Any experienced smoker knows what nicotine withdrawal is. On at least one occasion, he tried to break a bad habit, though most attempts failed. Maybe it all has to do with the wrong approach? In this article, we'll analyze how best to quit smoking and what you need to do to get there.
How to quit smoking?
The proportion of people who smoke on this planet is huge - almost 1/5 of all the inhabitants of the planet and growing. At the same time, many people dream of quitting smoking, although far fewer make the effort. Often, after the first attempt to break a bad habit, a smoker is very disappointed: he faces a manifestation of nicotine addiction and withdrawal symptoms.
Indeed, the craving for nicotine is one of the strongest forms of drug addiction, because the substance can be incorporated into the body's biochemical processes, and from there it is not easy to "smoke" it.
It's also hard to lose the psychological craving for cigarettes - the strong desire to smoke under certain circumstances (stress, excitement, pleasure). As a result, numerous failures in attempts to quit smoking.
Most people with nicotine cravings are wondering, is it better to quit smoking all at once or gradually? Or maybe buy a pill or an e-cigarette, or go to a psychologist to find the right motivation. There is no single answer. The formation of smoking cessation methods should take into account personal characteristics, health, smoking experience and other characteristics. It is quite possible to quit smoking on your own, but only with brief experience and moderate dependence: heavy smokers are better off with special treatment. Otherwise, even with success and failure, the risk of relapse is high, which only reinforces the addiction.
Therefore, the correct smoking cessation should be based on the following aspects:
- The preparation stage, or the motivational stage.
- Actually reject cigarettes (better sharp).
- Organizing proper nutrition.
- Alternative therapy, psychological support if necessary.
smoking cessation stage
Most of the time, a person reverts to a cigarette because he cannot foresee all the nuances of saying goodbye to it in advance, does not find a clear motive for wanting to smoke, and does not have the support of his loved ones. The intention to quit the addiction must be firm, otherwise the collapse cannot be avoided. There are two main steps to the smoking cessation process, each of which is detailed below.
preparation
First of all, you need to understand yourself and find out why the bad habit occurs. For many, it helps to find the right motivation to quit, as some start to "befriend" cigarettes for the company, while others smoke at a young age to show adulthood. Maybe the need for this dubious self-expression has gone and it's time to quit smoking.
You should also write down in your notebook what life situations would make you pick up a cigarette. Whether it's a smoke break with a coworker, a cigarette while waiting for the car, after a meal, or when excited - it's much easier to understand the problem from the inside and get rid of it completely.
The next most important point in the preparation phase is to provide a clear motivation for you to quit smoking. This is very important because without motivation, already on the first or second day of quitting, the thought "is this torture really necessary? "A person must know exactly what he is suffering for, and the reason must be significant.
Common motivations for quitting smoking include:
- A desire to become pregnant or to save a loved one from passive smoking (eg, during a wife's pregnancy, at the birth of a baby)
- A desire to prolong life (usually the strongest motivation) to stay healthy or to cure an existing disease
- Desire to participate in sports and gain normal weight, figure, appearance
- Love, fall in love - a bad habit many people give up for the sake of relationships if their partner doesn't smoke
- Desire to save money - sometimes financial conditions force you to quit smoking
basic
The ideal is to quit smoking right away, although not everyone does it successfully. Therefore, for long-term heavy smokers, experts recommend quitting smoking for 48 hours. Therefore, it is possible to understand what awaits a person, which is important to look at from a positive perspective. The benefits will be huge: By the start of the next day, breathing will be easier, and maybe the headache will stop because ingesting nicotine won't cause temporary vasospasm.
After 2 days of successful rejection, you should consider continuing a healthy lifestyle. Luck only smiles at those who do everything they can to reduce nicotine withdrawal, don't let bad habits cloud awareness and win.
In order not to slack off, here are some tips for quit smoking behavior:
- With depression, it happens to almost everyone who quits smoking, so it's worth remembering what motivations and mindsets are -- artificial, not real. It is necessary to drive the bad thoughts out of oneself and only think about the good aspects - about the upcoming improvements in life, happiness and health.
- When quitting smoking, it is best not to be alone. This is the greatest risk of exposure to cigarettes, so you need to have an active pastime with relatives, friends and children.
- It is necessary to be distracted from thoughts about cigarettes. If you're completely exhausted from your chores - cleaning, washing the dishes, cooking a delicious dinner, watching a funny movie - anything, it's possible to sit idle for the idea of not being smoked.
- You should always remember the motivation for choosing and reward yourself for each new day without cigarettes, for each small victory over the next craving for smoking. The only condition is that it is best not to organize rewards in the form of eating sweets or other products.
