Forget about quitting smoking "forever." Nicotine dependency is real and permanent as alcoholism. Don't play games with yourself. Treating a nicotine addiction as little habit is a recipe for relapse. There is no such thing as just one puff. You have an addiction and it will be with you till the end. But you are still able not to smoke on everyday basis. Maybe you will die with addiction never feeded with another puff. It's your choice. Try "one day at a time" strategy, do not insist on quitting forever, otherwise on which day will you celebrate?
To quit smoking cold turkey you need nothing more but time and will power. But remember that education, more information about fighting an addiction, getting new behavioral skills, and ongoing support can easily triple you chances for success.
Anyway you need to get in a healthy mindset. Start exercising more and make an effort to eat healthy. This is hard because you might feel sick from cigarette cravings. A large part of quitting is mental, so getting into a healthy mindset is all important.
Also remember to drink lots of fluids, especially water. There is a good chance you might feel sick, so staying hydrated is critical. Make sure your friends and family are aware of your intention to quit smoking so that they can support you. If certain friends used to smoke with you a lot, tell them not to smoke around you while you are trying to quit smoking.
No matter how long you've smoked, how old you are, or how seriously you've damaged your health, it's never too late to stop your nicotine addiction, and start the most acute period of healing that your mind and body have likely ever known.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Quit Smoking Cold Turkey
Posted by Sarah King at 11:00 AM 0 comments
Friday, September 24, 2010
Quitting Smoking Cold Turkey
It can be very hard to quit smoking cold turkey, but it's free and you can start right now! As many ex-smokers can confirm, it can be very tricky to realize how to quit smoking. Have you heard that cigarette smoking is harder to quit than heroin? And one of the toughest ways to quit smoking is "cold turkey."
Many ex-smokers quitted "cold turkey," picking a day to smoke their last cigarette and swearing never take another puff. While some smokers choose a day beforehand, many other conclude to quit on impulse. When the resolution to quit smoking comes speedily, a significant mental problem is throwing out that near-empty pack of cigarettes. It's more effective to some smokers to be able to know that they chose to throw the cigarettes away and never return to smoking routine.
Quitting smoking abruptly, can be very challenging, specifically for individuals who have been smoking countless cigarettes for a long period of time. Nicotine withdrawal is a nasty issue. Symptoms of nicotine withdrawal include irritability, intense craving for cigarettes, insomnia, tiredness, headaches, tension, problems concentrating, increased appetite, weight gain. Nicotine addiction use smoker brains to fabricate any imaginable reason to get nicotine.
The key idea to keep in mind is that the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal lessen over time. If ex-smoker passed through the initial days of quitting cold turkey, it will get easier to avoid to light up again as time goes by. Remember all of these, there are some points you can do to force the cold turkey method to be easier on yourself, and make it less probable to start smoking again.
Remember to drink plenty of water, this will keep you hydrated and provide you with something to do with your mouth in place of puffing on a cigarette. Anyway, chewing sugarless gum or sucking on hard candy will keep your mouth busy when you start thinking about smoke. When a craving hits, try closing your eyes and counting to ten while taking some deep breaths. If that doesn't work, take a walk to get yourself away from craving.
If all else fails, call a friend, relative, co-worker, or a smoker's help line. Get some external support to remind you zillions of the reasons to quit smoking: your health, your family, your finances, your appearance, etc. Or talk about whatever you want, but smoking to redirect your attention until the craving to smoke passes.
Posted by Sarah King at 4:57 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
20 Ways to Quit Smoking Cigarettes
Today one in four men and one in five women in USA smoke. For those who never smoked, this is a confusing fact. Don't smokers realize that cigarettes are the number one killer in USA, that they radically increase risk for heart disease, stroke, cancer, high blood pressure, and almost every other health concern, small or large? How could smoking be worth this?
Truth is, most smokers do understand. They also realize the huge financial toll of smoking, that extended far beyond the cost of a pack of cigarettes, because smokers pay more for insurance, lose money on the resale value of their cars and homes, spend more on dry cleaning and teeth cleaning.
