We all know that smoking tobacco brings nothing but issues to your body. For many people, they find it difficult to stop smoking, even though they understand the problems of smoking. Additionally, tobacco isn’t the addictive part of cigarettes, it is the nicotine which is why people need to use a replacement for it. However, there are many strategies to help you quit smoking so it is important you try different methods, to help protect the health of you and your family.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy
One of the best methods for quitting smoking is nicotine replacement therapy but you should seek professional help. There are many different forms of this as well. One of the more common methods is through a prescription which is nicotine in nasal sprays or even inhalers. These provide you with the nicotine that your body craves. If you want a nicotine substitute that doesn’t require a prescription then there are many alternatives for this.
There are many short-term solutions to nicotine such as nicotine gum, vapes and nicotine pouches. Nicotine patches are a relatively new product in the UK but they have been around for some time, mainly in Sweden. Many brands are sold in the UK such as Velo which is one of the leading brands of nicotine pouches.
Choosing a short-term nicotine replacement is good to help you avoid smoking cigarettes. This can help you resist the urge to want a cigarette while you look for long-term replacements to quit.
Identify Triggers and Avoid Them
One of the reasons why people smoke cigarettes is because of their triggers which are usually alcohol related. This is also known as social smoking and it can be many people’s trigger point for smoking a cigarette. It doesn’t need to be a cigarette either. It could also be chewing tobacco.
Identifying your triggers is essential when you are trying to quit smoking. It could be with being with a certain group of friends or going out drinking. It could even be a specific task at work that is causing you stress. Whatever it is, you need to find a solution for it.
Once you have identified your triggers, you must start to avoid them. Don’t feel guilty for telling your friends you are not going for a drink with them. Explain the situation to them and if they are your friends, they will understand.
It’s these first steps that are important for you to quit smoking over the long term. Once you no longer need to smoke, you can start to socialise with those friends again.
Resist The Urge
This is easier said than done, especially for someone who smokes a lot of cigarettes per day. However, if you know how to start resisting the urge to smoke, this will help with your long-term goal of quitting. For example, if you are at work and you have the urge to smoke, delay it by doing another task. That could be a task at work or going to the toilet or even making a coffee. Whatever it is, it will temporarily distract your mind and you may forget that you want a cigarette.
Replace It With Something Else
One of the main issues is that people want to put something in their mouth and that is usually a cigarette if they smoke. However, if you start to replace a cigarette with a piece of gum or even hard-boiled sweets, you won’t get that urge to smoke a cigarette. Again, this will distract your mind and make you forget you want to smoke a cigarette. No matter what your replacement is, as long as it isn’t tobacco, you are one step closer to quitting.
Don’t Have Just One Cigarette
A common mistake that many smokers make is that they trick themselves into thinking they will just have one. However, it isn’t just one and as soon as you start, you will have more than just one.
For those people who smoke in the morning, they think they can have one cigarette and that will do them for the day. That is not the case. Once they have that taste in their mouth, they will want to have another one later in the day. The longer you delay your first cigarette of the day, the less you will have.
Become Active
One of the best ways to quit smoking is to become more active. If you didn’t know already, smoking can negatively impact your physical health. Your lung capacity can become smaller and endurance exercises can become more difficult. That is why it is important to quit smoking to improve your fitness.
As soon as you start to exercise, you will soon realise that you don’t get the urge to smoke as much. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it gets your heart rate going, you will soon forget that you want to smoke.
Now, it can be difficult to exercise in certain places such as at work. If you are at work, consider doing some squats in the toilets or situps or press-ups. If your workplace is ok with it, consider going for a walk to distract your mind and then you can get back to work, without having any thoughts of smoking a cigarette.
There are many different forms of exercises to consider to distract your mind. If you don’t want anything that is physically draining, consider yoga where you can meditate and relax your mind.
Consider Relaxation Methods
There are many different methods to quit smoking but relaxation methods can be another simple and effective strategy for helping you quit smoking. These don’t need to be too complicated, they can just be breathing exercises which will help distract your mind and you will soon stop resisting the urge to smoke.
If you don’t know how to perform breathing exercises then there are a few different apps that will help with this. One of the most popular apps that can help with breathing exercises is Calm although there is an app called Breathe that is specifically breathing exercises. These will help distract you from your urges to smoke a cigarette.
Summary
There are many different methods to help with your quitting. Smoking is one of the worst habits that you can develop and the longer you smoke and the more you smoke, the harder it is to quit. Consider a nicotine replacement that is less harmful to your body and then consider reducing your nicotine intake.
Smoking can cause many health problems including teeth issues which would require you to go to a Collingwood dentist as it can cause gum disease. Smoking is known to increase the risk of cancer and many other health conditions so the sooner you quit, the better.