Archive for the ‘give up smoking’ Category
With the ever-increasing price of cigarettes, and volumes of warnings that aim to increase the public’s awareness of the dangers of cigarette smoking, you’d think it would be a no-brainer for smokers to just up and quit the habit cold turkey. However, being a former smoker myself, I know that this statement is neither realistic, nor fair.
Smoking is genuinely an addictive habit, not just mentally, although it certainly is psychologically addictive, but also physiologically, since nicotine is a substance that the body grows used to and craves, and when it is suddenly taken away, the withdrawal symptoms are anything but pleasant.
These withdrawal symptoms are the reason that many smokers never make it past a few weeks quitting the habit. It’s also the reason that quitting smoking is so hard to do, especially the longer you’ve been doing it.
I’ve heard it all when it comes to the creative ways that men and women both will try to kick the habit. Some try the cold turkey thing, although this rarely works unless you have an iron will and are able to naturally cope with the symptoms of withdrawal on your own. Some people try cigarette alternatives, like herbal cigarettes, which are designed to help get rid of the nicotine addiction since they do not contain nicotine.
However, what some people don’t realize is that herbal cigarettes are just as dangerous as smoking real cigarettes, and sometimes even more so, because they still emit carbon monoxide into the lungs and the body, and they also have carcinogenic chemicals that activate once the herbs are burned. One of the alternative cigarettes that is popular is reportedly an especially dangerous option, a tobacco and clove combination.
The cloves become extremely toxic when burned and inhaled into the lung tissue, with the potential to cause pneumonia and even pulmonary edema. They also happen to contain a lot more tobacco content than regular cigarettes, another reason to avoid them.
I’d say avoid herbal varieties of cigarettes all together if you can, even as a quitting mechanism, and instead opt for maybe a supplement or a patch to help you get through the rough patches, or try another alternative such as hypnotism. Hypnotism is one of my favorites. Self hypnosis has worked for scores of people to help them kick the habit once and for all.
It works by way of subconscious suggestion, on a subliminal level, and creates a strong desire to quit that is powerful because it comes from within your mind and is rooted in personal desire. This is one of the best ways to quit since it is truly all natural, and creates a desire beyond just a short time period of quitting that stays rooted in the subconscious for long after you’ve quit.
Of course if you ever feel yourself slipping and craving cigarettes again, you can always do “touch up” sessions of self hypnosis in your own home whenever you feel you need that positive reinforcement again.
Another popular alternative way to quit smoking currently are herbal supplements that are orally taken or adhered to the skin, in a patch form, that work sort of like a nicotine patch does, to transdermally (delivered through the skin) help you through your potential withdrawal symptoms.
The herbs are basically adhered to the skin via a patch which delivers beneficial ingredients through the skin to the blood stream, at time released intervals so you get the symptom control throughout your day, every day, to help ensure that your goals are reached.
Many people who are thinking of quitting smoking worry about the withdrawal symptoms, which include weight gain, irritability, restlessness, increased anxiety (although smoking actually increases anxiety, which many people don’t know), inability to concentrate and many other unpleasantries.
In the end, no matter which alternative method you use to help yourself permanently give up the habit of smoking, it’s going to boil down to a real concern for your health and well being, and a sustained desire to stay away from the potentially life shortening vice.
Only over time will you begin to see and feel the benefits of having clean, clear lungs such as, but not limited to, increased energy, better looking skin and teeth, and increased lung capacity, and that’s what keeps you on the wagon!
Danna Schneider
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/alternative-ways-to-quit-smoking-this-new-year-674555.html
When you quit Smoking should you use cold turkey or Nicotine replacement therapy?
There are merits to both methods when you quit smoking. Let’s see which method is best for you.
Smoking cold turkey
By far the most popular method used by smokers to quit smoking.
Cold turkey means to stop smoking with no gradual reduction i.e. you give your system a short sharp shock as smoking stops and nicotine is withdrawn from your system.
