Quit Smoking Successfully With These Good Tips

Chris Kostopoulos Mar 13, 2013 · 4 min read

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Nicotine is incredibly addictive. This is why kicking the cigarette habit is probably the hardest thing a person can do. See to it that you have good information on how to proceed in order to have a good chance of achieving your goal.

Cut back before you quit. This will help you get started on your journey to stop smoking. Wait one hour after waking to have your first cigarette in the morning, and quit smoking after dinner. A great way to reduce the amount of cigarettes you are smoking is to only allow yourself to be able to smoke half of the cigarette at any time.

TIP! Acknowledge that it may take three or more times to quit. First, set a quit date and quit smoking altogether on that date.

Try hypnosis to help you quit smoking. Many smokers have had a good success rate with the help of a licensed hypnotist. The hypnotist can put you into a deep trance and provide you with positive affirmations that stay embedded in your mind. The effect is that smoking does not seem so powerful and appealing once you awake from the trance. This makes quitting for good much easier.

Make up a mantra of your top reasons for quitting. Repeat them to yourself, whenever you feel the urge to smoke. This is a great way to focus your attention away from withdrawal and towards positivity.

Use a good delay tactic when you are feeling an overwhelming desire to smoke a cigarette. By telling yourself you will check back in ten minutes to see if you still want a cigarette, you will usually avoid the craving. If you still feel the urge, repeat the process! Tell yourself you’ll wait five to ten minutes before smoking.

TIP! Find support groups, either locally or in the online community. You’ll find many different groups which are open to all or focus on a niche.

Once you make the decision to stop smoking, it is critical that you resolve to persevere. Most people have finally stopped smoking have several failed attempts in their past. If you fall off the wagon and have a smoke, figure out what triggered it, then pick yourself up and get back on your no-smoking plan.

Consider keeping a photograph of your family with you at all times while you stop smoking to remind you of your motivation. Statistics say that one in five deaths in America alone are tied to smoking cigarettes. No one wants to be known as just a statistic.

There are also medications and treatments that you can do in order to help you stop smoking, so you may want to speak with your doctor about what your options are. There are quite a few options out there for you to help you quit. Nicotine replacement products and medications that reduce withdrawal symptoms are just a couple of the options available. Ask your doctor what they recommend to help you quit for good.

TIP! Be prepared for urges, even if you haven’t smokes in years. It’s key that you don’t ever take a puff again.

Tell yourself that if you successfully stop smoking, you will be able to indulge in a wonderful reward. If you can stop purchasing cigarettes, you will see the savings add up. Buy yourself a treat with the money you save to reward yourself for your hard work and dedication. This is one of the best motivators for quitting.

If you want to stay motivated and stick to your goal of not smoking, remind yourself of the serious health problems that smoking causes. Take a look at some pictures of advanced gum and lung cancer cases, or read some of the dedication pages that people have made for loved ones lost to smoking-related diseases.

You should start another habit that gets on someone’s nerves who constantly nags you when you are smoking. IF you quit because of another person, you’re giving them leverage and power over you. Do not allow criticisms from others to direct your life; work on your own terms to meet your goal. Do it for yourself and you will find that it is infinitely more gratifying.

Deep Breathing

To help with cravings, practice deep breathing. Count to ten while breathing in deeply through the nose. Hold the breath, and then let it out through your mouth while counting to ten. This will reduce all of the stress you feel from cravings and will shift your attention. This deep breathing also make you more aware of your respiratory system and how it improves with each day you don’t smoke a cigarette.

If you don’t like the idea of medication or patches to help in your quit, why not give acupuncture a try? Acupuncturists place needles in strategic locations on your body to help you reduce cravings or unpleasant emotions associated with quitting. Although this may unpleasant and like it might hurt, the majority of people who undergo the procedure experience minimal discomfort or none at all.

TIP! Look for a replacement item for your hands and mouth when you are quitting smoking. Maybe you would be comfortable holding a toothpick in your mouth to combat the oral fixation.

One thing that greatly complicates kicking the smoking habit is the addictiveness of nicotine. Quitting is hard for your body and your mind. You can make the process much simpler by following all of the advice we’ve posted here. With some hard work and helpful information, you can be successful at kicking the smoking habit.