Best Ways To Stop Smoking

We all have some regular activity that we are aware that it’s not good for us, but we keep doing it nevertheless because we already conditioned ourselves to repeatedly indulge ourselves in it. The main reason for that is the power of habit, and you can use it for both bad and good liveliness. However, bad habits are much easier to catch, because of their rewarding properties. As people say, good habits reward in time, bad habits reward right away. That’s why unhealthy habits are very tricky to shake off, and it takes a lot of willpower and mental effort to escape from the grasp of an unhealthy habit. This article will focus on smoking, as one of the most widespread unhealthy habits.  

Decision

If you want to quit smoking you need a strong resolve, based on your own choice. You might be concerned about your health, or you want to protect your family from second-hand smoke. Maybe you just want to look and feel younger. Regardless of the reason, your resolve has to be stronger than the urge to light a smoke, which will happen daily. Mark Twain once said, “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.”

This quote describes in the best way the struggles to quit smoking for good. After a couple of days, the organism starts to punish you for not giving it a daily dose of nicotine. The vast majority of people cannot endure the nicotine withdrawal symptoms and eventually relapse. In order to avoid that you need to have your goals in mind all the time. If you have a history of failed attempts to quit smoking, don’t see it as a hindrance. The more times you try there are more chances you will succeed. Just don’t lose your spirit.

Awareness

In order to successfully combat your unhealthy habit, you need to be aware that’s your brain loves it, and it will find it hard to make you continue. The brain likes routine, especially the routine which is coated in pleasure, like smoking. So, the first stage in quitting smoking is developing awareness it’s bad for you. The majority of people are smoking by reflex without any thought about it, some of them are not even conscious about the health effects of smoking. Adding a layer of awareness that your activity is not good for you is a solid base to build your further steps on.

Avoid Triggers

A very important stage in quitting smoking is to identify the situations that will initiate the urge to smoke. Those situations are usually the ones when our mind is idle, like when driving the car, finishing a meal, drinking coffee, using your phone, et cetera. The best way to deal with the situation is to find alternative ways to do them, that will break the routine and make your brain busy, so you won’t have time to think about lighting one.  

Alternatives

Going cold turkey is usually not going well with smoking, because your willpower cannot affect the pleasure effects of habit you’re trying to get rid of. In that situation, the best thing you can do is is to find a replacement activity that will be an Expy to smoking, and help your organism cope with the sudden lack of daily nicotine dose. Be conscious that nicotine replacement therapy only helps with the physical dependence on nicotine.  remedies like nicotine patches, lozenges, and gums make an organism ingest nicotine through the skin, mouth, and airways  The best way to get rid of a bad habit is going step by step, by using progressively weaker replacements until your body quits longing for a daily fix. For example, electronic cigarettes are a very popular substitute for nicotine sticks, and they’re much healthier. It’s very easy to find cartridges for your e-machine in an vape shop online. In order to change your ways, you need to slowly reduce the need for your yearnings from your subconsciousness and substitute it with a healthy (or at least healthier) practice.

Company

People who enjoy bad habits are usually surrounded by like-minded people, who share the same habit or at least approve it. It is very hard to break social ties to people who indulge the habits you’re trying to get rid of, due to peer pressure. We are not saying you should abandon your old fellowship, but it is recommendable to reach out to people who already behave like you’d want to. Surrounding yourself with good role models is a powerful motivation to ditch your bad customs.

Slips

There will be many obstacles on your way of quitting cigarettes. A day will come when you give in to the temptation and light a cigarette. It’s called a slip and it happens regularly. In that situation, it’s very important not to see that as a defeat and down a whole pack afterward. The process of quitting is not all or nothing and one slip doesn’t mean you ruined your efforts. Just remind yourself why you want to quit and keep fighting the urge.

Conclusion

Quitting smoking is much harder than it seems, thanks to the nature of nicotine addiction and the ways it affects physical and mental health. In order to give up cigarettes for good, one has to muster up a strong resolve and a thorough plan. Just be aware that progress is not a straight line, and that you shouldn’t relapse at the first indication of vulnerability. If you want to make it work, you need perseverance and determination to see it through.   

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