Stop Smoking Tips

Easiest Ways to Quit Smoking

His friends included both smokers and non-smoker. And interestingly, though he liked his non-smoker friends better than most of his smoker friend, he still ended up spending a lot more time with the smokers. It was simply because most of their free time between court appearances was spent together smoking. And, of course, his non-smoking friends would keep advising - rather pressing him - to quit smoking, as it did no good at all. So, finally Advocate Mitra decided to bid adieu to smoking having gone through a list of risks that smoking entailed supplied by one of his close, non-smoking friends. This friend of Advocate Mitra did not stop at that but followed up the e-mailed list with a link to a YouTube video demonstrating the ill effects of smoking in gory detail. A terrified Advocate Mitra took the advice, but on the very first non-smoking day he realized that there were greater challenges ahead. To let go of unhealthy habits is not cakewalk, they tend to stick to one like leeches.  

 

How to quit

Even the smokers know as well, if not better, that smoking is extremely perilous and the habit, therefore, must be dropped at the earliest. But as any smoker would point out, it is easier said than done for the reason that the pull of the cancer stick is hard to resist and it takes a lot of energy to keep off it. Therefore, most of the time people just don't feel like fighting as hard as they actually need to. And this why people resume smoking even after having quit. So quitting alone would not suffice. Quitting and stay off cigarette permanently is the only way.

 

Among the things that one could try when one gets the urge to smoke is to deep-breathe the urge out; meaning that you concentrate on controlled breathing by gradually inhaling till your lungs could take no more air and then exhaling the whole of it at the same slow rate. Imagine that all the knotted tension between you is leaving your body with the exhales air. This would take your attention off the urge to smoke and the urge would subside. Remember, the urge to smoke does not last for a long time. It hits one and within five or ten minutes subsides unless one pays attention to it. If for that duration you could keep the thoughts of smoking from entering your mind, you will have one a crucial battle in the war against smoking addiction. The next urge to smoke would come after a longer interval and this way the intervals would start increasing till the time you are completely off smoking.

 

 Another thing that you need to do is stay away from sugar, alcohol and coffee, as these have been found to feed one's craving for a smoke. Also, cut down you intake of calories, as in absence of your regular nicotine dose, you metabolic rate would take a dip briefly because of which you might also gain some weight. It is, therefore, important that you are cautious about what you eat.

 

It would not be easy to stay away from smoking and those who have successfully quit smoking would tell you that a chewing substitute was indeed invaluable. So, you can try chewing gum or some other such substitute that is not harmful. However, do not overdo it. In most cases one wouldn't need the assistance of this alternative substance to stay off cigarettes.

 

Exercising has also been found to be extremely helpful. One reason could be that it keeps one's focus off cigarettes, which are unhealthy, and on exercising, which is very good for health. Therefore, one sees oneself going from an unhealthy choice to a very healthy life. That makes one feel good about oneself and boosts one's morale even further to stay off smoking. Exercise is also known to induce feeling of wellbeing, which certainly goes a long way in keep the cigarettes at bay. Try to involve yourself in exercising and do not just pass time in the gym. With increasing involvement in exercising your resolve to quit would get firmer and stronger.

 

Eating healthy food like fruits, raw vegetables and salads is also helpful because it would make you feel healthy and fitter, and would assist you in fighting back whenever the desire to smoke hits you.

 

You can also find an interesting hobby for yourself. This would keep you occupied and you would not feel like strolling out for a smoke like you always did. A greater involvement with work might also help but the chances are limited by the fact that you worked only as hard earlier also. So, the sense of change and novelty is not powerful enough. However, together with other things mentioned above, a greater involvement with work might also be helpful.

 

You need to keep affirming to yourself that you intend to quit and there is nothing that you would allow to come in the way. This might sound childish but you must repeat it to yourself aloud a few times everyday. This helps keeping the resolve from falling apart. Your determination is your greatest weapon. So, you need to keep it going for you at all times. Bear in mind that if you had to abort the attempt to quit midway, it would take a far greater amount of willpower to make a second attempt because then you'll also be fighting with self-doubt engendered by past failure. Once you start the process of quitting, you must follow it till the very end. And you must remind yourself of this everyday without fail. This would also help you fight the self-image of smoker that you might have subconsciously formed in your mind. Since you see yourself as a smoker, it gets difficult for you to quit. And this happens with all smokers.

 

You would eventually succeed in quitting. But that is not the end of the story. Now, you would need to keep off cigarette and that could be another challenge. Smokers tend to experience a very strong urge to smoke when either they are very happy or very sad. If things don't go well and one feels hopeless, the one who was previously a smoker might wish to smoke 'just one cigarette', and that's the trapdoor. Never fall for it because if you do, the entire process of getting habituated, then addicted and then quitting starts again. And quitting would be more difficult the second time.

 

If you can stand with the same friends that you smoked with at the same place where you smoked without smoking and without having to doggedly fight the urge to smoke, it indicates that you have successfully left the cancer stick behind, which also means that there is healthy life ahead for you.

Legal Editor with one of India's most reputed law publishing companies, the author is based in New Delhi (India). Author's blog: http://hemrajsingh.wordpress.com/

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