- We need to find alternatives to cigarettes. If you want to smoke, eat a carrot, an apple, a piece of celery or rhubarb, tap the seeds, drink herbal tea - mint, weed, gooseberry leaves, sips of cold water are safe and harmless.
Exercise can help stop smoking - swimming, running, walking, as well as various relaxation techniques, breathing exercises and even hypnosis. Additionally, experts recommend brushing your teeth more often, using a peppermint mouthwash, and using aromatherapy at home to distract yourself from bad habits. We can't forget to reduce our visits to places where other people smoke - no need to irritate ourselves unnecessarily, especially in the first few weeks after quitting.
"Anti-nicotine" nutrition and weight gain
As you know, many people start to gain weight when you give up a bad habit. But this is not at all because of a lack of nicotine, but because of a drastic change in eating habits. If earlier hunger was likely to be replaced by smoking, now it overtakes a person with vengeance. To "catch" the strongest urge to smoke, most people rely heavily on cookies and chips, candy and candy, nuts and seeds. Almost all of these foods are high in calories and sometimes even harmful due to high amounts of GMO fats and preservatives. So fast group 8-10kg is another fault to replace the bad habit of smoking.
Ex-smokers often increased their total calorie intake by increasing the number of meals, eating in the evening, scheduling a second breakfast, and additional snacks. Binge eating is also usually due to improved appetite, as regular smoking is not optimal.
There is only one way out in this situation - monitor calorie intake and consumption, eat only healthy foods, and eat more vegetables and fruits to avoid smoking again. It's best to say no to chips and crackers, and instead opt for fresh carrots, apples, apricots, cucumbers, plums, and more.
Some ascorbic acid-rich foods are necessary to make up for its acute deficiency and also help improve a person's health. These include raspberries, currants, citrus fruits, spinach, sauerkraut, and more.
Here are some nutritional tips to help you get out of nicotine withdrawal easier and faster without gaining weight and feeling sick:
- Give up too strong tea, a lot of coffee, and replace them with mineral water, fruit juice, so as not to hurt the blood vessels already affected by cigarettes.
- Don't abuse salty, spicy, fried, and smoked foods to stimulate your taste buds and increase the urge to smoke.
- More fiber because it helps to quickly remove the breakdown products of cigarette smoke from the body.
- do not drink alcohol. Alcohol, especially hard alcohol, can cause a situation to spiral out of control, and smoking is risky.
What is the best way to quit smoking - quit smoking suddenly?
The expert's answer is clear - you need to quit smoking now. Of course, heavy smokers, based on decades of experience, won't get used to the habit so easily, but they should seek medical help. Doctors will choose the best way to quit smoking, but even in this case, the patient is likely to receive a one-time refusal and treatment support.
When a person gradually quits smoking, reducing the number of cigarettes per day and switching to lighter brands, he only prolongs his ordeal.
The body fights back hard and doesn't get the usual dose of nicotine, so you have to fight constantly, hour by hour, feverishly counting the cigarettes you smoke and the rest of the day. In any case, this will lead to a collapse or an invisible increase in the number of cigarettes, and the fight against bad habits will not take a step. In addition, light cigarettes contain more harmful substances in place of slightly lower nicotine levels and may be more harmful to the body. Gradual rejection has another downside - neither mental nor physical dependence has diminished. So, does a smoker need extra pain, and it doesn't do his body any favors?
Also, pay attention to e-cigarettes. Contrary to advertising, this modern gadget does nothing to help quit smoking. Of course, without the tar and pungent fumes, the health hazards are reduced, the lungs are cleaned, the coughing stops, and the skin is cleansed.
Dependence on e-cigarettes persists because nicotine continues to enter the body and over time its dose increases due to the possibility of smoking even in the workplace. So, with a strong desire to recover without harm, there is only one option - quit smoking once and for all.
Antinicotinic agents
Many people buy nicotine patches, gum and pills to quit smoking. These preparations contain the smallest amount of nicotine that can get into the body and reduce nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Using these funds makes sense, but only for heavy smokers. During treatment, you can get rid of psychological dependence - from going out for smoking breaks, smoking after meals, during periods of stress. But it's not worth it to hope that drugs will do everything for smokers.
Sooner or later, a person will still have to give up nicotine itself, which is built into receptors and has a strong physical dependence. So, any pills and medicines are just aids to quit bad habits, nothing more. If you apply them correctly and don't increase the dose but decrease the dose, there will be some relief from the task, plus your own desire and willpower, and all will be well!