How to Quit Smoking: 11 Best Ways According to Scientists

2023 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-07-28 10:38

Passion for cigarettes can be defeated with a glass of milk.

According to the researchers, those who decide to quit smoking make up to 30 attempts Estimating the number of quit attempts it takes to quit smoking successfully in a longitudinal cohort of smokers before they succeed. This is due to the difficulties of giving up bad habits in general, as well as to the individual characteristics of the organism.

The method that worked for five of your friends may misfire. Conversely, you can come up with your own way to quit smoking, which categorically will not work for your friends, but will be incredibly effective in your case.

These 11 ways to quit smoking have been proven to be effective both statistically and scientifically. Try to find your own among them.

1. Set a date to get ready

This is where the experts recommend 10 Useful Tips to Help You Quit Smoking to start your personal fight against smoking. And for good reason.

Most smokers at least once in their lives decided: "That's it, from tomorrow - not a single puff!" Of course, they kept their word. Up to the first nervous shock or the moment of forgetting. "Oh, I'm with a cigarette, I don't even know how it happened …"

The problem is that smoking is not only physiological, but also psychological addiction. You may not be aware of this, but the cigarette is closely related to significant, vital things. For example, the ability to breathe out in the midst of a hectic day at work. Discuss in the smoking room what should not be discussed in the office. Talk on the phone with your loved one. Drink a cup of coffee without thinking about anything - just "sticking" into the landscape around.

If you quit smoking one day, a gaping hole forms in the place of those meaningful pleasures. Everything seems to be OK, a cup of coffee in hand, but something is missing. And this scarcity spoils all the fun.

Or a little differently: before, a smoke break was an opportunity to take a pause relatively legally, but now you do not smoke, which means that there seems to be no reason for a pause. And so you continue to work without interruption, exhausting the nervous system and driving yourself into a state of permanent fatigue. It is not surprising that your subconscious mind will try to return the saving cigarette, which is associated with relaxation and pleasure. And it will return, believe me.

Therefore, quitting smoking from tomorrow is a controversial option. Better to set an exact date.

Not too close to get ready, and not too far away to change your mind.

The preparation is as follows. You need to decouple smoking from everyday rest and pleasure. If you are used to combining a cup of coffee with a cigarette - drink, but without a cigarette. Make a promise to yourself, “I’ll have my coffee, and I’ll have a smoke in 15 minutes,” and keep your promise. If you need informal communication with colleagues, go to it without a cigarette, again promising yourself a smoke break some time later.

When day X finally comes, your withdrawal from smoking cessation will not be so strong, because at least you will psychologically prepare for it.

2. Write down triggers and eliminate them from life

This recommendation is partly related to the paragraph above. The bottom line is that often we could not smoke. But there are situations that actually make us reach for the pack. These are the so-called Know Your Smoking Triggers.

Calculate them: For several days, scrupulously describe all the moments when you lit a cigarette. "I drink my morning coffee." "I lit a cigarette to talk to the girl." "I went out with colleagues to the yard, I smoke for the company." Then try to modify at least those situations that are repeated day after day.

For example, if you are used to smoking a cigarette with your morning coffee, start drinking tea. Or go for healthy breakfasts altogether: you are unlikely to want to smoke with oatmeal.

Try to develop a replacement strategy for each of the triggers you find. You will not get rid of the addiction right away, but you will be able to significantly reduce the amount of nicotine. And this is a serious step towards success.

3. Replace smoking with other pleasures or activities

The ideal time for How to Curb Stress While You Quit Smoking to quit smoking is vacation. There are no stresses that provoke the craving for a cigarette. There are plenty of interesting activities.

It is enough not to take cigarettes with you on a rafting down a stormy mountain river or go on a bus tour across Europe, where no one will slow down or air the Louvre in order to give you the opportunity to smoke, and you will be surprised to find that you can easily do without smoke for several rich and interesting days.

The main thing here is to take from such an experience the realization: "I smoke not because I want to, but because I am simply bored and have nothing to do with myself."

