Simple Tips to Stop Smoking

Smoking is a vice and not only injurious just to the smoker but to people all around him. A smoker has higher chances of having a heart attack or lung cancer compare to non-smokers. Kicking this bad habit out is not just beneficial physically but you can also save lots of money that you could have blown off in buying cigarettes. And don't forget the health hazard that you impose to your near and dear ones by exposing them to passive smoke.
So, it's the time to kick the butt and you can do it by following the few simple tips given below.

Tips to stop smoking and how to deal with the withdrawal symptoms

• In the beginning, switch from your regular brand of cigarette to another which feels distasteful to you and gradually decrease the number of cigarettes. When you can gradually decrease the number of cigarettes, start smoking only up to half of each cigarette and have the courage to throw it away mid-way. In order to really quit smoking, you should only smoke when you really want to and not out of sheer habit.
The cutting down on numbers is only the start and cannot be called quitting.

• Try to live an active life and keep yourself occupied and distracted by doing something like indulging in sports, going for long walks or reading a book or a magazine.

• Have an oral substitute like mints, carrot gum or sunflower seeds whenever you want to smoke a cigarette.

• Drink lots of water to minimize withdrawal symptoms as it can help in flushing the toxins from your body.

On top of all these, herbal supplements are known to be effective in curing nicotine addiction permanently with no side effects.

Smoking and Teens: Time to Quit

SAY GOODBYE TO AN UGLY HABIT – QUIT SMOKING!

It’s probably not news to you that smoking is bad for your body. It causes wrinkles and turns your teeth yellow, and puts you at risk for diseases. Here’s a newsflash for you ladies, though. Smoke hates you more than it hates guys!

• It is harder for females to quit than it is for males.
• Smoke can be more harmful to female lungs than male lungs.
• The younger you start, the harder it is to quit!
• This means that starting to smoke as a female teen is asking for trouble. So, quit smoking or don’t start for YOU…for your health and beauty, today and in the future.
• Smoking ads may try to make smoking look cool, but you’re smarter than that. The tobacco companies are not looking out for you, so you have to look out for yourself. Don’t smoke. If you smoke, quit – either way you win by not giving them your money!

What smoking does to your body

Soon after you start, smoking causes yellow teeth and bad breath (gross!), as well as health problems such as shortness of breath, coughing, upset stomach, and dizziness. When you are older, you can get major health problems from smoking, like cancer and heart disease. Smoking will also make your skin wrinkle.

What quitting can do for your health

• 12 hours after quitting, the dangerous carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.
• 2 weeks to 3 months after quitting, your heart and lungs begin to work better.
• 1 to 9 months after quitting, coughing, fatigue, and shortness of breath start to go away.
• 1 year after quitting, your risk of heart disease goes down.

Why do people smoke?

Stress. Smoking leads to more stress. Learn how to manage stress with tips from www.GirlsHealth.gov.

Habit. If you feel like you can’t stop smoking, ask a doctor or nurse for help

Boredom. Smoking to fill time? Find other things that you like to do instead, like jog, read, or shop.

Others smoke. Stay strong and tell your friends and family they should quit, too.

Can’t quit. Don’t think you’ll be able to quit? Start thinking positive – yes, you can!

Weight control. Quitting doesn’t add pounds, eating more does. Exercise and eat healthy to keep from gaining.

How to quit

Sick of spending money on cigarettes, smelling like an ashtray, and your friends hassling you about smoking? Then you are ready to quit!

1) Set a quit date and tell everybody when you are going to stop
2) Throw away all your cigarettes, lighters, and ashtrays.
3) When you get the urge to smoke, do something else…take deep breaths or drink a glass of water.
4) Carry things with you to put in your mouth, such as gum or hard candy.
5) Stay busy by going to the movies, riding your bike, walking the dog, or hanging out with a friend.
6) Spend time in places where you are not allowed to smoke, such as the movies or the mall.
7) The first few days after quitting, don’t hang with smokers or in places you used to smoke.
8) Drink lots of water and fruit juice…stay away from drinks with caffeine, like soda, coffee or tea.

Be prepared! You may be crabby and feel on edge for a couple of weeks or longer, but then your body will
forget nicotine and you will feel better. Once you feel better, you may still want to smoke at times, but stay
strong…it’s easy to get hooked again and you don’t want to throw away all that hard work.

WebMD Public Information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Need Help? Try These Quit Smoking Tips

According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), more people than those who quit heroin combined than those that quit smoking. Megastar Ozzy Osbourne, who has been addicted to just about every drug in the world, stated once that of all his addictions, smoking was the most difficult to quit. Nicotine is an incredibly difficult drug to stop using, and ASAM cites it as having a very high relapse rate. Does this mean that you shouldn’t even try to stop smoking? Absolutely not! Many people have successfully stopped smoking and have never relapsed. With knowledge, willpower, and some good quit smoking tips, you can soon call yourself an ex-smoker.

Because of nicotine’s intense level of addiction, it’s hard to “go it alone.” See your physician for medical help to stop smoking. By reading and trying quit smoking tips, your chances for success will be very good. You won’t know if any quit smoking tips work unless you try them. The road will seem endless until you start walking.

Quit Smoking Tips That Work

First, change your routine. Smokers generally have a subconscious routine that is built around smoking. For example, when you drive to work and smoke two cigarettes on the way, take another route to work. If you enjoy an after dinner smoke, try getting up from the table immediately and wash the dishes. These quit smoking tips are a form of behavior modification. Smoking was a learned behavior for you; what is learned can be un-learned and replaced by other behavior.

Second, if you have a “slip” and smoke, don’t believe that you just can’t do it. An important quit smoking tip is to let yourself be less than perfect. All is not lost. It’s not important how many times you fall down; what is important is how many times you get up. Keep getting up, no matter what.

Third, smoking is linked to times of stress and anger. An import quit smoking tip is to take a stress or anger management class. You can find mental health centers that excel in these classes at little or no cost. Learning how to cope with stress and anger without smoking is an essential skill.

Finally, if you like to smoke at social occasions, an excellent quit smoking tip is to explain to your friends that you no longer smoke, and ask them not to offer you cigarettes no matter how much you tell them about why you need to smoke right now. Your real friends will stay true to your request for help.

For more quit smoking tips, there are many on-line sources of help. Yes, you can stop!