How hard is it to quit smoking? What are the best ways to quit? Are the benefits worth the aggravation? -
Quitting smoking is not easy due to the very powerful drug nicotine. Because smokers become addicted to nicotine they also inhale harmful tobacco tar which contains around 120 different poisons and 1200 chemicals, many of them carcinogenic. Imagine all those on your tongue! However here-s how to do it and it works because I did it.
First of all you-ve got to want to quit, and genuinely, because if you don-t you-ll backslide at the first chance you get. Don-t forget that when you give up just having the odd one makes you a smoker again.
Right then, here we go.
Pick a date that you want to stop. Make sure it-s not a day when you would normally smoke heavier such as Saturday night in the bar. Don-t -stock up- by smoking heavier than you would up to Q-Day (Quitting Day). If you can cut down a bit. The craving is caused by the nicotine levels in your body dropping thus creating a -need- to replace them. On Q-Day don-t carry anything connected with smoking, no cigarettes or matches or lighter. Do have a supply of mints or sweets to suck when you get a craving. Tell friends and family that -You Don-t Smoke- NOT that -You-re Giving Up- otherwise they-ll offer you one saying -Just one won-t hurt-. If they do tell them that it will and if they give you one you-ll break it up. If they insist, do that, they won-t offer again.
On the first day you-ll get cravings, but try to think of something else and suck a mint. DO NOT substitute food for cigarettes. Eat normally. Remember that you have -Chosen- not to smoke. Each time a craving comes you have a choice to smoke or not to. Choose not to.
Within the first three days your body will start to reject the toxins and poisons you-ve been filling it with and you-ll feel worse and probably have a bad taste in your mouth. Don-t worry this is normal. After a week this will pass. You-ll start to taste your food again, smell things better, breathe better and feel better. You may cough up some phlegm. Do not worry. This is your lungs getting rid of some of the tar. After two weeks it becomes more normal not to smoke. Eventually you will notice how badly other smokers smell and how loathsome tobacco smoke is. You will feel fitter and better in everyway.
Don-t forget to remember that you are a non-smoker now. It was your choice. If you want to see some tangible results each morning put the amount of money you would have spent on cigarettes that day in a jar. In England they cost around ￡4.50 for twenty so a twenty a day smoker will spend around ￡135.00 a month on this dirty habit. In exchange they will get poor health, die younger, be poorer in the pocket, be offensive to others and impair their senses besides being an un-neccesary drain on the Health Service. If I asked you before you smoked to pay that in exchange for those things, would you buy them?
Think of why you smoked in the first place. Remember that starting smoking is not pleasant. It makes you sick. Was it peer pressure? Did you think it made you look -cool- or -grown-up- or -tough-? Are those things still relevant. Think about all the non-smokers who are -cool- They-re certainly more so than smokers.
Finally I will not criticise you for being a smoker, I was one myself once but let me close by letting you into a little secret. Before I retired one of my jobs was to sell life insurance and pensions to my customers. One of the questions on the application form was -Do you smoke?- and -How many cigarettes a day do you smoke?- Why do you think that insurance companies ask you that? I-ll tell you. It is proven fact, not conjecture, fact, that each cigarette you smoke knocks between 5 and 6 minutes off your life expectancy. I worked on 6 so that for every ten a day you smoke you lose an hour. Every 24 days you lose a day. Every 24 years you lose a year. If you start smoking at age 18 and do 20 a day then by the age of 66 you have lost 4 years life expectancy. If I were to ask you at 66 -Do you want to live until you are 70 or die today?- what would your answer be? You see, with life policies we had to pay out sooner to smokers as they died sooner so the premiums were loaded. If you have life insurance when you have given up for one year tell them and they should reduce your premiums. If you lie, of course, they-ll know from the post mortem and medical history that you have and may reduce the payment for the policy.
I hope I have been of help. Good luck with giving up. I quit on February 14th 1975 and haven-t smoked one since. I was on 15-20 a day.
Tell everybody you know about your decision.
Look at
http://www.theaones.com/answers/health/a…
for a complete explanation about the Trick To Quit Smoking
I-ve quit for 3 yrs and I was known for being an unrepentant heavy smoker. I quit on father-s day when my wife was pregnant and the Spurs won their second championship. So picking the right day is crucial because I know if I start now I will never have as good a reason again. I planned it for months. I used the nicotine patch and some audio hypnosis I downloaded. I also ate like a pig. Remove anything that reminds you of your old life. Do stuff that was hard to do before like exercise or go to a restaurant and eat without having to go outside. Just remember why you are quitting and focus on that. Depending on where you live quit when the weather is worst outside. I know this is random but it-s what I remember I did. The patch also came with a web site with good tips. It took me 15yrs to quit. Remember with an addiction the drug is always #1 and yourself and your family will always come after. I think it was one of the best things I-ve ever done.
I took Zyban, really worked, but I really wanted to give up.
If I can do it anyone can, trust me.
I do feel much better, and I-ve so much travelling with the money I-ve saved.
Smoking is one of the hardest tasks a person can endure.
I believe the best way is cold turkey and I think this makes it even harder.
I have done it this way. There is usually some weight gain, but that can be controlled as you move on. I have noticed I rarely get colds or throat infections. Its so much better than before.
Go for it if you are the smoker, it will be the best achievement you have ever accomplished.
Very hard.
I found usefull the nicotine patches
but after 4 month sometime i still want a cig.....
I learned this the hard way, the best way to quit is to not start with it in the first place.
Best way is cold turkey but keep soda, crackers, water handy and hide in a room for two days. Then get ready for headaches and double vision for the next two days. Then get ready to gain 10 pounds. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
Smoking can be really hard to quit, and often thought impossible. But there are many aids available such as patches and pills to help you accomplish such a task. Is it worth the aggravation? Certainly yes. The truth is you will NEVER be able to repair all the damage you have caused to your lungs (I don-t need to lie to you) as nicotine plus the other carcinogens tobacco contain seriously adverse your body from affecting your skin, teeth, nails, intoxication and lungs. But just weeks after quitting you will be able to feel better immediately, gaining energy and breathing in a more efficient way. Please stop now, the longer you wait the more damage you cause and the harder is to recover.
Saint Nic has had me by the throat for years too...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
best way is to keep forcing yourself to work while chewing gum so you do not think of smoking at all and its not all hard.The benefits is definately worth the aggravation,do you think a few years of life span is worth a few weeks of hardship?