Then why do millions still smoke cigarettes? The answer is simple, because the nicotine in cigarettes is highly addictive. On the other hand, never have there been so many methods, techniques, and systems available for quitting smoking. And with every month that passes, there is more research showing the benefits of quitting, and the disadvantages of not quitting.
If you have any health issues that you think may be caused by smoking cigarettes, be careful and get treatment for problems before they get worse. Consider again whether it is time, finally, to quit. Educate yourself about quit smoking challenge and find suitable approach, perhaps working with your doctor or an expert. The following 20 tips will help you succeed.
1. Set a quit date and write a "quit date contract" that includes your signature and that of a supportive witness.
2. Write all your reasons for quitting smoking on an index card and keep it near you at all times. Here are some to get you started: "My daughter, my granddaughter, my husband, my wife..." You get the idea.
3. As you are getting ready to quit, stop buying cartons of cigarettes. Instead, only buy a pack at a time, and only carry two or three with you at a time. Eventually you will find that when you want a smoke, you will not have any immediately available. That will slowly wean you down to fewer cigarettes.
4. Keep a list of when you smoke, what you are doing at the time, and how bad the craving is for a week before quitting to see if specific times of the day or activities increase your cravings. These will help you to combat cravings later.
5. Prepare a list of things to do when a craving hits. Suggestions include: take a walk, drink a glass of water, kiss your partner or child, throw the ball for the dog, wash the car, clean out a cupboard or closet, have sex, chew a piece of gum, wash your face, brush your teeth, take a nap, get a cup of coffee or tea, practice your deep breathing, light a candle. Make copies of the list and keep one with you at all times so when the craving hits, you can whip out the list and quickly do something from it.
6. When your quit date arrives, throw out anything that reminds you of smoking. That includes all smoking paraphernalia - leftover cigarettes, matches, lighters, ashtrays, cigarette holders, even the lighter in your car.
7. Switch to a cup of herbal tea whenever you usually have a cigarette. That might be at breakfast, midmorning, or after meals. The act of brewing the tea and slowly sipping it as it cools will provide the same stress relief as a hit of nicotine.
8. Switch your cigarette habit for a nut habit - four nuts in their shell for every cigarette you want to smoke. This way, you are using your hands and your mouth, getting the same physical and oral sensations you get from smoking.
9. Think of difficult things you have done in the past. Ask people who know you well to remind you of challenges you have successfully overcome. This will give you the necessary self-confidence to stick with your smoke free decision.
10. Change your routine to minimize cravings. Sit in a different chair at breakfast or take a different route to work. If you usually have a drink and cigarette after work, change that to a walk. If you are used to a smoke with your morning coffee, switch to tea, or stop at Starbucks for a cup of java - the chain is smoke-free.
11. Tell your friends, coworkers, boss, partner, kids, etc., how you feel about situations instead of bottling up your emotions. If something makes you angry, express it instead of smothering it with cigarette smoke. If you are bored, admit to yourself that you are bored and find something energetic to do instead of lighting up.
12. Remember that there is no such thing as quitting smoking forever. Every ex-smoker is able to celebrate freedom from the smoking like one year milestone, but you can't celebrate "quitting smoking forever", so it's good idea to celebrate every smoke free day. If you relapse, just start again. You haven't failed. Some people have to quit as many as eight times before they are successful.
13. Put all the money you are saving on cigarettes in a large glass jar. You want to physically see how much you've been spending. Earmark that money for something you've always dreamed of doing, but never thought you could afford, be it a cruise to Alaska or a first-class ticket to visit an old college friend.
14. Switch to decaf until you have been cigarette-free for two months. Too much caffeine while quitting can cause the jitters.
15. When a craving hits, try closing your eyes and counting to ten while taking some deep breathes. If that does not work, take a walk to get yourself away from temptation.
16. Create a smoke-free zone. Do not allow anyone to use tobacco in your home, car, or even while sitting next to you in a restaurant. Make actual "No Smoking" signs and hang them around your house and in your car.
17. Find a healthy snack food you can keep with you and use in place of cigarettes to quench that urge for oral gratification. For instance, try pistachio nuts, sunflower seeds, sugarless lollipops or gum, carrot or celery sticks. The last ones are best if you are concerned about weight gain.
