Ways To Quit Smoking

If you are tired of cigarettes and are looking for ways to quit smoking, here are some suggestions. A lot of people began smoking because they thought it was cool or felt it would make them older or gain respect from peers and older people. However, when you grower older, you realize how horrible cigarettes are for your health and might decide to quit.  However, you soon discover that giving up this nasty habit near impossible. You body can no longer be satisfied without your daily doses of nicotine.  The addiction to nicotine isn't only physical, it's also psychological. Getting over the physical aspects of the addiction is only part of the battle. There are times when your mind makes you believe you need a cigarette and once you give in to that demand, one cigarette can get you hooked once again. Don't give up hope though, there are millions of people who have kicked the habit of smoking, so it isn't impossible to quit.

Reasons to Quit

There are many reasons why you should stop smoking cigarettes. It isn't only harmful to your health, but it's also harmful to those around you, especially pregnant women, children and other non-smokers. When going through the process of quitting smoking, you will endure similar symptoms as drug addicts quitting drugs; something called withdrawal. This will cause effects such as headaches, restlessness, irritability, frustration, nervousness, increased appetite, headaches, insomnia, fatigue, depression, decreased hear rate and of course cravings.

Methods Available to Help you Quit

After making the commitment to quit smoking, you may need to undergo therapy or use nicotine substitutions such as nicotine patches and gum. If you are having a hard time quitting cigarettes, therapy may be a better option for you. These sessions will help you stay on the ball and will encourage you to keep going. If you are deciding to quit on your own with the patch or gum, set a quitting date and tell friends and family what you are planning to do. This will help others keep you from smoking; once they see you lighting up a cigarette they can talk you out of it or do whatever you ask them to do when you are on the verge of slipping up. To better prevent relapses, you should keep tobacco products out of your home and stay away from places where a lot of people smoke. The smell of the nicotine will trigger deeper cravings and you don't want to make things harder on yourself.

With the nicotine patch, there are several steps to undergo. In the beginning of the stages of quitting, you will use stage one of the patch, which will deliver higher amounts of nicotine to beat the habit of cigarettes. Later on, as you reach different stages, less and less nicotine will be delivered through the patch. Soon you will no longer need nicotine in your system. Nicotine gum works the same way, but is less advanced. It was created to substitute your cravings for cigarettes, so you only need to chew it when you get the urge to smoke.

The first key to quitting smoking is to commit yourself to it fully. Get tobacco out of your household and out of your life. Try taking anti-smoking medications to help kick the nicotine addiction and if necessary, seek therapy.