How to Quit Smoking
Nicotine is one of the most addictive, harmful and widely available drugs in the world. Smoking is a bad habit and it is annoying and harmful to people who don't smoke. Cigarettes are responsible for around 4.9 million deaths each year. Quitting smoking is not impossible.
Steps
- Get the strong determination to stop smoking. Consider making a list of the reasons you are thinking about quitting to shore up your determination. Specific, current, emotion-based reasons are better than factual, future-based reasons. For instance, "It's embarrassing to ride the elevator at work smelling like a giant cigarette" is more motivating than "I don't want to get cancer when I’m 40."
- Choose a specific quit date. Instead of trying to quit each year on your birthday or for your New Year's Resolution, try quitting on a Monday! That gives you 52 chances in a year instead of just one -– making it more likely that you’ll succeed. The Healthy Monday Campaign, a non-profit national public health campaign associated with the Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, encourages people to quit smoking and take other healthy actions on Mondays.
- Between your decision to quit smoking and your "quit date", do not smoke the same brand. The difference in flavors and chemicals will making smoking less enjoyable, but not intolerable. Switching brands also helps to ‘de-automate’ smoking, which can help you become more conscious of your habit and increase your chances for success.
- Remove all tobacco products, like lighters and matches from your home and office. Also, don't even keep a pack of cigarettes at your home, because it will make it easier to start smoking again.
- Find a medication or a doctor to help you quit smoking. Nicotine replacement therapy is one option. Nicotine patches release a steady stream of nicotine into your bloodstream through your skin, and nicotine gum delivers nicotine through the lining in your mouth. Other forms of nicotine replacement therapy include nicotine sprays and inhalers that also work by delivering nicotine to your body. You may also want to try an e-cigarette, which delivers nicotine in vapor form. Alternatively, ask your doctor about prescription medications to help you quit.
- Survive the first week. Use a cigarette substitute like mints, sunflower seeds, toothpicks, and coffee stirrers to help you get used to not smoking. When you were smoking, your mind and body became accustomed to the physical act of smoking, holding the cigarette in your hand, and putting it to your lips; using harmless substitutes eases the psychological transition to not smoking.
- Get some facts. Look up smoking on the internet and find out the history behind it, and what happens to smokers later on in life. Also, get the facts about any quit-smoking product or technique you are considering, as research shows that some are more effective than others.
- You can also stop the cravings by doing twenty pushups or brushing your teeth when you have a craving.
- Be positive and confident you can quit. You have spent time and energy planning how you will deal with the task ahead by following our tips for giving up smoking. Believe you can and you will do it if you persevere.
- Try abstaining from smoking for a month. Keep telling yourself you will go back to smoking after that month. Then, when the month ends, decide on whether you REALLY want to go back. The answer should be "no!"