You’ve decided to quit smoking. Now comes the hard part. It is tough to quit smoking. There’s no getting around that. But with preparation, careful planning and determination, you can get through it. Here are some strategies for how to quit smoking.
Know the Smoking Risks
First, it’s important to keep in mind that there are many risks to continued smoking. It’s wise to take a look at them to help you solidify your intention to quit smoking.
Short-term health risks include increased coughing, the start of worsening asthma symptoms, and shortness of breath. Long-term health risks include emphysema, heart attack and stroke, lung disease and cancer. There are also risks to others. These include family members getting lung cancer or heart attack, children starting to smoke because you do or getting frequent ear infections or asthma, and infants succumbing to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
The American Lung Association says that more than 392,000 people in the U.S. die every year from tobacco-caused disease, making it the leading cause of preventable death. In addition, 50,000 people die each year from second-hand smoke. Thousands of young people pick up a cigarette and begin smoking every day. Thus, the cycle of addiction, disease and death continues – all due to a completely preventable condition.
Make a Plan to Quit
Second, you have to have a plan. When you decide to stop smoking, recognize that it won’t happen by itself. You have to make it happen. That entails making a plan. Identify potential problems along with barriers you will face.
• Set goals – Break your plan into a series of smaller goals. Such goals should answer questions such as by when, how long, or what. For example, you may write, “I will make daily entries into my quit smoking journal for one week. I will start tomorrow.”
• Set a start date – You can’t stop smoking if you don’t begin your program. Get yourself motivated by putting down a specific start date – and then stick to it. Experts advise avoiding high-stress days such as holidays, birthdays or vacations.
• Plan your rewards – Put down ways to reward yourself when you reach certain milestones: the first day you don’t smoke, after the first week, a month, two months, six months, and a year. Write the ways you will reward yourself. This may be a gift you give yourself, going away for a weekend with your spouse or significant other, buying new clothes, going out for a special event in celebration.
• Pace yourself – You just may need longer to accomplish your goal to quit smoking. Understand that some of the obstacles you encounter will still cause you to be tempted for many months after you quit smoking. This may be the smell of cigarette smoke as you pass by other smokers, the sound or sight of someone lighting up on TV or in the movies, being around certain friends or family members who smoke.
• Be realistic – When you set down your goals, it’s important to be realistic about them. Make sure they’re doable for you. For example, make a goal to start by cutting back to 10 cigarettes a day instead of your current 20. You can step down from that, incrementally.
• Make small (but important changes) – Ditch all your cigarettes – from your house, car, and garage, office, stashed away in hiding places. Toss out your cigarette lighters (even those with sentimental attachment, costly ones, etc.), ashtrays, pipes, cigars, and snuff containers – anything associated with smoking.
• Clean house – Literally and figuratively, you need to freshen things up in your surroundings. This includes cleaning the house to get out the smoke residue in curtains, walls, upholstery.
• Don’t allow smoking in the home – Make sure everyone abides by this rule. Smoke traces will only contribute to your urge to pick up a cigarette.
Make a Conscious Choice to Quit Smoking
All anti-smoking plans involve making a choice not to smoke, but it’s very important to make this a conscious choice. And you don’t just say you’re going to quit smoking, start the plan and forget about your choice. No, you need to remind yourself daily that you are not a smoker and you choose a life free of smoking. This conscious choice is an affirmation of the way you want to live. Repeating it daily, and whenever you encounter temptations, feel the pull of triggers, or experience withdrawal symptoms, will help you in your overall goal to quit smoking.
The toughest time will be the first 24 hours. Once you get through this critical time, it will get progressively easier to stick to your quit smoking plan – if you utilize your strategies.
About Urges
Regarding urges, you can’t stop them completely, but you can deal with them – one at a time. Give yourself time for the urges to pass. Experts say that urges will generally last no more than 6 minutes. You can time it to see how long yours last. Plan in advance what you’ll do when these urges occur. Don’t think you can “just smoke one” cigarette to get rid of the urge. It will only increase the frequency and intensity of the urges and quitting will be all the more difficult.