18. Do some deep breathing each day for ten minutes. Breathe in through your nose very slowly, hold the breath for a few seconds, and breathe out very slowly through your mouth. It is possible to do your breathing with your eyes closed also.
19. Picture yourself playing tennis. Or go play tennis. British researchers found volunteers trying to quit smoking were better able to ignore their urges to smoke when they were told to visualize a tennis match.
20. Quit when you're in a good mood. Studies find that you are less likely to be a successful quitter if you quit smoking when you are depressed or under a great deal of stress.
Posted by Sarah King at 3:18 AM 0 comments
Labels: Quit Smoking Tips
Monday, December 7, 2009
2 Things to Quit Smoking Cold Turkey Successfully
To quit smoking successfully smoker are in need of only two things to succeed. The first one is understanding that smoking can't give any positive effect to smoker. Educate yourself to understand that smoking will never relax you or help you to concentrate. If you miss this first point there are tons of chances that you will go back to smoking routine sooner or later after your quit smoking attempt. It is very hard for human being to refrain from something useful, so if you think that smoking helps you in any way, it is the direct way to relapse, even if your desire to quit smoking is strong enough. Remember that if you think that if you think that smoking is somewhat enjoyable process, you have zero chances to quit smoking for good.
The second thing you need to successfully quit smoking cold turkey is some little tricks that help to battle with nicotine cravings. There are tons of them online and here are some helpful tricks that will help. Begin your quitting smoking process on the weekend or whatever days you free from your common practice. Remember to sleep a lot and have a lot of rest. Avoid situations that irritate you, you won't deal with stress well. Also avoid being bored; you need something you like to. Avoid smokers even they are your friends. Keep a lot of water and herbal ice tea on hand, drinking helps to flush the nicotine out of your body faster.
Always remember that while you are on quitting smoking process you (as nicotine addict) are only one cigarette away from relapse. 3 minutes are enough to let craving fade away, so if decide that you are loosing your battle give yourself 3-5 minutes before you will light up another cigarette. Everyone has great opportunity to realize that there is no need for cigarette in these minutes.
Posted by Sarah King at 2:24 AM 0 comments
Friday, January 30, 2009
Are You Ready to Quit Smoking Cold Turkey?
You need to be ready to quit smoking cold turkey. Most people think that that willpower will be enough to not start again. For many people this is simply not true. Moreover, most smokers believe that quitting smoking cannot be done by going cold turkey.
Many people who have tried to quit smoking cold turkey have been unsuccessful due to severe withdrawal symptoms. Most people who have stopped smoking completely have tried several times before quitting smoking successfully. Cold turkey quit smoking method is one of the oldest and best known methods to help people quit smoking.
The cold turkey method is great if you understand what the withdrawal symptoms are, and make sure that you treat them properly. Drinking lots of water will help to flush the body out quickly. Keeping your mouth busy and keeping a chart of what is occurring when you have a craving will help you to keep an eye on what is going on with your body.
Keep in mind that not everyone will have feelings of withdrawal. Taking a walk or calling a friend when you feel like smoking will help you to be able to be stay smoke free while you are trying to quit smoking. Willpower is important, your success will also depend on how badly you want to quit smoking, and whether or not you believe that, you can do it. Quit smoking cold turkey is the only method that is free, and definitely the one you can use to be crowned with success.
Posted by Sarah King at 4:07 AM 0 comments
Monday, September 15, 2008
Relapse Experience
Many smokers try to quit without any preparation and education on quit smoking issue. They try just to "NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF". This is route to nowhere. You need to change your attitude to smoking at first. If nicotine addiction secure itself in yours mind, you have no chance to success. If you still thinking that smoking is pleasure or help you to relax or to concentrate, it will be too hard for you to stay smoke free.
Let us talk about relapse experience. You had some cigarettes while quitting and no withdrawal symptoms after it. This is not strange - you just did not get what you think you should get from these cigarettes - pleasure. It was disgusting experience instead of pleasure expected. The key moment is that somewhere inside you, your soul is waiting for some joy and pleasure from smoking. You should say STOP to these feelings. Smoking will never give you any value. If you know it for sure, you will never have reason to check this out with one, two cigarettes or even the pack.
