Many people know that smoking is not good for the body, but still they keep smoking. Smokers would say that smoking can relieve stress, depression or anxiety but it is the other way around. Smoking can make your life more miserable, why? The answer is simple: You will waste your money on buying cigarettes and worst, you will acquire disease from smoking. But if you opt to quit, you can spend your money on other useful things as well as the length and quality of your life and the lives of people around you will improve. Before it’s too late, you need to discover and understand why quitting smoking is hard and the steps that can be done to successfully quit.
Why it is hard?
It is hard to fight nicotine addiction. Cigarettes contain a highly addictive content known as nicotine. This can usually found in tobacco. When it is inhaled, it travels immediately to the brain and can cause a feeling of momentary stress relief or relaxation. Nicotine can also uplift your heart rate and your mood. However, this feeling is momentary. After you dilute the drugs from your body, you will crave for another cigarette.
If you are craving, you may use a Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). Get advice from a pharmacist or practice nurse. Schedule a date to start. You may prefer to quit smoking at night and the next day, use an NRT, although some people may prefer to use NRT while they are still smoking. You can cut-down your smoking habit gradually. You may also, combine NRT with other quit smoking medicines that may help you quit smoking, such as varenicline or bupropion.
There are lots of smoking triggers. Emotional stress, alcohol and other smokers can usually trigger a person to smoke. You may apply these tactics to avoid smoking triggers: 1) Emotional stress: try to adjust to situations without smoking. Have a positive outlook if you’re experiencing a stressful situation. It can lessen your burden anyway. 2) Alcohol: If you can’t avoid drinking alcohol, at least limit the amount you’re drinking. And 3) Other smokers: surround yourself with non-smokers or avoid other smokers. If your co-workers, friends or family members are smokers, tell them that you’re quitting smoking so that they won’t smoke in front of you.
Lack of discipline. Most people fail to quit smoking because they are lack of discipline. They have different beliefs that defend smoking such as, “I will only smoke one”, “I will smoke because I’m too stressed”, or “I will quit next month”. These are the usual behavior of a smoker who lacks discipline. If you’re planning to quit, ensure that you’ll going to strictly observe your schedule of quitting.
Tobacco advertising. It is the advertising of tobacco products or usually cigarette smoking. Tobacco companies have good marketing strategies. They’re using a variety of media or even sponsorship to different types of events. That’s why some smokers get easily attracted with advertisements. But some forms of tobacco advertising are already banned in many countries. This is one of the most controlled types of marketing. If you’re a smoker and you tend to see any forms of advertising, ignore it and don’t easily believe on what they’re trying to promote.
