existence of this approach. There is no benefit, according to some research, while others claim it is more effective than using nicotine products.

7. Acupuncture – If other methods of quitting have left you with negative side effects, this might help. Your body’s pressure points are stimulated by a skilled practitioner using tiny metal needles. Particularly spots on the ears seem to increase brain chemicals that aid in reducing the desire to smoke. Its efficacy for this purpose has not been established by studies. Unless you don’t mind paying for it out of pocket, you’ll need multiple sessions, so you should find out if your insurance will cover it.

8. Laser therapy – This is similar to acupuncture, but instead of using needles to prick your skin, it employs low-level lasers. Studies have not verified that it is effective.

9. Combo treatments – If you employ a variety of strategies, you might be more likely to succeed in quitting permanently. For instance, using a nicotine patch and gum together may be preferable to using a patch only. Behavioral therapy and nicotine replacement treatment, prescription medication and a nicotine replacement therapy patch, and a nicotine replacement therapy patch and nicotine spray are some other beneficial combinations. Speaking with your doctor first can help you determine whether this is the best course of action for you as the FDA has not approved utilising two different nicotine replacement medications at the same time.

10. Avoid triggers – The areas where you smoked or chewed tobacco most frequently, such as bars or parties, as well as times when you were stressed out or drinking coffee, are likely to be the locations where tobacco impulses are most intense. Know your triggers and have a strategy in place to go through or avoid them without using cigarettes. Avoid preparing yourself for a smoking relapse. Keep a pen and paper close by if you typically smoke while on the phone so you can keep yourself occupied doodling instead of smoking.

11. Try relaxation techniques – It’s possible that you used smoking as a stress reliever. It might be stressful in and of itself to resist a cigarette addiction. Try to relax by practising techniques like deep breathing, muscular relaxation, yoga, visualisation, massage, or relaxing music.

12. Remind yourself of the benefits – To help you fight the urge to smoke, write down or speak out your reasons for quitting. These explanations could include:

• feeling improved
• becoming more healthy
• protecting the people you love from secondhand smoke
• saving cash

Remember that doing something to resist the impulse to smoke is always preferable to doing nothing. You get one step closer to quitting cigarettes each time you withstand an urge for tobacco.

You will experience withdrawal symptoms when you stop smoking, both physically and mentally. You can experience cigarette cravings, hunger pangs, mood swings, frequent coughing, headaches, or difficulty focusing. Your body is accustomed to nicotine, which is why you experience these withdrawal symptoms.

Keep your cool when withdrawal symptoms appear within the first two weeks of quitting. Consider your motivations for quitting. Keep in mind that these are indications that your body is recovering and adjusting to life without nicotine. The withdrawal symptoms only last a short while. When you initially stop smoking, they are at their peak, but they will pass in 10 to 14 days. Always keep in mind that withdrawal symptoms are less severe than the serious illnesses that smoking might bring.

How Hard Will It Be To Quit?

Everyone is unique, and your level of difficulty will depend on:

• How many cigarettes you smoke a day
• If your friends and family members smoke
• Why you smoke

Consider the advantages. Your body begins to recover from the effects of nicotine and chemicals shortly after you stop smoking. Your heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature, which are all unhealthily elevated due to nicotine, return to normal ranges. You can take a deep breath. As a result, your blood can carry more oxygen since the quantities of harmful carbon monoxide in your system decline.

No doubt about it: Quitting helps your whole body. It can even improve your looks: You’ll be less likely to get wrinkles when you’re still young. And you’ll save money, too.

How can I Avoid Smoking Again?

Slipping is a common part of quitting. For most people trying to quit, even “just one puff” counts. And if you “have just one,” it makes it that much harder to go completely smoke free.

But slipping doesn’t mean you go back to smoking regularly. Use your slip-up to focus on your triggers and learn how to better deal with cravings. And to avoid further slip-ups and relapses, try these tips: 

• If you live with a smoker, ask them not to smoke around you.
• When you get the urge to smoke, take a deep breath. Hold it for 10 seconds and release it slowly. Repeat this several times until the urge is gone.
• Keep your hands busy. Doodle, play with a pencil or straw, or work on a computer.
• Change activities that were connected to smoking. Take a walk or read a book instead of taking a cigarette break.
• Hang out with nonsmokers or go to places that don’t allow smoking, such as the movies, museums, shops, or libraries.
• Don’t substitute food or sugar-based products for cigarettes.
• Exercise. Exercising will help you relax.
• Get support for quitting, especially from family and friends.
• If you’re worried about gaining weight, keep in mind that the average weight gain after quitting is less than 10 pounds. Focus on staying healthy and active instead of stressing about the scale

You can also focus on the health benefits of not smoking. Here are some of the biggest things you’ll enjoy less of:

• likelihood of developing lung cancer and other cancers
• Chance of blood vessel disorders, heart disease, and stroke
• wheezing, loss of breath, and coughing
• Risk of developing other lung conditions like COPD
• Probability of infertility

Health Benefits of Quitting Smoking –

Quitting smoking is one of the most important actions people can take to improve their health. This is true regardless of their age or how long they have been smoking.

Quitting smoking:

• improves health status and enhances quality of life.
• reduces the risk of premature death and can add as much as 10 years to life expectancy.
• reduces the risk for many adverse health effects, including poor reproductive health outcomes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cancer.
• benefits people already diagnosed with coronary heart disease or COPD.
• benefits the health of pregnant women and their foetuses and babies.
• reduces the financial burden that smoking places on people who smoke, healthcare systems, and society.

While there are larger health advantages to quitting earlier in life, quitting smoking is good for your health at any age. Quitting smoking has advantages for everyone, even those who have smoked for a long time or heavily. The best method to avoid exposing friends, family, coworkers, and other people to the health concerns of secondhand smoke is to stop smoking.

What if I Smoke Again?

One’s known as a relapse, and many people experience it before permanently kicking the habit. Additionally, it’s quite typical with serious addictions like smoking. If it does, make an effort to smoke as little as you can until you’re ready to quit smoking once more. The procedure of stopping permanently could take some time. It’s worthwhile, though.

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