Posted by Sarah King at 3:32 AM 0 comments
Labels: Quit Smoking Tips
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Change Your Mindset
In the long run cold turkey is the easiest, quickest, least expensive and most effective technique of quitting smoking. It only takes 3 days before your blood becomes nicotine free and the symptoms of physical withdrawal reach their peak. There are over one billion ex-smokers on earth today and almost all of them quit cold turkey.
To quit smoking successfully using cold turkey method, simply ensure that you are changing your mindset while you are still smoking. You have to fall out of love with smoking, you have to know why it is a bad habit, you have to know why you do not need it, and you have to know why it is not a part of you. You need to answer all these questions to quit the habit for good, and ensure that being an ex-smoker isn't a day-to-day battle for the years to come.
Do not debate with yourself how much you want a "cigarette." You don't crave a cigarette any more than the heroin addict craves a needle. The cigarette and needle are simply drug delivery devices. What you want is the drug inside. Be honest! Truly, see yourself as "addicted to nicotine" because you are! Just one puff and you will either immediately or shortly thereafter experience full and complete relapse back to your prior level of nicotine use or higher. Do not look at it as taking just "one" puff, look at it as taking all nicotine addiction back.
Posted by Sarah King at 3:33 AM 0 comments
Monday, June 9, 2008
Never Take Another Puff
Find a smoker who once quit smoking for a large period, say one year or longer and then relapsed. Ask him how he liked not smoking. Ask him how he now likes smoking. Then ask the main question, how did he return to smoking?
Probably answers will look like the ones below. "Not smoking was great. I hardly thought of cigarettes any more. I felt healthier, happier, and even calmer. Cigarettes smelled disgusting. The thought of smoking at my old level was odious." To the second question, how do you now like smoking, the answer will typically be, "I hate it, I smoke as much or even more than I did before. I feel more anxious, do not have as much energy, and generally feel like a fool when smoking in public. I sure wish I could quit again." The answer to the third and most important question of how did he return to smoking is almost always the same, "I took a cigarette."
It may have happened under stress, at a party, or at home alone with nothing-special going on. Whatever the cause, the result was the same - addiction to nicotine and cigarettes smoking. Learn from others' mistakes and not your own. Your smoking friend is folded in powerful and deadly addiction arms. Maybe he will get the chance and strength again to quit smoking; maybe he will smoke until smoking kills him.
You have successfully broken free of the nicotine addiction. While your smoking may have been a potential risk to your life in the past, now your risks are dropping down to that of a person who never smoked. As long as you stay off cigarettes, you never will have to worry about the physical, psychological, social and economical risks of smoking again as long as you follow one simple practice...
Posted by Sarah King at 7:39 AM 1 comments
Labels: Quit Smoking Cold Turkey, Quit Smoking Support, Quit Smoking Tips
Friday, February 22, 2008
Tips to Help You Quit Smoking
Below, some tips to help you quit smoking are listed. First and foremost, set a quit date and quit COMPLETELY on that day. To prepare for that day:
- Identify the times you are most likely to smoke. For example, do you tend to smoke when feeling stressed? When you are out at night with friends? While you are drinking coffee? When you are bored? While you are driving?
- Keep a diary to help you determine such risky times. Record each time you have a cigarette, including time of day and what you are doing.
- Make a plan about what you will do instead of smoking at those times that you are most likely to smoke. For example, drink tea instead of coffee -- tea may not trigger the desire for a cigarette. Or, take a walk when feeling stressed. Remove ashtrays and cigarettes from the car. Place pretzels or hard candies there instead. Pretend-smoke with a straw.
- Let all of your friends, family, and co-workers know of your plan to stop smoking and your quit date. Just being aware that they know can be a helpful reminder and motivator.
- Prior to your quit date, start reducing your cigarette use, including decreasing the number and strength of the cigarettes. However, DON'T do this simply to make your diary "look good!" Get rid of all of your cigarettes just prior to the quit date and clean out anything that smells like smoke, such as clothes and furniture.