Quitting smoking cold turkey does not have a high success rate, due to the extreme symptoms that nicotine withdrawal causes.
Most people quickly revert back to smoking.
For people with strong willpower it works and its advantages are, its cheap, the withdrawal symptoms are only severe for about a week and nicotine is out the system within a month.
How to double your chances
NRT still gives you a nicotine fix without the smoke. Let’s look at the options including an exciting new product that has hit the market.
It’s also been proven that nicotine is healthy when removed from cigarettes so taking nicotine actually does you good!
We will explain why later but for now let’s look at the best options and why it doubles your success rate.
Withdrawal of nicotine causes the following symptoms:
Irritability, lack of concentration, stress, tiredness, nausea. The feelings are intense, especially and NRT aims to help relieve these symptoms
today it’s not only people giving up smoking trying nicotine replacement therapy.
It’s also being used more smokers who are banned from smoking in areas such as the office, restaurants, or many public places
You have various NRT options:
Nicotine gum, patches inhalers and Zyban and all have similar rates of success.
New Products
A New product is also on the market and is aimed at smokers who cant or don’t want to smoke.
This is a quit smoking aid, but simply marketed to help smokers cope when smokers can’t or don’t wish to smoke.
The main advantages of this product are it’s easy, healthy and convenient.
You don’t need to put on a patch, or like chewing gum and unlike the former there are no additional chemicals in the delivery just water.
You can just take a few sips when you need to and get fresh water for hydration as well.
This product will rise in popularity for the group of smokers who choose not to smoke or can’t smoke.
NRT can be used not just to give up smoking but when you have to cut down for long periods when you are subject to a smoking ban of any kind.
Nicotine is healthy!
It is known to improve mood concentration and memory and is the subject of intense medical research to treat conditions such as depression, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease and many more.
In its pure organic form its healthy and non toxic and is actually part of the natural food chain and is contained for example in vegetables, bell peppers, chilli and tea.
So NRT is a great way to double your chances of success and as nicotine is medically proven to do you good reducing your dependence or using it to combat a smoking ban will help smokers everywhere.
Sacha Tarkovsky
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/quit-smoking-cold-turkey-or-nrt-which-is-best-74147.html
When trying to quit smoking you have to find all the help you need in order to be successful with your plan. Because as we all know, quitting smoking isn’t easy. It takes a lot of concentration and ambition. You have to really want this in order to succeed.
But luckily for us we don’t have to do this alone. Today, there are all sorts of quit smoking products, especially created to ease our effort. But the vast range of quit smoking products doesn’t necessarily guarantee the success when trying to quit. You have to find the right quit smoking product for you, the one that will help you through the entire quitting process.
Quit Smoking Product – Types and Effects
The quit smoking product is designed to help people give up smoking. But no matter how good or effective this product is, without the person’s will it will have almost no effect. Unless you don’t really want to become smoke free, you will eventually start smoking again.
Some of the most used quit smoking products are the quit smoking medications. They are especially developed to cure the addiction nicotine creates and to help people quit smoking. This kind of medication comes in different forms, shapes and sizes, and works in different ways. Some of the most used quit smoking medications are the nicotine patch, the nicotine gum, the nicotine pill, the nicotine nasal spray and the nicotine inhaler. The nicotine replacement products are at this moment probably the best quit smoking products on the market. But however effective they are, they can’t do all the work for you. Their purpose is to help you along the way and to make you feel more comfortable and in control when you’re quitting.
Other quit smoking products that can really help you in the quitting process, especially psychologically, are the quit smoking media products. By this you can understand everything that is related to media and that encourages people to give up smoking. There are all sort of quit smoking books and magazines, quit smoking video and audio tapes, even quit smoking computer programs.
This wide range of quit smoking products will surely help you with your plan of quitting. The best quit smoking product for you is certainly already out there, you just have to find it. And once you do you will have one more help in your quest for a life without cigars and tobacco.
