Quit Smoking
This article will guide you to quit smoking. I work in an IT industry where there will be always work stress. There are very few employees who do not smoke. Almost 80% of people in IT industry are smokers as there is a specific routine for all those peoples. This routine is one of the reasons for person getting addicted to something. Apart from IT industry other peoples and collage youths are also moving towards cigarette addiction.
Let’s focus on cigarette addiction and how to quit habit. It is good to see you are willing to quit it.
How cigarette is harmful?
Cigarette is harmful that is the reason it is written on box cigarette is injurious to health and can cause the cancer. There are more than 100 ways cigarette is harmful to you and your loved ones. Here we will discuss few of them. Smoking causes cancer, stroke, heart disease, diabetic, heart disease, lung disease and many more.
It causes issue for health of your friends and family who gets cigarette smoke passively.
Cigarette is major reasons for the people suffering from lung cancer. There are around 2/3 people having lung cancer are caused by cigarette smoking.
Tobacco affects your skin immediately, it starts the wrinkle and you look older.
Smokers are having higher risk of myeloid leukemia, cancer of nasal and paranasal sinus cavities, colorectal, kidney, liver, pancreatic, stomach or ovarian cancer. Almost all type of cancers is caused by smoking.
Smoking also leads to lose the vision early in the life.
It also causes the financial damage to your packet and pollutes the environment.
Addiction formation
Before looking how to quit smoking understand how addiction is formed. It is psychological process which forms the addiction. Dopamine is the hormone which is released by brain and when dopamine is released, we feel happy as it is a happiness hormone. When we achieve something in our life our brain gives the reward to us in the form of dopamine, and you start feeling happy.
Dopamine is released by various activities such as sex, exercise and some goal achievements this is natural way of dopamine release. Smoking cigarette, drinking alcohol or taking drug stimulates the dopamine and you start feeling pleasure. Once you get dopamine you want it more and more as it is giving pleasure which drives you to smoking. If you understand this then you can create alternate healthy way to stimulate the dopamine.
10 Steps to Quit Smoking
These are proven steps to quit smoking. I personally followed these steps and finally after a lot of efforts I could quit habit. People think quitting an addiction is not possible, but nothing is impossible in this world. It just needs a strong motive, and you can make impossible to possible.
we understood how bad cigarette is for our health. Now we will focus how you can start your journey of quitting smoking. Let’s understand each step involved in quitting the smoking.
Acknowledge Problem
Here the problem is something you need to find. That is you need to find the reason why you want to quit the smoking. What is the motive for quitting the smoking? Are you suffering from any problem? Do you want some better life? Do you want to live a healthy life? Identify your why. Once you identify your why it is easy to quit smoking.
Identify Trigger
It is important to find and identify the trigger which stimulates you for smoking. These triggers can be anything like time, place, friend, colleague or some activity which reminds you for the smoking. It is very important to find the trigger so that you can develop alternate coping strategy.
In my case it was the mental situation, whenever I get stressed, I used to go for smoking. Then I started the technique of deep breathing when I get stressed, I used to start deep breathing which used to help me reduce the stress level and reduced the need of cigarette. This way you can find a way to reduce the effect of trigger.
Set Quit Date
Choose a specific date when you want to quite the smoking, you can select a specific date and from that date you can quit smoking. This must be a special date it can be your birthday, marriage date, some festival or any date which you feel is special for you. Use time till date to mentally prepare yourself for quitting smoking.
I choose my birthday as a date to quite the smoking and from my birthday I did not smoke. This helps to keep you motivated.
Seek Support
As quitting smoking is difficult and it needs mental support, this is also a very important step to quit smoking. Share your goal of quitting smoking with your family or friends who can mentally support you when required and encourage you to not to smoke again. You need to provide the information of your triggers to them, so that in those situations they can support you.
For me my friend used to always encourage me not to smoke. He used to say do not smoke this time you will feel better, and you will get feeling of wining with your mind and actually that used to happen, once that time is passed, I used to feel better that I controlled my mind.
Nicotine replacement therapy
Consult your health care professional and discuss the possibility of using nicotine gum, lozenges, or patches to manage the craving for smoking especially when you get your trigger. This will help you to control the craving for cigarette.
Distraction Techniques
You can start chewing gum or taking to your friends or loved ones whenever you feel craving for the cigarette. This will distract your mind from cigarette to other things. You can also use technique of changing the things, one day you drink tea, another day you eat chocolate one day do not have anything. This way you can break the pattern formed in your brain.
Positive Visualization
You visualize yourself as a non-smoker person with healthy body and mind. You look younger as you quit smoking. You skin started glowing. This technique helps you to encourage your goal. Your mental and emotional power will be increased.
Replace Plan
Analyze your triggers and change your plan according to those triggers. Find a way to avoid going in those situations which triggers the smoking. If you can avoid your triggers you are 50% successful in quitting the smoking.
Professional Help
If you try quitting and still you are facing the challenges to quit smoking then you can always seek help from healthcare professional or smoking cessation program that can provide tailored strategies and support. This will be very helpful especially in trigger identification and how you can avoid the trigger.
Monitor Progress
Monitoring the progress is also important step as it encourages you to go more. You can always set a target of days or months for not smoking. I used to set target of 100 days. Once those 100 days completed again set for new 100 days. This is really helpful. To monitor the progress you can use count down timer in your mobile. Or you can download the free app from play store.
Conclusion
By following these comprehensive steps you can quit smoking and using your own experiences and challenges as a reference, you can guide others who want to quit smoking. Emphasize the importance of seeking support, managing stress, and staying committed to a healthier life. Remember that quitting smoking is a journey that requires determination, but the rewards for your health and well-being are worth it. If you want more details you can get more details here.