Any smoker with experience knows what nicotine withdrawal is. At least once, but he tried to get rid of a bad habit, although attempts most often ended in failure. Maybe it's all about the wrong approach? In this article, we will analyze how best to quit smoking and what exactly needs to be done for this.
How to quit smoking?
The proportion of people who smoke on the planet is huge - it is almost 1/5 of all the inhabitants of the Earth, and is constantly growing. At the same time, many people dream of quitting smoking, although much fewer people are trying to do something for this. Usually, after the first attempt to get rid of a bad habit, a smoker will be severely disappointed: he is faced with manifestations of nicotine addiction and withdrawal symptoms.
Indeed, craving for nicotine is one of the strongest drug addictions, because this substance can be integrated into the biochemical processes of the body, and it is not easy to "smoke" it from there.
It is also difficult to lose the psychological craving for a cigarette - a strong desire to smoke in a given situation (under stress, excitement, joy). Hence the huge number of failures in attempts to quit smoking.
Most people who suffer from nicotine cravings are wondering if it's best to quit smoking all at once or gradually? Or maybe buy pills or an electronic cigarette or go to a psychologist to find the right motivation. There is no single answer. The approach to smoking cessation should be formed taking into account individual characteristics of character, health, smoking experience. It is quite possible to quit smoking yourself, but only with a short experience and moderate dependence: it is better for heavy smokers to resort to special therapeutic measures. Otherwise, even with a successful failure, the risk of relapse is high, and this will only strengthen the addiction.
So, the correct cessation of smoking should be based on the following components:
- Preparation, or motivational stage.
- Actually refusal of cigarettes (better sharp).
- Organization of proper nutrition.
- If necessary, substitution therapy, psychological support.
Stages of quitting nicotine
Most often, a person returns to a cigarette because he was unable to foresee all the nuances of parting with it in advance, did not find clear motivational reasons why he wants to do it, and also did not enlist the support of loved ones. The intention to get rid of addiction must be firm, otherwise a breakdown cannot be avoided. There are two main steps in the process of quitting cigarettes, each of which is detailed below.
Preparatory
First you need to understand yourself and find the reason why the bad habit appeared. For many, this helps to find the right motivation to give up cigarettes, because someone began to "befriend" cigarettes for company, others smoked to show their adulthood at a young age. Perhaps the need for such dubious self-expression has already disappeared, and it's time to quit smoking.
You should also write down in a notebook what kind of life situations make you reach for a cigarette. Whether it's going out for a smoke break with colleagues, smoking while waiting for the bus, after eating, during excitement - knowing the problem from the inside and thoroughly getting rid of it is much easier.
The next most important point of the preparatory stage is to provide a clear motivation that will make you quit smoking. This is incredibly important, because in the absence of a motive, already on the first or second day of giving up a cigarette, a thought will arise like "is this torment really necessary? ". A person must know exactly what he is suffering for, and the reasons must be weighty.
The main motivations for quitting smoking usually include:
- The desire to conceive a child or save loved ones from passive smoking (for example, during the wife’s pregnancy, at the birth of a baby)
- The desire to maintain health or cure diseases that have appeared, to prolong one's life (usually this is the strongest motive)
- Desire to play sports, gain a normal weight, figure, appearance
- Love, falling in love - many give up a bad habit for the sake of relationships if the other half does not smoke
- The desire to save money - sometimes the financial situation forces you to quit smoking
Basic
The ideal option is to quit smoking immediately, although not everyone succeeds in doing this. Therefore, for those who smoke for a long time and in large quantities, experts advise first to give up cigarettes for 48 hours. So it will be possible to understand what awaits a person, and it is important to approach this from the positive side. The benefits will be huge: by the beginning of the second day it will become easier to breathe, perhaps the headache will stop, because there will be no momentary vasospasm from the intake of nicotine.
After a successful refusal for 2 days, you should think about continuing a healthy lifestyle. Luck will smile only on those who will take all measures to reduce nicotine withdrawal, will not let the bad habit overshadow consciousness and win.
In order not to break loose, here are some tips for the behavior of an ex-smoker:
- As a depressive mood sets in, which happens to almost everyone who has given up cigarettes, it is worth remembering motivation and what a state of mind is - artificial, not real. It is necessary to drive bad thoughts away from yourself, thinking only about the good - about the upcoming improvement of life, well-being, health.
- When quitting smoking, it's best not to be alone. This is the biggest risk of reaching for a cigarette, so you need to engage in active pastime with relatives, friends, and children.
- It is necessary to be distracted from thoughts about a cigarette. This is possible if you completely load yourself with chores - do the cleaning, wash the dishes, cook a delicious dinner, watch an interesting movie - anything, just so as not to be left idle with thoughts of smoking.
- You should often remember the chosen motivation and reward yourself for each new day without a cigarette, for each small victory over the next desire to smoke. The only condition is that it is advisable not to organize rewards in the form of eating sweets or other products.