Exercise is a good way to combat urges. Strenuous exercise (it can be anything from walking around the block to playing sports) helps relieve tension and prevents weight gain in addition to distracting you while the urges pass.
Deep breathing exercises also help. Every time you have the urge to smoke, engage in five minutes of deep breathing. Repeat this at regular intervals throughout the day. Deep breathing not only helps curb urges, it also is one of the best relaxation techniques there is. It’s also easy, convenient, and it doesn’t cost you anything except a few minutes.
It also helps to control your blood sugar by eating small meals more frequently. Eating foods rich in unrefined carbohydrates gives your body a steady source of glucose. And glucose helps you combat nicotine-created “highs” and “lows.”
Know – and Deal With – Triggers
Triggers may be people, events, places, or certain times. Learn to identify your triggers for smoking and plan for how to deal with them before you begin your stop smoking program. Some common triggers include:
• Alcohol, stress, and being around other heavy (or light) smokers.
• Routine – smoking after a meal, when you get up in the morning, just before you go to bed, after or before exercise.
• Places – a bar or restaurant, family get-togethers (times of high stress), outside of work.
• Times – Happy Hour on Friday nights, certain times of the day or night), holidays.
• Events – Anniversaries, birthdays, before making a speech, a job interview.
How you deal with your triggers will vary. For some people, acknowledging a trigger and focusing on coping strategies works. Distraction, counseling, having telephone support, exercise or medication works for others. Some people use a combination of all of these. The important point is to have a strategy in place to deal with your triggers – and then use it.
Combat Weight Gain
Many people, especially women, are afraid of gaining weight if they stop smoking. Some even begin smoking as a means of losing weight. Here are some suggestions to help you combat potential weight gain during your stop smoking campaign:
• Increase your daily intake of fresh fruits and vegetables. Avoid high-fat foods. Add more whole grain products into your diet.
• Get out there and exercise. Being active helps you feel better and keep off the pounds. Aim for at least 20 minutes of strenuous physical exercise – walking, hiking, and working out, etc. – at least four times a week.
• Need to chew? Use a substitute. Instead of food, try chewing gum. Nicotine replacement gum is a good choice for many since it satisfies the urge to chew, helps reduce cravings, and doesn’t add weight. Other chew substitutes include a straw, coffee stirrer or Popsicle stick. Don’t laugh. They work.
• Anti-smoking medications – Besides helping you to stop smoking by reducing cravings, anti-smoking medications may help you keep weight off.
About Taking Medication
Quitting smoking is stressful. You have cravings, powerful urges to smoke. There are withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, sleeplessness, lethargy and headaches. These symptoms may last for 2-3 weeks as your body is trying to heal from the addiction of smoking.
A common reason people relapse into smoking again is that they can’t deal with the cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Medication may help. And research studies show that taking anti-smoking medication may double your chance of success at quitting smoking.
Are you afraid of replacing one addiction with another? Non-smoking aids are not addictive and, when used as directed, have few side effects for most people. And you won’t need to take the medicine forever – just as long as you need to stop smoking.
Your employer or health plan may pay for a stop smoking program and/or help to pay for the cost of medication. Another plus is that medication to stop smoking costs far less than the smoking products themselves. Once you’ve quit, you’re done with the medication and the cigarettes.
There are two types of medications you can take in your stop smoking program: nicotine replacement products and prescription medicines.
• Nicotine replacement products include nicotine gum, patches, lozenges and inhalers. This is a first choice and recommended by doctors – for individuals who wish to stop smoking. Nicotine replacement products can be purchased over-the-counter (OTC) and do not require a prescription.
• Prescription medicines to help individuals quit smoking include bupropion (Zyban, Wellbutrin), varenicline (Chantix), nortriptyline (Aventyl, Pamelor), and clonidine (Catapres). These are non-nicotine prescription medicines that can be taken alone or in combination with nicotine replacement products. Bupropion and varenicline are taken before you quit smoking (1-2 weeks for bupropion, one week for varenicline), and continued for 7-12 weeks (bupropion) or 12-24 weeks (varenicline) after you quit smoking. Bupropion can be taken for 6 months to a year. Varenicline helps reduce withdrawal symptoms, cravings to smoke, and the pleasure you feel with smoking.
