If you have reached a point where you want to quit smoking, more power to you. Unfortunately, smoking is one of the toughest habits you can choose to kick, but the rewards are nothing short of amazing. Now you just need to figure out the best way to quit smoking.
While it would be great to provide a single solution for this universal problem, it’s not quite as simple. Given the hold smoking can have on individuals, different methods will show different results for different people.
In other words, you might have to do some exploring in order to find the best way of quitting for you. And to help you get started, here are some effective and popular suggestions.
Two Main Approaches
There are two main approaches you can use to kick the habit. The most common is better known as cold-turkey, which is when you give up the habit completely. Or you can use the scaling method, where you cut down every day or week until there are no more cigarettes to cut out.
Some cut out the cigarette smoking and use nicotine patches or nicotine lozenges. The idea is to break the habit of actually smoking a cigarette and then replacing the nicotine that smoking would have produced with a patch or lozenge. There is a weekly or monthly step-down on the amount of nicotine that is in the product, allowing you to bypass many of the physical cravings that come with quitting.
For some, cold-turkey works better, while others found the scaling method easier to cope with, even though it took longer. You have to decide which one is best for you.
Start Exercising And Eating Right
The second important thing you should think about is getting active and paying attention to your meals. Because the more energized and healthy the body, the less it will crave the kick smoking provides.
That’s right, a healthy body means more control over cravings. And the best way to get your body healthy is by making your blood pump several times a week.
Find The Triggers
Finding triggers is not a new tactic for recovering from addiction, and some regard it as the best way to quit smoking. Why? Because once you familiarize yourself with the situations that motivate you to smoke, it gets easier to avoid them altogether.
If you don’t have triggers telling you when to smoke, it becomes much easier to leave this bad habit in your past. For example, if you know getting stuck in traffic will cause you to light a cigarette, find something else to distract you.
Play Mind Games
The mind is a curious thing, and sometimes, it’s the “process” of smoking that keeps people hooked. More specifically, just feeling the cigarette between your fingers or lips can be the reason you smoke in the first place.
Try to use a prop, or even buy a pack, but only take out one to hold between your fingers. There is no reason to light it. Just get that feeling while you go about your routine, and see how it works out for you.
A Final Thought
Always think about quitting this way – you are replacing a bad habit with a healthy one. And that is why you can stop smoking if you really want to.
Instead of using food or candy to make up for the missing cigarette, gear your lifestyle to a healthier one. Then you will feel more confident about quitting – permanently.