AIDS TO QUIT SMOKING

Smoking cigarette is one of the most common addictions found in the world. The people smoke to relieve their so-called stress and troubles. There are mainly three forms of smoking- Social smoking, habitual smoking and passive smoking. Social smoking doesn?t require any quitting aids and passive smoking has no aids to quit therefore the aids to quit smoking is only available for habitual smokers.

There are many aids which are available in the market which help the smoker to quit smoking. But unless the smoker has the will and determination to quit, nothing can help him. The smoker should make up his mind that he needs to quit smoking. For that he has to understand how harmful smoking is and how smoking affects the body. Once he understands and decides to quit there are following quitting aids available:

ALTERNATIVE METHODS TO QUIT SMOKING

There are many million people all over the world who are addicted to smoking. Out of those, many people are interested to quit smoking for their own benefit. Quitting smoking is a very difficult task and it needs a lot of self control and willpower to quit smoking. There are many people who do not get much help through the nicotine replacement therapy, for them some alternative methods are available which are as effective as the conventional therapies.

1. Hypnosis- hypnosis has been found quite effective in controlling the urge to smoke. In this the habitual behaviors are broken and replaced with new behaviors. The patient is put into deep relaxing state and with suggestion, the behavior is changed. Hypnosis has shown a success rate of about 40%. People who attended the full treatment session by highly trained hypno-therapist have shown a positive result. About 81% patients quit smoking after the full treatment and 48% didn?t take up smoking again even after one year.

Breathing Techniques can help you Stop Smoking

Here is a very simple and healthy method of smoking cessation. It will also be a way to quit the smoking habit without it costing a lot of money or time. This is a simple method called ?Focusing on Breathing?. Reports from those who have been using this method say that without doing anything else except practicing this method in the morning and the evening, their need to smoke has gradually decreased until they were able to quit completely.

When a person smokes, fifty percent of the air that they breathe is filtered through their cigarette into their lungs. To overcome urges to smoke, take three deep breaths. Try to breathe from that place which is just under the belly button. This will add oxygen into the bloodstream and will change the way you are feeling immediately. This will give you the strength to overcome cravings and make it easier to stop smoking permanently.

Tips on Using the Cold Turkey Method to Stop Smoking

The success rate for those who stop smoking using the ?Cold Turkey? method is very high. It is not as difficult as it sounds. Any method you decide to use to stop smoking is going to be difficult but using the ?cold turkey? method may raise your chances for success. When you use a method that merely reduces your smoking, it is not really stopping. You may be smoking less but you are still smoking, so this is seldom a successful method.

The Cold Turkey method of quitting smoking means NO smoking. This is a big change in your life so you will need to make some changes to insure success. For instance, if hanging out with friends on Saturday night means lighting up a cigarette, then avoiding this will be necessary until you have quit for at least a full month. It is much like when a person is obese and needs to lose weight, they have to avoid the all you can eat food bar and the candy store to accomplish their goals.

CONTROL THE WEIGHT GAIN AFTER YOU HAVE QUIT SMOKING

Gain a few pounds after you quit smoking is a normal feature. Most of the people who quit smoking report a gain of few pounds. The reasons for gaining weight when you quit smoking are:

? Cigarette appeases appetite: Cigarette and especially nicotine act as an appetite suppressant and people who smoke don?t feel hungry. This reduces their food intake but when they quit smoking the appetite returns and the person eats more. Nicotine also stimulates insulin release which keeps the body away from hunger. But when the person quit smoking, he may become hyperglycemic and crave for food.

? The taste buds are dulled: The people who smoke continuously, have fewer taste buds as the sensation of tongue diminishes. Therefore the people who smoke don?t get any taste in the food and they don?t enjoy the food.

