Despite the impression that is given by mass media and believed to be common knowledge, the addictive element of nicotine is much easier to deal with than the mental aspect of ending your smoking habit. The reality is that the cravings felt when you decide on ways to quit smoking are pretty easy to deal with. The biggest change and perhaps the hardest part is to motivate yourself to change the structures in your brain that have formed around the belief that you are a smoker.
- What does it require to stay tobacco-free?
Smoking Causes Lung Cancer. That reason is enough to leave the cigarette! Still, for many quitting smoking can be a long and hard process. But staying tobacco-free is the most important thing that can be attained only by self-control. Every day you must decide not to smoke today. Each day that you do not smoke is a small victory. These all add up to a huge victory over the time.
- Arrange for your cravings with healthy snacks
Through the initial few weeks of ending smoking, you may feel a solid oral obsession, so before your quit date, stock up on the healthy snacks you love to keep your mouth busy with. Consider swapping candy for fruits and vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, grapes, oranges, and unsalted nuts that you can easily pop into your mouth when you feel an impending cigarette crave.
- Distinguish your smoking triggers
Certain people, places, and experiences can spark a cigarette craving, so it is important to recognize your triggers. Understand that the effects of smoking are adverse! Make a mental note every time an urge arises and for the first few weeks of your process when you might be more susceptible to slip up, try to avoid them.
- Tumbling does not mean you have failed
If you slip up on your first quit smoking attempt or have caved in a few times before, do not give up. Numbers show that it can take more or fewer smokers, several times to quit fruitfully. You have not failed, and in fact, remove the word “fail” from your vocabulary. Everyone’s path to being smoke-free is different. Just motivate yourself!
For the first few days after you quit smoking, spend as much free time as you can in public places where smoking is not allowed. (Libraries, shopping malls, galleries, theatres, eateries without bars, and cathedrals are smoke-free.) Take extra care of yourself. Drink water, eat well and get adequate sleep. This could help you have the energy you might need to handle the extra stress. If you miss the feeling of having a cigarette in your hand, hold something else. For instance, a pencil, a coin, or even a marble! If you miss the feeling of having something in your mouth, try cinnamon sticks, chewing gum, sugar-free lollipops or things like them. Above all, reward yourself for doing your best. Give yourself rewards often if that is what it takes to keep going. Decide on your personal way to quit smoking and believe in it!
