Helpful Tips for Smoking Cessation
Cigarettes are deeply harmful to the health of both your body and mind.
Whether you鈥檝e smoked for a month or for years, the effects of nicotine, tobacco, and the harmful chemicals found inside cigarettes can create a nagging dependence that is hard to kick.
Thankfully, smoking cessation is not impossible.
When you take a closer look at all of the health benefits and positive long-term effects that smoking cessation can have on your mental and physical health, it may be just enough to make your smoking habit a thing of the past.
Why Is Smoking Cessation Important?
If you鈥檙e a regular smoker, quitting may be one of the most important things you do in life.
Your health, and the health of your family and friends, depends on it.
When you quit smoking, the health of your teeth, gums, lungs, and immune system improve, allowing you to live a longer and healthier life.
You鈥檒l be able to breathe better, stop experiencing shortness of breath, and put an end to the random coughing fits associated with smoking.
Five A鈥檚 of Smoking Cessation
The five A鈥檚 of smoking cessation are an intervention for cigarette smokers.
While the Five A鈥檚 are a key structure for doctors treating cigarette smoking patients, they can also be used by friends and family of smokers that are concerned for the health of their loved one. The Five A鈥檚 are as follows:
Ask: Ask the smoker to quantify how many cigarettes they smoke in a day, a week, or a month.
Advise: Using a strong, clear, and personalized voice, explain the innumerable benefits accrued by former smokers after they take that last puff.
Assess: Take a quick assessment of the tobacco user鈥檚 reaction to the idea of quitting. As the old saying goes, you can鈥檛 help someone who doesn鈥檛 want to be helped.
Assist: Make it clear to the smoker that you鈥檙e willing to provide your support and assist in their quitting efforts in any way that you can.
Arrange: Follow up with the tobacco user after speaking with them.
The next time you鈥檙e around them, ask them how they鈥檙e quitting journey is going. While you may feel like a nag, your questions and follow-up may end up saving a life.
What Smoking Cessation Method Is Most Effective?
There are a huge number of smoking cessation methods, and it鈥檚 hard to say which one is the most effective.
From cold turkey, to Nicotine Replacement Therapy, to prescription medications, there is a cessation method out there for anyone who even has an inkling of a desire to quit smoking.
Cold turkey is probably the most common method.
Instead of other methods that gradually reduce the amount of nicotine that鈥檚 consumed, a tobacco user quitting smoking cold turkey will cut off the source of nicotine all at once.
While this can lead to nasty withdrawal symptoms and a rough couple of days, many formers smokers that used this method report that they were happy to get the worst part over with as quickly as possible.
Another popular method is Nicotine Replacement Therapy.
This method involves the nicotine patch, the lozenge, a nicotine inhaler, or the gum instead of smoking a cigarette.
This helps to reduce cravings while providing a stream of nicotine into the blood stream on demand.
The percentage of nicotine within the replacement gradually decreases over time and the goal is to stop using the replacement altogether after a few weeks.
The last method we鈥檒l mention is prescription medication like Zyban and Chantix.
These are not available over the counter and need to be prescribed by a doctor.
A pill you take once a day, these are meant to create an unpleasant smoking experience that makes the tobacco user less likely to want to take a puff in the future.
For best results, use in conjunction with Nicotine Replacement Therapy.
Stages of Smoking Cessation
There are typically five stages that a smoker goes through before, during, and after quitting smoking.
These stages are as follows:
Pre-contemplation: The tobacco user is not thinking about quitting smoking.
He will likely not be receptive to discussions about the health benefits of quitting and is likely to defend his smoking habit.
Contemplation: The smoker is beginning to think about the benefits that come along with smoking cessation and is more open to discussions regarding the benefits of quitting smoking.
Preparation: The smoker begins weighing the pros and cons of quitting, researching smoking cessation methods, setting dates to quit, and potentially decreasing the amount of cigarettes he is smoking.
Action: At this stage, the smoker is actively trying to stop smoking.
He needs a great deal of support and motivation from those in his closest circle.
Maintenance: Possibly the hardest part of quitting smoking is the maintenance.
This is the fifth and final stage where a successful ex-smoker learns his triggers and finds new ways to cope with boredom and stress.
Oftentimes those working to quit smoking get stuck in one of these stages or move backwards.
This happens frequently and is no reason not to try again.
Guidelines for Smoking Cessation Success
When you鈥檙e starting to think seriously about quitting smoking, there are a few general rules to keep in mind that will help you on your journey to becoming a non-smoker.
First, always keep a plan in mind.
Once you鈥檝e decided officially to quit smoking, pick a date to quit and stick to it.
Talk to your doctor and decide what cessation method will be best for your needs.
Obtain lozenges, nicotine patches, gum, or whatever else you need in advance of the date so you can start off on the right foot.
A second trick to success when quitting smoking is avoiding triggers when you鈥檙e first starting out.
It can feel impossible to deny a craving when you鈥檙e at a party, in a bar, or around your smoking friends.
Lastly, keep yourself busy.
Try to replace your smoking habit with more productive ones, like cleaning, exercising, or cooking.
These activities will keep your mind off smoking while helping you feel good about yourself in the process.
Final Thoughts
Smoking cessation isn鈥檛 easy.
It can take a long time to work up to it, and even longer before you can consider yourself smoke free.
Instead of being discouraged, follow these tips and tricks for smoking cessation and kick the harmful habit to the curb once and for all.