Sounds so-so, right? Try to get rid of boredom. Look for activities that can replace cigarettes. And you will quit smoking.

4. Go in for sports

When it comes to substitution therapy, exercise is one of the healthiest options. As research shows How exercise can help you to quit smoking, exercising distracts from the thought of cigarettes, improves mood and gives a sense of self-control.

After working with a barbell or swimming a kilometer or two, you begin to feel like a strong, strong-willed person who is quite in the teeth not to compromise principles for some kind of tightening.

5. Figure out how to overcome the impulse

The desire to smoke most often arises spontaneously. At first, emotionally, we grab a cigarette, drag on, and only then the brain yells: "What are you doing, we promised!" And it's late.

Therefore, it is extremely important to maintain a short pause between "Oh, how I want to smoke" and the flick of the lighter. This pause is really short.

Experts assure 8 Tips to Quit Smoking for Good in 2017 that a keen desire to grab a cigarette lasts no more than 3-5 minutes.

Think of how you can fill this time - and try to bring this action to an automatic level.

For example, I was drawn to nicotine - we do push-ups several times. Or we stand in the bar for a minute. Or we chew a hard apple. Or we gnaw on a toothpick. Or just open the window and take a few deep breaths.

Any option will do, as long as the pause filler is always at hand at the right time.

6. Connect social networks

It sounds funny, but those smokers who talk about their fight against a bad habit on social networks are successful Using Facebook, Twitter To Quit Smoking: How Social Media Helps You Overcome Addiction much more often than those who are trying to fight offline cigarette cravings. …

Facebook or Twitter makes you feel like you are supported by other people. In addition, social media is full of motivating stories from those who have already quit smoking. And the more we get acquainted with other people's successful cases, the more we believe in our own victory.

7. Increase the content of vegetables and fruits in the diet

A study by scientists from the University of Buffalo (USA) proved Trying to Quit Smoking? Try Eating More Fruits and Vegetables: The more vegetables and fruits a person eats, the easier he will endure smoking cessation.

The point is that our brains often confuse cravings for tobacco with cravings for fiber.

Having treated ourselves to a cabbage salad or a crispy apple, we deceive the body: it begins to feel as if it has already received what it wants, and therefore the cigarette seems to be irrelevant.

8. Drink milk

Researchers from Duke University (USA) found that milk spoils the Quit-Smoking Diet: Veggies, Milk cigarette taste.

The same study also found foods that, in contrast, subjectively improve the flavor of the smoke. Therefore, if you are really going to quit, try to indulge in less meat, coffee and alcoholic beverages.

9. Be Prepared for Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)

This is one of the most popular smoking cessation methods. Especially among those who have already tried unsuccessfully to resolve the issue in one fell swoop.

Nicotine patches, special chewing gum, sprays, lozenges really help to cope with acute cravings for tobacco, which is almost inevitable in the first phase of smoking cessation.

Substitution therapy is only a temporary measure. Its main task is to facilitate the process of quitting cigarettes.

But as for the common electronic cigarettes, doctors are in some confusion. For example, Glen Morgan of the National Cancer Institute (USA) assures Kick the Habit: 10 Scientific Quit-Smoking Tips that there is not a single clinical study that would prove the effectiveness of e-cigarettes in the fight against smoking.

Moreover, such devices can even be harmful, because the contents of the cartridges are not regulated, and therefore users simply do not know what toxins enter their body with each "safe" puff.

10. Seek help from a specialist

For a start - to the therapist. There are medications that block receptors associated with nicotine addiction in the brain. As a result, a person gradually and gently weaned from cigarettes. But medication treatment has a number of side effects, so only a qualified doctor can prescribe and carry out it.

An option is to undergo behavioral therapy with the help of a psychotherapist. This specialist will analyze your psychological profile, help you find the reasons that make you crave for cigarettes, and tell you how to adjust your lifestyle so that your cravings for nicotine decrease. Ideally, to zero.

11. Use a combined approach

There is no need to get hung up on any one method. Try mixing several methods, choosing the ones that seem the most reasonable and comfortable to you. This will greatly increase your chances of success.