Medication Risks
Any decision to take anti-smoking medication should be made in conjunction with your doctor’s recommendation. There are risks for prescription medications, potential side effects that some – but not all – users may experience.
Itching and redness may appear at the site of nicotine replacement patches.
Common side effects of varenicline include constipation, increase in dreaming, and nausea. Most people who use varenicline and a nicotine patch will experience dizziness, headaches and nausea. Caution: varenicline may make symptoms of mental illness worse, or it may bring back symptoms in people that have had a mental illness such as bipolar disorder or depression.
Bupropion’s common side effects include dry mouth and trouble sleeping. There is a small risk of seizure in some people taking bupropion. This risk increases if you have had seizures in the past (before taking bupropion).
Be sure to inform your doctor about any other medications (prescription and OTC) you are taking, along with any vitamins and supplements. Using anti-smoking medication may change the way those medications work.
Note that the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) warns that people taking varenicline or bupropion that experience serious or unusual mood or behavior changes or who feel like hurting themselves or others should stop taking the medication and immediately contact their doctor. If friends or family members notice such changes in mood or behavior in someone taking the anti-smoking medications, they should encourage the person to stop taking the medication and contact their doctor right away.
How to Decide About Anti-Smoking Medication
Experts recommend the following when making a decision about whether to take anti-smoking medication to quit smoking.
• Reasons to take – If you smoke more than 10 cigarettes per day, tried to quit in the past without medication and it didn’t work, you have withdrawal symptoms when you try to quit (grouchiness, inability to focus or concentrate on what you’re doing, hunger), you may wish to take anti-smoking medication.
• Reasons not to take – Persons under 18, women who are breast-feeding or pregnant, and those who smoke fewer than 10 cigarettes a day should not take anti-smoking medication.
Where to Find Support
Counseling and support are critical to a successful stop smoking program. Research shows that people who use group, one-on-one counseling or telephone support systems are much more likely to stop smoking. It’s not hard to find such support, either. Make use of any and all outlets to get the support you need, including:
• Friends and family – Your loved ones and close friends, even coworkers, can offer encouragement, a shoulder to lean on when you’re having trouble, recognition and reinforcement of your commitment to quit, a distraction when you need it, and understanding when you’re in the midst of withdrawal symptoms.
• Counseling services can help provide practical ideas and tips on how to avoid common mistakes when you begin your stop smoking program.
• Consult with your physician, a nurse or a therapist.
• Check with your local hospital or county health department about programs to quit smoking.
• Call the National Tobacco Quit Line at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669).
• Stop smoking plans – Check out the American Lung Association’s Freedom from Smoking program available through www.lungusa.com or QuitNet (www.quitnet.com). Anti-smoking programs can benefit you by offering help deciding which medicine may be right for you, daily email reminder messages, email, live chat or online support from counselors and others who have quit smoking.
What If You Relapse?
It’s not the end of the world if you fall back into your habit of smoking. Recognize this and prepare yourself ahead of time for what you’ll do if this happens – and, it may not. Experts say that many people try unsuccessfully to quit smoking before they finally get it out of their system for good. All it means when you relapse is that your strategies didn’t work quite as well as you’d hoped. It doesn’t mean you’re a failure or a bad person. You just need to rededicate yourself to your effort, take a look at what did work and incorporate more of that into your new plan, and examine what didn’t work so that you can eliminate that or avoid it in the future.
If you didn’t use medication the first time around, maybe you should consider it this time. Or, if you used medication but didn’t get counseling, try adding that to the mix. Experts say that the best success in anti-smoking efforts occurs when people use medication and counseling together.
Above all, don’t give up. The process of quitting smoking – especially for long-time smokers – is tough and it takes time. Not everyone succeeds the first time out. Keep reminding yourself of why you want to quit smoking, the benefits or goals you have in your action plan. Post these where you can see them every day – on your dresser or bathroom mirror, on a 3×5 card you keep in your purse, at your desk, in a small photo frame or elsewhere. This serves as reinforcement and a positive reminder that you are striving for something truly worthwhile.
You can do it. You really can quit smoking. Make your plan and start today.