DANGERS OF PASSIVE SMOKING

Passive smoking was not considered much of danger till recently. It was thought that only the smokers suffer from the dangers of smoking. But now it has been found that people who inhale the smoke of the cigarette i.e. are the passive smokers suffer more than the active smoker. The smokers exhale the toxic smoke after taking the puff. It was believed that children are the greatest sufferers of passive smoking, but now it is an established fact that even the adults and more specifically the senior citizens are also badly affected. Because of the imminent danger of passive smoking, it is banned in the public places in most of the countries in the world.

Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) or passive smoke is a dangerous mixture of contaminants, side stream smoke that is the smoke generate due to lightning of cigarettes and mainstream smoke which is the smoke exhaled by the smokers. There are about 4000 chemical compounds in the ETS which makes them more carcinogenic than active smoking.

Discover some Helpful Tips on Smoking Cessation

If you have decided it is time to stop smoking, you will find the following suggestions helpful. Quitting smoking is a matter first and foremost, of making up your mind it is time to quit. The first thing you must do once you have made this decision if to set a specific day and time to quit and then quit altogether.

The day will come to quit and you need to be prepared for this momentous event. To prepare you will need to spend some time analyzing your smoking habits. Keep a diary and list what you are doing when you are smoking, how you are feeling, and specific times of the day you tend to light up a cigarette. In your diary, write down each specific time you do smoke and make a note of what you were doing, how you felt and what time of the day it was.

THE SIDE EFFECT OF QUITTING CIGERRATE: INSOMNIA

Insomnia is a sleeping disorder in which the person can?t sleep soundly. There is so much of sleep disturbance that people start having difficulty in performing their routine duties. This is basically a psychological disorder but insomnia can be a withdrawal symptom of quitting smoking. When a heavy smoker quit smoking, insomnia is a common side effect. Though there are some people who sleep more after quitting smoking, most of the people experience insomnia in some measure.

As insomnia is a normal feature and there is no cure for it, it can be arrested with some methods. The methods should be:

? Avoid caffeine and colas: The caffeine found in coffee is a stimulant which can trigger insomnia. The caffeine gets digested in the body of smoker very fast. Moreover, coffee and smoking go hand in hand. When the heavy smoker quits smoking, and consumes even a little caffeine, he is supposed to feel anxious and restless. Some people can?t tolerate coffee even in very small doses. Colas and cokes also have stimulants. Therefore to avoid insomnia, stop the consumption of coffee completely. A month or so after quitting, one may feel better to drink coffee.

MANAGE STRESS WITHOUT SMOKING

Daily events can cause stress in any person. The anxiety related to job, children, money, family, disease etc can cause stress in everyone. The people try to tackle the stress in their life in different ways. Some persons can become depressed and others can take to substance abuse. Smoking is the most common ways to relieve stress.

Nicotine has the ingredients to calm the brain:

Nicotine found in the cigarettes stimulates the chemicals in the brain. These chemicals are able to give a relaxed feeling to the body. The chemicals norepinephrine, dopamine, vasopressin etc allows the body to be more alert. They trim down pain and anxiety. When one smokes, the nicotine triggers these chemicals in the blood which give a soothing and calm effect to the body. Due to the chemicals, there is a mood swing and the smokers feel pleasure. But this feeling of pleasure is temporary and the harmful effects of smoking are far reaching.

NICOTINE WITHDRAWL SYNDROME

When any person who is addicted to smoking for a very long time, quit smoking abruptly some symptoms are seen which are associated with the quitting. The symptoms occur because the body is accustomed to nicotine which gets into the body through cigarette. The nicotine contains many neurotransmitters which give the feelings of relaxation, pleasure and happiness. But when these neurotransmitters stop getting into the bloodstream, the smokers will feel the opposite feelings. These negative feelings may make the person return to smoking.

When the smoker quit smoking, within the next 24 hours the nicotine withdrawal symptoms occur as it takes about 24 hours for the body to throw out all the nicotine. These symptoms are at their peak in the first week and may continue for 2- 5 weeks. Some of the people may find that some symptoms may continue for more than two months.