Being a smoker can impose some awkward demands on your life.
You have to stop conversation and go outside to have a cigarette, and you can be downright intolerable if you aren't able to smoke. If you are ready to finally kick this dangerous addiction, read on. This article contains plenty of techniques to help you stop smoking.
If you want to stay motivated and stick to your goal of not smoking, remind yourself of the serious health problems that smoking causes. You may be shocked to see pictures of cancer patient's diseased gums and lungs, or to read the stories of individuals who have lost loved ones to diseases caused by smoking.
If you need some extra motivation to quit smoking, keep your family and anyone else that would be affected if you were to get sick because this habit in your mind. One out of every five deaths can be tied to cigarettes! Do not allow yourself to become a statistic.
Make a list of methods you can use to help you quit smoking.
Sitting down and writing the ways to quit can instill an optimistic attitude and motivation for your journey. There are typically many different ways for accomplishing any given goal, and the people vary in which of these ways will be most effective for them. You have to figure out what works best for yourself and your lifestyle. Coming up with your personal list will accomplish this.
Quitting a smoking habit is hard enough, but dealing with your smoking triggers will help you out immensely. If you often smoked in your car, then create a new driving habit like listening to a book on tape or making a motivational driving playlist. This will help you to remove the associations these habits have with smoking. Try to find something to take your mind off of the subject.
Keep a list handy of healthy activities that you can do when cravings strike.
When you want a cigarette badly, it will be hard to think of anything but that, so seeing your list handy will give you options to chose from quickly. There are many thing you can put on your list, such as a brisk walk, a relaxing bath or doing a puzzle.
Reduce smoking. Smoking less can be a good place to begin your plan to quit smoking. You should try to wait an hour in the morning before you smoke. You can also try to only smoke half of a cigarette at a time to cut back on smoking.
Try using deep breathing exercises when you feel a craving for a smoke.
Breathe in using your nose while simultaneously counting to ten. Hold this breath for a few seconds, then slowly exhale out the mouth while counting to ten again. Breathing exercises can be a good distraction from the cravings and can reduce that urge-related stress. Not only does this technique calm you down, but it increases your awareness of how well your respiratory system recovers each day that you do not smoke.
Try joining a clinical trial to help you quit smoking. You will be able to test different treatments and be paid for your participation. Make sure that you understand the risks of taking part in research studies before you participate.
Do some exercising. Once you have quit smoking, it will be easier to adopt a fitness program. Endurance and lung capacity will improve noticeably. In addition, exercising regularly can help you avoid the weight gain associated with quitting smoking. The endorphins from a workout will help keep the edge off as you withdraw from nicotine.
Come up with a list with the top reasons you want to quit. Repeat them when you feel a craving come on, or when your motivation is lost. Doing so can help you to forget about the nicotine and get through the craving.
Substitue a healthy habit like exercise for your smoking.
Your mood is given a positive boost by the endorphins released in your body following a workout, making physical activity an effective way to keep your mind off smoking when you want to smoke. Also, when you exercise, your body's metabolism is offset which can help keep your weight in check because when you quit smoking, your body reacts by decreasing things like your metabolism.
Use sense when eating. If you are trying to quit smoking, it's not the best time to go on a diet. Make sure you are eating healthy, balanced meals. Smoking probably affected the way that healthy foods like fruits, vegetables and milk tasted to you. Eating these types of food will not only boost your health but also help you quit smoking.
Make your home a smoke-free environment, when you are trying to cut back on your smoking habit. It is much easier to quit smoking, if the convenience of it is taken out of the equation. If you need to be outside when smoking, you will be less comfortable doing so regularly.
Sleep is your friend when you are quitting smoking. Don't allow yourself to become overly fatigued. When your body is telling you that you need to sleep, listen. Sleeping can help pass the time during a difficult nicotine withdrawal. Extra sleep can also help your body heal itself.
It takes commitment to get through the process of quitting, meaning you need to make the decision to do so. Failure to successfully quit can often be attributed to not keeping the right mental attitude and simply resigning to giving up. It's possible to remain committed by thinking about the reasons you want to quit.
Quitting smoking is a very serious challenge. This doesn't need to be an impossible task. It will take some time, plus willpower and patience to quit. It can never hurt to have good information to work with, as well. Use the tips from the article above, and you will be smoke free before you know it