Jonathan Fraser
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/quit-smoking-products-a-solution-119548.html
If you happen to be an individual who smokes cigarettes or tobacco and has endeavoured to quit smoking in previously, it may follow that you feel like screaming at the top of your (smoke damaged) lungs, Please, someone assist me and inform me as to how I will be capable to finally stop smoking!
If you feel this sums you up then don’t let it get you down, there are tremendous numbers of people who feel that they are in the same boat as you. All the same, tobacco smoking is considered by many to be easily as addictive as illegal drugs, including heroin, cannabis and cocaine. Directing individuals on how to quit and renounce smoking is broadly speaking as simple as teaching them how to abandon breathing!
It can be accomplished if you take into account some basic essentials. First and foremost you need to acknowledge that smoking tobacco forms dependence and comprehend that addictions of this nature can prove to be extremely laborious to break. It’s not just like changing your car or starting a new job; it involves disciplining your complete physical structure as well as your mind about your everyday wonts and the way you think. A surprisingly large amount of people who have succeeded in learning how to quit smoking tobacco have had to subscribe to these ideas, albeit it may come out as appearing to be somewhat elementary.
Trying to break an obsession or fixation commonly entails bettering all of the conditions that arouse your interest in that particular dependency. If you have a habit of staying at your PC until the early hours, then you need to relocate your PC and alter the times that you use it, try locating it in the living room, or dining room on a hard table with hard chairs so that it is just not comfortable to sit staring at the computer screen for hours on end.
Simple things like these may appear to be inconsequential but that can grow into the most important stages that you are able to take in uncovering a method that works for you in the fight to stop smoking tobacco products. It is important that you change all of the activates or circumstances that cause the desire to smoke. Avoid smoke-filled areas, don’t get into a vehicle with someone who smokes, if at all possible lessen the time you spend around people who do smoke; you’re not being rude, merely looking after your own best interests.
Understandably in that respect there aren’t any clear-cut answers on the subject of quitting or stopping smoking, Not everyone’s dependence for nicotine is the same nor is their desire and self governing regimes. Another factor is the length of time a person has smoked tobacco, the longer a person has been smoking then the harder it may prove to break their habit, the degree of encouragement they are obtaining and any pressure t(negative or positive!) they receive from their peers. Altogether these factors will change an intervals considerations and capacity to quit smoking immediately and with ease, or not.
Nonetheless, whilst the solutions may appear not to be easy, every year there is a huge number of people who have efficaciously recognized how to dispense with smoking tobacco products and with a bit of help and a ton of determination you can also smash this addiction and give up smoking for good!
Jackie Winn
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/how-do-i-quit-smoking-cigarettes-561530.html
The revelations about women smokers will give you a jolt. A woman loses, on an average, 15 years of her life whereas a man loses just over 13 years to a butt of cigarette. According to one study the number of male deaths due to smoking and related diseases like lung cancer is on the decrease, while in women it is on increase.
In the early 20th century, lung cancer in women was virtually unknown. Women rarely took to smoking. The Satan of tobacco industry began to target the women for their dirty profit game and they succeeded in their sinister campaigns. They picked up huge profits, by destroying the health of women.
In 1964, the Surgeon General woke up to tell you the startling facts in his report on Smoking and Health. By that time the smoking habit had engulfed over 45% of the women all over. The media campaign launched by the Health Authorities had the desired results, women began to beat the retreat in post haste and the profits of the industry began to fall. Men too gave up the smoking habit as a result of this campaign. But the marketing strategists of tobacco industry did not give up. Their marketing campaign was now directly addressed to women!
More suffering awaited women as the result of smoking. Lung cancer outdid breast cancer by 1987. As on date, more women die due to lung cancer, than the deaths due to uterine cancer and ovarian cancer put together! Women get lung cancer at young ages, and they are more prone to this malady than men!
What indeed are the sufferings the women have to undergo, before being cornered by the lung cancer finally? They will suffer chest pain, coughing up blood, weight loss and loss of appetite, frequent attacks of bronchitis or pneumonia, hoarseness, fever with unknown cause and breathing problems. The self-torture women have to undergo on account of the smoking habit is heart-breaking, before the actual heart attack.
