Kick The Habit With These Tips For Quitting Smoking
Are you having a hard time figuring out a way to quit smoking? If you really want to stop smoking but always find yourself picking up the habit and living an endless cycle of smoking over and over again, then read through this article and see what difference accurate knowledge can make.
If you're trying to quit smoking, try chewing gum instead. Often times when you try to leave a bad habit behind, you must replace it with a more positive one. Chewing gum allows you to use your mouth and jaw in some of the same ways that smoking does. It is a healthy way to keep yourself busy while you're working toward quitting.
Keep a cold glass or bottle of ice water nearby at all times. When you get a craving for a cigarette, take a sip of water–even if this means you hardly put the bottle down at first. This gives you something to do with your hands and mouth, and it can be a useful way to prevent snacking, too.
If you smoke as a way to control stress, you'll want to have other stress remediation techniques ready when you decide to quit. Keep yourself out of situations that may stress you out for the first few weeks after you've quit. You can also manage your stress through yoga, meditation or by getting a massage.
You can reward yourself in various ways by joining a gym. You can utilize time spent smoking for working out and get your health back in order. Exercise is a proven stress-reliever, and people who are quitting smoking will need stress relievers! Start slowly by taking walks around your neighborhood. Always go to your physician before you start exercising.
Set a day that you plan on quitting your smoking habit permanently. Write down this date on your calendar, and plan on this day. Your mind should be ready for a new change that will last for the remainder of your life. You could even have a small party on the morning of the day that you're quitting.
Receiving support from friends and family members can go a long way in helping you to quit smoking. It's especially important to remind them that getting over an addiction can cause mood swings and irritability. If people close to you are understanding of the situation, it will make relapsing that much easier to avoid.
If you smoke at home, clean your place thoroughly, so it doesn't smell of smoke. You should clean your upholstery and carpets, cleanse the walls and have your curtains and drapes cleaned. This will help your home to feel clean and fresh, and keep you from smelling smoke each time you walk through the door.
Have true faith in the fact that you can quit smoking. You must believe it in order truly quit. You can't go into it half-heartedly. Consider all the tough things you have accomplished in other aspects of your life, and use those memories to fuel your full commitment to stopping smoking.
When you are trying to quit smoking, sometimes you have to change other habits which trigger your desire for a puff. Instead of that cup of coffee or that alcoholic drink, have a glass of juice or water. Many people still have an urge to have a smoke after finishing a meal. After a meal, take a walk. Not only will it help take your mind off having a smoke, it will also help keep off the weight that is commonly associated with giving up smoking.
As bad as your urge is, it is not okay to take even one little puff. People who are trying to quit smoking believe that it will not harm them to have one puff of a cigarette. The problem is, this one puff leads to one whole cigarette, and then to one whole pack.
If smoking is your reaction to stress, replace it with a positive one. Consider getting a massage when you are stressed or participating in an exercise class. Even doing something simple like taking a bath or enjoying a light snack is a better reaction to stress than smoking is. Doing these things will help you to quit, while still keeping your stress level in check.
Get in shape. Right after you quit smoking, your lung capacity starts to improve. This makes exercising easier than it used to be. Regular activity will also help ward off some of the probable weight gain. Even though endorphins produced from exercise does not replace nicotine cravings, it can reduce the urge.
Don't expect yourself to be perfect about quitting. It's hard to stop smoking, and most people have intense cravings from time to time while they are quitting or even backslide once or twice. Don't beat yourself up if you give into temptation. Just get back on track as soon as possible and keep working on quitting.
Drink lots of cranberry juice the first three days. Any consumption of acidic fruit juices will really take the edge off of the nicotine withdrawal as your internal chemistry slowly accepts the change. Just remember to quit after three days, as the physical nicotine withdrawal will end by then and the juices will just fatten you up after that.
When you quit smoking, don't forget to drink plenty of water. Drinking water has beneficial effects anyway, but especially when you're trying to stop smoking. It will help flush out the toxins that smoking leaves behind, as well as help satiate your oral fixation, if you have one. If you already drink plenty of water, think about drinking an extra glass the next time you have a craving for a cigarette.
Make sure your friends know that you've decided to quit. For many people, smoking is a social activity, so you might be tempted to smoke if your friends light up in front of you. If you talk to your friends about your desire to quit, they can support you instead of unintentionally sabotaging your plan.
After reading through this article you should now have good ideas and expanded knowledge on what it takes to quit smoking. Quitting smoking is something that anyone can do but few actually accomplish, so be the better of those people and show that you can quit smoking for good.
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