Smoking used to enjoy huge popularity, with large swathes of the population enjoying it, but the trend has started to die, as the dangers to your health that smoking poses were exposed. Not only is it highly addictive, but it also increases your chances for cancer, liver problems and lung problems. Yellow fingers, dirty teeth and bad breath are all hallmarks of a smoker. Many smokers want to quit, but don’t know how, and if this is you, here are four tips for starting your journey to quitting smoking.
Start Vaping
Lots of smokers decide to try and quit by going cold turkey, which essentially means they stop altogether all of a sudden. While this approach does work for some people, the majority of us who try to quit cold turkey, end up failing. However, if you don’t want to reach out for help just yet, vaping can be a good way to start kicking your addiction. For those who don’t know, vaping is using an electronic device to turn a liquid, normally called vape juice, into vapor, which can then be inhaled through the mouth. There are a lot of different vape juices out there, and to quit smoking you’ll probably want to find one that contains nicotine (the addictive element of smoking tobacco). This allows you to still satisfy your craving for nicotine, without the many other harmful elements of tobacco. Plus, there’s loads of different flavours to choose from.
Get the Help Of Your Doctor
Your doctor knows your health best, and has been trained to help people kick a smoking addiction. They can prescribe medications such as Chantix or Zyban to help you quit. These work mostly by acting on the brain, specifically at the sites of the brain that are most affected by nicotine, which helps with withdrawal symptoms and blocks the effects of nicotine.
Make Sure You Have the Support of Your Family and Friends
It may be difficult at first to open up to those around you, but your friends and family are your most invaluable resource. They are the ones you can go to when you start to struggle or flag. If you have a relapse, they are the ones who can help you to get back on track. So, don’t be afraid to tell them of your plans to quit smoking and ask them to help and support you. Often times the people around us aren’t sure how they can help, so think of some constructive ways for your friends and family to help you such as: sending you reminders, or stopping you if they catch you smoking.
Try Therapy
Many people associate therapy with depression, anxiety or some other mental health disorder, but few consider it when thinking about quitting smoking. The truth is smoking is an addiction, and an addiction is a form of mental illness and can ruin your life if you let it. Luckily, therapy can help. Cognitive behavioural therapy is the most common form of therapy for helping you to quit smoking, as it helps to develop alternative thinking patterns and coping strategies for dealing with addiction.
Can you think of any more ideas? Let us know in the comments.