It is unfortunate, the powers that are, mute to this ruthless killings, and the tobacco manufacturers are allowed to sell their deadly products by merely printing a warning on the package of the cigarettes, “Cigarette smoking is injurious to your health.”
There is another startling, and horrifying revelation by the researchers and scientists. Using birth control pills and smoking are the double tragedies for women- the risk of heart attacks in such women is very high.
It is safe to conclude with a general statement that smoking causes many types of cancers in women. Smoking is not only dangerous for women; it is more dangerous for the coming generation. The risks of stillbirths, premature births and miscarriages are high for the smoking woman. Smoking also hastens the aging process in women!
Ashish Jain
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/smoking-causes-many-types-of-cancers-in-women-97497.html
Are you a smoker? Have you ever tried to give up the habit? The chances are that you have, but like any addiction it can be (and usually is) extremely difficult to stop, and even attempts to cut down rarely last very long. Part of the problem is that smoking can be very enjoyable, but only too often something can turn up which will instantly remove the enjoyment. Unfortunately that ‘something’ will very often be loss of health.
The insurance industry is well aware of this fact, so not surprisingly they try to ensure that they do not lose money by covering high risk customers at low risk rates. At the same time non-smoking customers for life insurance have been piling on the pressure in their search for lower premiums. This is where the internet comes into the picture.
It used to be the case that at best, anyone looking for competitive quotations for life insurance had to be prepared to spend a lot of time searching adverts and telephone directories for likely companies. They also had to be prepared to spend a lot of time on the telephone collecting information, and then to settle down to long and careful comparisons, covering bits of paper in confusing and often indecipherable notes.
But all that has changed. Now all they have to do is go online and check out as many companies as they wish. They will find information which is very carefully presented for maximum clarity, because a confused enquirer is highly unlikely to become a customer. It is now so easy to reach a decision that a ‘price war’ has developed and some very competitive quotations are available. This competition has however had an inevitable effect in that insurance companies have had to tighten up their procedures or risk losing money on the narrower margins.
So they have hit the obvious target – smokers. Whilst the life insurance premiums for non-smokers have been steadily reducing, smoker’s premiums have moved away in the opposite direction. This has resulted in rates for smokers which are 100% or more above standard rates and still climbing. This, on top of the cost of the cigarettes (currently estimated to be approaching £100,000 in a lifetime and still climbing) means that anyone who still smokes must be very determined not to curtail their enjoyment.
Critical illness insurance is another policy which many people take out, to provide financial security for their families in the event of loss of income due to lengthy illness. It is reasonably self-evident that this too will be a great deal more expensive for smokers, simply due to their greater propensity for such illnesses as a result of their addiction.
So do you dig your heels in and continue to enjoy smoking, or do you give way to the financial pressure (not to mention the widespread anti-smoker climate) and give up the habit. The sad news is that even if you grit your teeth and stop smoking, as far as the insurance companies are concerned you are not out of the woods (or the Woodbines) for at least 12 months or maybe much longer. Some may require complete cessation for at least five years – contact your intended insurers after 12 months completely smoking free and see how the premiums look now. A considerable cost reduction should be evident.
Some folks cheat themselves and their friends by claiming to have stopped smoking when they are still sneaking the odd one in dark corners. This is up to the individual, but don’t try it with your insurers; it would not be difficult for a relatively low-key enquiry to expose the lie and your cover (in both meanings of the word!) would be blown. All the effort, the subterfuge, the self-deceiving would have been wasted. You would not be insured.
Right, you have made the praiseworthy and not inconsiderable effort and you are now a non-smoker. You can feel some justifiable pride as you tick the ‘NO’ box on a form with a smoking query. Now take advantage of your position, get on the internet and shop around for insurance quotes. You may be pleasantly surprised by some of the offers which you get, but don’t let your euphoria get the better of you. A move too soon, before everything has been confirmed, could leave you with a cancelled policy with your old company and an oversight leading to rejection by your new company; result no cover. Check the details carefully, finalise all the figures and then change to your new insurer.
