Smoking, in addition to negatively affect the quality of life, leads to various chronic diseases. Smoking increases the risk of lung, mouth, esophagus, throat, pancreas, cervix, stomach, liver, colon, bladder, rectum, and kidney cancers and acute myeloid leukemia.
Problems caused by smoking are not limited to cancer types. Smoking increases the risk of developing long-term lung diseases such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Likewise, risk of heart attacks, strokes, blood vessel diseases, and eye diseases is also higher for smokers.
Today, personal, and collective understanding of harms of smoking quickly improves. The number of people who quit or et least try to quit smoking increases each year. Because of the addictive properties of nicotine, quitting smoking is not an easy task. However, quitting smoking is always possible from people who take the right steps and make the required effort. In this article, you will find suggestions which may help you and support you in your quitting smoking attempt!
Step 1: You Should Understand Why You Need to Quit Smoking
You may ask “Isn’t it enough that I want to quit smoking?”. Of course, will to quit smoking is an important step taken. However, it is also important that your will is not temporary or weak enough to be ignored during the hard part of the journey. It will make it easier to have the motivation you need during the quitting phase, if you obtain extensive information about the harms of smoking, and if you directly observe the negative effects of smoking on your life.
Step 2: Decide to Quit Smoking
You need to understand that quitting smoking is a process of getting rid of and addiction. Because smoking is an addiction, not smoking will get harder for a while, before eventually get easier. It is important that your point of view does not change even during the hard parts of the journey where the strength of your intent will be tested. The most effective approach is starting off with a well-thought and solid decision.
Step 3: Keep Yourself Busy
Focus on activities which will keep your attention busy and give you joy. During the early period of quitting, encourage yourself to do something, even if you don’t want to do anything. If you don’t have anything to do, your attention may be directed on your addiction and your brain may rationalize your addictive impulses. Adopting an active and healthy lifestyle will improve your energy and protect you from negative feelings and situations which may have been caused your addiction in the first place.
Step 4: Avoid Triggers
One of the main reasons that quitting smoking is difficult is that smoking becomes a part of everyday tasks. Many smoker can’t imagine that they can drink alcoholic beverages, drink coffee or chat with close friends without smoking. The smoker may want to light a cigarette when he/she finished his/her meal, went to outside to take a walk, or started to watch a movie. Therefore, quitting smoking is not only getting rid of the nicotine. Quitting smoking means that, you are learning to experience almost all parts of the life, without smoking. Therefore, especially during the early stages, avoiding trigger activities and places will be helpful. The steps that should be taken are different for each person , depending their personal lifestyles and habits. But we can still provide a few general suggestions:
– If possible, try to avoid alcohol and caffeine for a while.
– Avoid places where people smoke cigarettes for enough time.
– Spend time at places where smoking is not allowed.
– Don’t keep cigarettes, lighters and ashtrays in your house.
Step 5: Don’t Give Up If You Fail
You may not be successful at your first attempt. Everything may be great for a while but then you may find yourself smoking. Remember, this is not something only you experience. Quitting smoking is hard as much as it is necessary. Therefore, if you light a cigarette, see this as an opportunity. Overview your life and yourself. Understand the situations and places which encourage you to smoke. After a while, considering these, try quitting smoking again. Don’t forget, there are many people who have succeeded to quit smoking, eventhough they had failed many times before.
Why is Quitting Smoking Hard?
The difficulty rises from 2 main reason. The first reason is that cigarettes contain nicotine, an addictive compound. A person who is addicted to nicotine, needs nicotine to feel normal. When this “need” is not satisfied, he/she does not feel alright. The second reason is that cigarettes become a part of almost all moments of the day.
Why Should I Quit Smoking?
Smoking cigarettes increases your risk of heart attacks and strokes. Smoking also increases your risk of developing various types of cancer. Smoking negatively affects your breathing and decreases your physical performance.
What Should I Do If I Fail?
You should overview the factors that prevent you from quitting smoking and try to quit smoking again. Many people succeed only after at least their second or third attempts. If you fail quitting smoking no matter what you do, you can try medical assistance. Certain medications and products like nicotine gums may ease the process of quitting. If you want to utilize these, consult with your doctor.
