How To Quit Smoking Successfully
Everyone knows that smoking is a deadly, expensive habit. The bad news is that people start it when they are too young to know better, then find themselves with a hard habit to break. The good news is that many people have kicked the habit, and if you really want to, you can, too.
First, it's all right to wean yourself off cigarettes over a period of weeks, but you must decide from the start that your ultimate goal is no smoking at all. If you manage to quit completely for a few weeks and then decide just to have a puff, there is a good chance that all your desire for cigarettes will come back with a vengeance. Once you give them up, hang onto that clean feeling for good!
It might help you to do some journaling about your attitude toward smoking. Just why would you like to quit? There are many reasons. Which ones mean the most to you? Do you want to save money by no longer having to feel compelled to buy cigarettes? Are you more interested in avoiding cancer? Do you want to have stronger lungs for physical activities, so you're not always huffing and puffing? List those reasons and refer to your list often as you battle it out.
It's estimated that the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal are usually over by the time you've been off cigarettes for a month. In fact, they might only last a week or two. If you can remember this, you can encourage yourself to tough it out when the symptoms are bad. It won't last forever. Things will get better, and you'll eventually feel great!
Get some support. Maybe you'd like to join an online group that features message boards populated by others who are in the process of kicking the habit. Or maybe you can quit with a friend or family member. Support always helps when trying to change an ingrained habit. You may even be able to find a telephone counseling hotline you can call when you are severely tempted.
It helps to choose a quit date and make it stick. While you are cutting back, there are some definite things you can do to help make the resolution a reality. For one thing, try smoking a different brand of cigarettes. Make yourself smoke a lower tar brand that you don't really like. If you're smoking a brand with less nicotine, make sure you don't just smoke more cigarettes.
Here are a few more tips for quitting smoking. When you've reached your quit day, spend some time in the local library, museum, or other places where you wouldn't be allowed to smoke anyway. Exercising, drinking water, and staying busy are all good ways to stay healthy and distracted. You can fiddle with a pencil or something if you miss having a cigarette to handle.
You can do it! Just don't give up. Watch out for situational smoking cues, like when you sit down with a cup of coffee, or when you've just finished a meal. Change your tactics. Get up and start cleaning the table off instead of lighting up that after dinner smoke. The trial won't last forever and you'll be so glad you joined the ranks of non-smokers.
Terence Young
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/how-to-quit-smoking-successfully-69116.html
How many people here have successfully quit smoking after smoking a long time?
I have smoked for 14 years and am trying again to quit cold turkey. This is the hardest thing in my life. Anyone ever quit smoking successfully? How is life now for you as a non smoker? Need advice! Thanks!
Comment by Martie — December 10, 2009 @ 3:01 am
Everyone that I know that has quit has used help. My best friend swears by the patch, her husband loves the gum in stressful situations. However you do it stay strong!!
Good luck… oh and my boss did hypnosis and hasn’t smoked in 15 years.
References :
Comment by crissygirly — December 10, 2009 @ 10:03 am
Well…me.
I quit somehow 5 years ago…
I have smoked till the school…
More or less 20.
References :
Comment by goncalveswell — December 10, 2009 @ 10:05 am
My wife and I both smoked for 17 years and gave up cold turkey at the same time last year (jan 2nd 2006). We had both tried to stop before about 5 years ago and had stopped or reduced for up to 6 months but gone back to the bad habit. We had tried patches on and off since but really find they drag the process out and make it worse. This time for some reason we found it fairly easy. We had just made a big change in our life (Emigrated) and for years had said we would stop when ….. (fill in the blank) . Well this time was it, no more excuses , no more putting it off.
It helped a lot that we were both really commited this time. It seems bloddy awful at first and you cant imagine it will get better but I would sy by day 4 you are over the worst of it. If you can stop for 4 days , you can quit.
My wife is Asthmatic and would usually end up in hospital at least once a year. Its hardly bothered her since, we are both way healthier than we have been for the last 10 years (we also got a dog and are now dieting (shift the inevitable gain from ending smoking), and gave up caffiene about 3 months ago – its an even worse one to break as its hidden in so much , and you get blinding headaches)
Hardest thing is people who jokingly offer a ciggarette when they hear you are quiting – they suck, and its only because they cant pluck up the willpower themselves.
Good luck, if we can without killing each other, you can.
References :
Comment by gnarlyswine — December 10, 2009 @ 10:07 am
I started around l3 and smoked all my life until l2 years ago and that was over 25 years total. I quit when I got pregnant and made a decision that I would not take it up again after he was born and I didnt. I had to have a goal and be ready and busy after the baby was born to keep mind off smokes. It worked for me.
References :
Comment by aromatica — December 10, 2009 @ 10:09 am
I quit a little under a year ago—unfortunately it was too late for me and I will suffer for it for the next year MAYBE with the 2 terminal illnesses I acquired… I smoked for 35 YEARS and quit cold turkey last November after being told of my illnesses… it was EXTREMELY difficult but I did it… what I did MAY help you… if so, feel free to use my idea… I love oranges so, I went out and got NAVAL ORANGES (the big seedless kind) and whenever I wanted a cigarette, I reached for an orange, peeled it, pulled the pieces apart and ate the orange… I realized it took as much time to peel and eat the orange as it took to smoke a cigarette and as long as my hands and MOUTH were functioning in about the same manner as they would while smoking, I must have tricked my brain into becoming smoke satisfied… I would eat 12 or more oranges a day for the first couple of days and then gradually dropped down to where I stopped HAVING to eat the oranges after a couple of weeks. I now RARELY crave a cigarette but when I DO, the craving never lasts too long…. when driving the car, I would take pre-peeled oranges in a ziploc baggie and reach for them when I felt like smoking—-I was able to quit and did NOT gain any weight as oranges are non-fattening.!!! I just wish I had come up with this idea on how to quit 25 YEARS ago rather then waiting until I was sentenced to death. I hope YOU are successful so that someday you don’t have to be telling THIS SAME STORY to someone else looking for quiting advice—I’m hoping that when YOU tell this story, you are smoke free and SICK FREE
References :
Comment by LittleBarb — December 10, 2009 @ 10:11 am
i quit 3 months ago.. so im pretty happy with these:
http://electroniccigaretteinformation.org/smokestik/
altho it still could be ndngerous so i wouldnt recommend it to anybody, im no doctor
Comment by james mukai — December 10, 2009 @ 11:29 am