Finally, don’t let those savings in expenditure just melt away. Add the money saved on cigarette purchases to the money saved on reduced premiums and invest it, and just watch that total climb!
Michael Challiner
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/smoking-more-expensive-than-you-think-103970.html
Much has been said and written about smoking as a dangerous health problem. Each and every person who smokes is aware of the fact that their habit could hasten them towards death. Smoking is known to be one of the carcinogenic factors, and could lead to a wide variety of cancers including lung cancer and oral cancer. Smoking also causes various breathing and respiratory problems.
But despite knowing all this, people are reluctant to give up smoking. The main attraction of smoking is the tobacco smoke, which is an addictive. In addition, tobacco smoke also contains nicotine, which is deadly poisonous to human beings in its pure form. Tar is another harmful ingredient. This can clog the lungs over time.
Many smokers have intentions to give up smoking, but cannot go about it in the right way. The main reason behind their inability to give up smoking is its addiction. Of course, a person wishing to give up smoking must have a steely determination to do so. But many a time that is not enough. The body may react violently to the sudden giving up of smoking. For this reason, it is necessary to fortify the body also.
In Ayurveda, there are some good techniques in which the body can be trained to cope up with the reduced smoking habits. This article tries to list some of the better Ayurvedic techniques in helping smokers in their quest of giving up smoking.
Dietary Methods to Stop Smoking
By changing your dietary lifestyle, you can make an effort to quit smoking. The following guidelines can be followed:-
- Do not consume more of acidic foods. Increase the quantity of alkaline foods in the diet. This changes the food preferences of the taste buds and helps them to adapt themselves to the de-addiction. Foods such as raisins, beets, lima beans, dandelion, etc. are very good for people who are giving up smoking.
- Have a good amount of vitamin C intake. This increases the hormones that help the body strengthen. Have a glass of orange juice or grapefruit juice twice daily.
- Sweet foods also help a bit to reduce the urge for smoking. Honey must be liberally used in the diet in different forms.
- Keep your food well supplemented with sources of proteins, amino acids and all the different kinds of vitamins.
- Have a glassful of water with a teaspoon of baking soda in it with every meal. This not only helps to digest the meal properly, but it also helps to reduce the urge for smoking after the meal.
Home Remedies to Quit Smoking
- Whenever you feel the urge of smoking, eat something salty, or lick a little salt with the tip of your tongue. Your craving will go away. If you do this every time you feel like smoking, you will be totally cured of the addiction.
- Grate some radish, strain it and extract its juice. Mix some honey in it. Have this juice twice a day. This is a good remedy for raising the body’s tenacity against smoking.
- Licorice sticks have a placebo effect on smokers. Smokers like to have something in their mouths. So, some experts suggest them to chomp on licorice sticks. These are safe substitutes for the cigarettes. Putting some chocolates in the mouth also help to reduce the urge of smoking. But excessive chocolates are dangerous to health in other respects.
- Chew on sugarcane stubs as a substitute for cigarettes. Sugarcane stubs are very harmless, and their sweet taste helps to reduce the urge for smoking.
- Aromatic oils and fragrances are very good for smokers. A massage with aromatherapy oils can really go a long way in curbing the smokers’ urges.
- When there is nothing around, experts also suggest a certain breathing therapy to stop the craving for cigarettes. When you have an urge, sit down in a calm place. Take ten slow and deep breaths. By doing so, you are stimulating your respiratory system. This will slowly help your urge for smoking to subside.
- Foreign herbs such as valerian, chamomile, hops, skullcap, lobelia and peppermint are also very beneficial in suppressing the urge for smoking.
Dr.Anna Hardy
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/quit-smoking-through-simple-home-remedies-114272.html
The most popular way to stop smoking, is known as “cold turkey”
It’s the most popular method but is it the right method for you lets look at stop smoking cold turkey and see.