Posted by Sarah King at 1:30 AM 0 comments
Friday, December 21, 2007
Make Cold Turkey Works for You
The quit smoking cold turkey solution is the most popular quitting method because almost any smoker break away from addiction turning to it. Cold turkey is easy to try, but many people only fail and turn to drugs and other methods to quit. To success with quit smoking cold turkey understand that in the first days following the quit smoking cold turkey cessation process you will feel very irritated and tired. But you should know that after few days the severe irritability will pass.
To decrease severity of nicotine cravings ex-smoker should drink a lot of water. Whenever you feel the craving take a walk or do some exercises. Calling a friend when you feel like smoking is another suggestion that can help the quit smoking cold turkey method. These small tips can help you succeed in using the quit smoking cold turkey method.
The quit smoking cold turkey method is free and this is why so many try it, but the fact is that people associate this radical solution with a strong willpower and total self-control. The quit smoking cold turkey method is very straight, but you should prepare yourself. Your desire to be smoke free should be stronger than the need for cigarette. The quit smoking cold turkey refers to something done without preparation, but you better prepare to make this solution works for you and let you succeed in your quit smoking process.
Posted by Sarah King at 11:41 PM 0 comments
Friday, November 30, 2007
Don't Try to Cut Down – Just Go Cold Turkey
If you want to quit smoking without drug and patches, you can use two approaches. The first is to quit gradually by cutting down the number of cigarettes you smoke until you are not smoking at all. The second way is to quit cold turkey.
Which is the better method to quit smoking? Statistics have shown that those who set a quit date and then quit cold turkey have a much better success rate than those who try to cut down on their cigarette consumption daily.
The reason that quitting smoking cold turkey might work better than cutting down gradually is because once the smoker strikes the quit date they are in a invariable position with their craving. They cannot just say, "Oh, one more today is not going to hurt."
In addition, smokers who are cutting down the cigarettes are still surrounded by all the triggers for smoking including the lighter and the cigarette pack. This is like telling a heroin addict not to do heroin while at the same time giving them a needle and ounce of the drug.
Cutting down on cigarettes before an actual quit date seems to help. Also, to reduce your smoking before quit date try to buy only one pack at a time, change brands each time, and give your cigarettes to someone else to hold, so that you have to ask for one every time you want to smoke.
Posted by Sarah King at 8:52 PM 0 comments
Friday, October 26, 2007
How to Quit Smoking Cold Turkey?
Do you know that reasons for quitting smoking and even problems with smoking cessation vary with age? Older smokers name different reasons to quit smoking compared with younger smokers. In most cases, it is connected with major health problems. Younger smokers attributed their reasons for quitting to the cost of cigarettes, tobacco odor, and general health concerns.
Also younger smokers were more likely than older smokers to report concerns of weight gain, stress management, fear of failure, handling social situations, and cravings as obstacles to quitting smoking. Young smokers believe that trying to quit "cold turkey" is best method, when in reality, only small quantity of smokers achieve long-term abstinence from smoking without professional help.
Physicians tell us that "The more we know about what motivates smokers to quit their habit and what personal obstacles they face in doing so, the more we can tailor smoking cessation programs to fit the individual needs of our patients." In reality all these programs should be individual, but it's hard to imagine and definitely will cost a smoker a pretty penny.
And what's about most popular "cold turkey" free method? Yes, going cold turkey or relying on willpower to quit smoking most often ends in failure, but this failure can teach you a great lesson. Using this failure or even several failures you are able to create your own successful quit smoking program. You will learn how your mind makes you believe that you really need another cigarette, and you will not be same blockhead next time.
There are countless ways to quit smoking, and the majority of smokers have tried their hands at most of them. Nicotine replacement therapies like gum, patches, and other drugs tend to send people into long and painful period of withdrawal that eventually causes them to start smoking again. And sometimes smokers cannot gather enough strength to repeat this process.
Cold turkey method also needs all smoker's power to succeed, but free from additional expenses and helps you to find your own guaranteed way to quit smoking for good. Just doesn't be panic if you failed in your cold turkey challenge. Your failure means that you need another chance only. And this time your experience will help you to succeed.
Posted by Sarah King at 4:45 AM 0 comments
Labels: Quit Smoking Cold Turkey, Quit Smoking Support, Quit Smoking Tips