- We need to find a replacement for cigarettes. If you want to smoke, it is safe and harmless to eat a carrot, an apple, a piece of celery or rhubarb, click seeds, drink tea with herbs - mint, fireweed, currant leaf, drink cold water in small sips.
Sports can help not to smoke again - swimming, running, walking, as well as various relaxation techniques, breathing exercises and even hypnosis. Also, experts advise brushing your teeth more often, using mint mouthwashes, using aromatherapy in the house to distract yourself from a bad habit. We must not forget about reducing visits to places where other people smoke - no need to provoke yourself unnecessarily, especially in the first weeks after giving up cigarettes.
"Anti-nicotine" nutrition and weight gain
As you know, when you give up a bad habit, many begin to gain weight. But this does not happen at all from the lack of nicotine, but because of a sharp change in eating habits. If earlier hunger could well be replaced by a smoke break, now it overtakes a person with a vengeance. In an effort to "seize" the strongest desire to smoke, the majority heavily leans on crackers and chips, sweets and candies, nuts and seeds. Almost all such food is high in calories, and sometimes frankly harmful due to the abundance of transgenic fats and preservatives. Thus, a quick set of 8-10 kilograms is the fault of another bad habit that has come to replace smoking.
Ex-smokers often increase their total caloric intake by increasing the number of meals, eating at night, arranging second breakfasts and additional snacks. Overeating is often also due to an improvement in appetite, because with regular smoking it is not in the best shape.
There is only one way out in this situation - to monitor the intake and consumption of calories, eat only healthy food, lean more on vegetables and fruits so as not to smoke again. It is better to refuse chips and crackers in favor of fresh carrots, apples, apricots, cucumbers, prunes, etc.
Some foods rich in ascorbic acid are necessary to compensate for an acute deficiency in it, and also help to improve a person's well-being. These include raspberries, currants, citrus fruits, spinach, sauerkraut, etc.
There are also some nutritional recommendations that will help you survive nicotine withdrawal easier and faster without gaining excess weight and feeling unwell:
- Give up too strong tea, an abundance of coffee, replacing them with mineral water, juices, so as not to harm vessels already affected by cigarettes.
- Do not abuse salty foods, spicy foods, fried and smoked foods due to irritation of taste buds and increased desire to smoke.
- There is more fiber, as it will help to quickly remove the breakdown products of cigarette smoke from the body.
- Do not drink alcohol. Alcohol, especially strong, contributes to the loss of control over the situation, while the risk of smoking is huge.
What is the best way to quit - abruptly or gradually?
The answer of experts is unequivocal - you need to quit smoking immediately. Of course, heavy smokers, whose experience is calculated in decades, will not be able to cope with the habit so easily, but they should seek medical help. The doctor will select the best way to quit cigarettes, but even in such a situation, the person will most likely be offered a one-time refusal with therapeutic support.
When a person quits gradually, reducing the number of cigarettes per day, switching to light brands, he only prolongs his torment.
The body strongly resists, not getting the usual dose of nicotine, as a result, you have to fight literally constantly, hourly, feverishly counting the cigarettes smoked and remaining for the day. In any case, this will lead to a breakdown or an imperceptible increase in the number of cigarettes, and the fight against a bad habit will not move a single step. In addition, light cigarettes contain many more harmful substances that replace the somewhat reduced nicotine content, and the damage to the body can be even higher. There is another disadvantage in the gradual refusal - neither mental nor physical dependence is reduced. So, does a smoker need extra suffering, moreover, it does not bring any benefit to his body?
Separately, it should be noted electronic cigarettes. This modern gadget, contrary to advertising, does not contribute to smoking cessation at all. Of course, due to the absence of tar and acrid smoke, harm to health is reduced, the lungs are cleansed, coughing stops, and the skin is cleansed.
Dependence with an electronic cigarette remains, because nicotine continues to enter the body, and over time, its dose increases due to the possibility of smoking even at the workplace. Therefore, with a strong desire to recover without harm, there is only one option - once and for all to give up cigarettes.
Antinicotinic agents
Many in an effort to quit smoking buy nicotine patches, chewing gum and tablets. Such preparations contain the minimum amount of nicotine that will enter the body and reduce the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. The use of such funds makes sense, but only for heavy smokers. During treatment, you can get rid of psychological dependence - from going out for a smoke break, smoking after eating, during stress. But hoping that the drugs will do everything for the smoker is not worth it.
Sooner or later, a person will still have to give up nicotine itself, which is built into the receptors and gives a strong physical dependence. Therefore, any pills and drugs are only auxiliary methods of getting rid of a bad habit, nothing more. If you apply them correctly and do not increase the dose, but reduce it, some relief of the task will be achieved, and together with your own desire and willpower, everything will work out!