Smoking “cold turkey” means to stop smoking instantly with no reduction i.e. just stop and cope with the cravings with no help.
How effective is it?
Quitting smoking “cold turkey” means to stop smoking without using any nicotine replacement therapy aids as nicotine provides the addictive nature of smoking it causes withdrawal symptoms.
Withdrawal of nicotine causes the following:
Irritability, fatigue, feelings of stress and nausea.
They are intense and will always be there in the first few weeks after giving up, although the first 3 – 4 days are the worst.
The symptoms and severity gradually reduce and eventually cease altogether and after about a month your body no longer needs nicotine fix.
If you are quitting smoking by “cold turkey” there are several ways to increase your chances of success
1. Drink lots of water to flush out your system at least liters a day and more if possible.
2. When cravings start – THINK of all the reasons why you are quitting cigarettes.
Concentrate on why you don’t want to smoke and all the health and financial benefits it will bring.
Focus on these benefits for a few minutes and block everything else out your mind to motivate you not to smoke.
3. Get support if you need it.
If you can do “cold turkey” do it with someone else or get support and help from groups, either on the Internet or a meeting group.
4. Keep yourself busy and occupy your day and make sure you don’t have time to think about smoking especially in the first 3 days.
Your chances of success depend very much on two major factors:
How much you want to quit and whether or not you believe you can do it.
If you think you can then of course you will.
If you think you cant you will not achieve your goal.
You may want to consider something else though.
People quit smoking “cold turkey” as they think nicotine is bad for you but it isn’t, as we shall now see.
Fact:
You will double your chances of success if you give yourself a fix of nicotine outside of cigarettes.
Let’s look at how to double your chances of success.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy
Nicotine does not cause death or disease, on the contrary its good for you.
It improves concentration, mood and attention and is actually part of the natural food chain and we consume trace elements everyday in foods such as tomatoes and potatoes to name just two.
If you take it in organic form you can beat cravings and get some potential health benefits.
NRT Products include:
Puffers, inhalers, gum and patches.
As the health benefits of nicotine are now well known companies are looking at producing nicotine supplements not just to help smokers, but help with a variety of conditions which need improvements in mood, attention and concentration.
They are looking at these to treat conditions such as: Depression, Altzeimer’s and Parkinson’s disease to name just 3.
A new smoking alternative
The first is already on the market. Originally aimed at smokers when they didn’t want to smoke, or couldn’t smoke It’s simply organic nicotine in water.
It’s very popular due to its convenience.
Simply take a few sips whenever you feel the need.
This product is now being taken not just by smokers but those who want to gain potential health benefits as well.
Finally
Try smoking “cold turkey” if you wish, but using NRT will double your chances of success and if you know the facts, you will see nicotine in pure organic form does no harm, so this is a great way for smokers with low willpower.
Sacha Tarkovsky
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/smoking-cold-turkey-is-it-the-best-method-for-you-90721.html
Another name for side effects of stopping smoking is withdrawal symptoms. And then there are side effects from the stop smoking aids depending on the individual and their addictions, which are used while trying to lesson the withdrawal symptoms. Fortunately, there are very few stop smoking side effects.
In fact, smokers who give up smoking become healthier while living longer as compared to those who fail to do so. They only have to battle a brief period when they give up smoking — the period when the withdrawal symptoms are most prominent, a time when they feel anxious, irritable, confused and depressed. They may also suffer from a slower heartbeat, increased appetite, and weight gain. However, all these can be controlled through proper counseling and exercises.
The reason for the withdrawal is the body demanding for its supply of nicotine. When going cold turkey, this period can range from 72 hours to two weeks of intenseness and pain, with the amount depending on the smoker and their addiction. The nicotine replacement therapy is especially useful in reducing the side effects as it feeds this hunger for nicotine.
The patient can use nicotine gum, nicotine inhaler, or nicotine patches to release small quantities of nicotine in the bloodstream to lesson the urge to smoke. Because the body is given this drug, it lowers depression and improves well being. They can also use alternative therapies like Tai Chi, Qi Gong, or Yoga to relieve stress and make life without cigarettes more bearable. Another possibility is the use of laser therapy that releases endorphins in the blood stream, making an individual feels better.
The 60% smokers who are most prone to side effects are those who suffer from depression, who usually are requiring extensive counseling and support from family members and friends. Many of them are put on Zyban, an FDA-approved drug that helps to reduce the urge to smoke and is also beneficial for treating depression among those who quit.
Known by the name Bupropion, it desensitizes the brain’s nicotine receptors, with seizures as its main side effects in less than one in 1,000. Other side effects, such as insomnia, dry mouth, and headaches are usually more common. Another side effect of quitting smoking is weight gown, usually putting on 5 to 8 pounds of weight, which should not be considered a dangerous side effect.
You should remember that smoking is much more injurious to health than gaining weight, which is controllable through exercise, dieting or Yoga. But you can’t undo the damage caused by smoking to your health. Your first priority therefore must be to give up smoking as you will feel better, healthier and more energetic in the long run.
Mike Singh
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/what-are-the-side-effects-of-quitting-smoking-84947.html
When you think about the fact that about half of those who quit smoking return to it at some point, and even those who haven’t smoked for years still get the odd craving – it’s not difficult to understand why staying off the weed can be harder than quitting smoking in the first place.
Nonetheless – if you’re really serious about looking good as you get older and want to make sure your skin stays supple and toned – stay off the weed you must!
Without a doubt, the first two weeks after you quit smoking are when you’re at your most vulnerable so don’t be shy about seeking help during this difficult time. But remember – just because you don’t succeed in quitting smoking the first time you try definitely does not mean you’re a failure as a human being.
Nicotine is a strong drug and it may take several attempts before you successfully quit smoking.
Feeling a failure can be one of the reasons a temporary lapse becomes a more or less permanent return to being a smoker. “Well you’ve gone and done it now” – you say to yourself – “you may as well have another one”. No doubt about it – if you’re a smoker trying to quit you are up against a whole army of obstacles that could so easily trip you up.
Withdrawal from the nicotine hit is one of the major reasons for failure to quit smoking but sheer force of habit plays a major role. Even years after quitting, ex-smokers can find themselves in a situation where they would once have smoked and without even giving a thought to what they’re doing, they reach out, take a cigarette from a friend’s pack and light up.
Of course, if there are no regular smokers in your immediate social circle, quitting will be much easier. Research shows that failure to quit smoking is also more likely if:
you’re a woman (nicotine dependency is stronger for female smokers)
you were a heavy smoker
you’ve been smoking for a long time
when you smoke you inhale deeply
you experience severe withdrawal symptoms
Tests have also shown that those of us who cheat during the first six months after quitting smoking – even if it’s just a few puffs on a cigarette – are highly likely to be smoking again by the end of those six months.
In contrast, those who don’t cheat – who are honest about their lapses – are most likely to still be cigarette free after six months.
So – if you really want to quit smoking then be totally honest with yourself. If you have a lapse, admit it and resume your quit smoking program immediately. Start your count of smoke-free days from when you resume.
But don’t beat yourself up either just because you gave in to the craving. You’re human after all and it doesn’t represent the end of your efforts to quit smoking – it’s simply part of your journey to get there.
Remind yourself of all the reasons you want and need to give up. Think of the way you’ll look if you carry on smoking. Think of the damage smoking is doing to your looks and the aging effects of smoking on your skin. Talk to someone about your temporary lapse – that way you’re not fooling anyone – least of all yourself.
Remember successful quitters are honest about their progress – with themselves and with the people helping them to quit. Successful quitters don’t use a temporary lapse as a reason to start smoking again.
So do yourself a favor – stay honest, resolve to quit and you will.
Eileen Gravelle
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/quitting-smoking-why-honesty-is-the-best-policy-110053.html