The first day of deciding to stop smoking Is the hardest, but it means that you are ready to commit to your new, healthier life and let me tell you, you’ll love it! Here are a few steps to help kick-start your new life and stay on track.
Things You Need to Know About Quitting
Whether you have been smoking for 5 days or 20 years, you are going to experience symptoms of withdrawal, although the withdrawal symptoms might be difficult they are perfectly normally and everyone experiences them. However, with these useful tips, you will be able to manage these symptoms and stay on track.
The first couple of weeks are going to be the most challenging as your body is adjusting to the lack of nicotine in your body, some of the withdrawal symptoms include; tingling feeling in hands and feet, intense sweating, migraines and insomnia. However, these symptoms will eventually die down and you will start to feel the benefits of not smoking.
Make A Personal Plan
One thing that will help you when you are starting out your journey to becoming a non-smoker, is creating a personalised plan that allows you to track your progress.
You need to take time and really think about what kind of smoker you are; you should be true to yourself and be honest with your plan.
To ensure that you keep on track and that your personal plan is effective, you should make a note of the places you are most likely to smoke and how many cigarettes you smoke per day on average. By doing this you will be able to avoid trigger locations and times. Which will allow you to know that at some places and times during the day you will need to stay strong and distract yourself.
How to Manage Your Cigarette Craving
Your craving for a cigarette will be prominent for up to a month after giving up, so these tips will give you the will power to overcome these cravings and be successful on your journey.
When you feel the yearning for nicotine the easiest thing to do, to make sure that you don’t give in to temptation, is to distract yourself. People commonly mistake boredom for the craving for a cigarette as they are used to having something in their hands. Therefore, if you distract your mind and do something else that will help divert your cigarette craving.
You also need to keep in the front of your mind why you decided to quit and let that thought boost your determination. Whether for health reasons of family reasons, that reason should stay with you forever.
Another common way that people kick their nicotine craving is by finding an oral substitute, whether that’s food or nicotine replacements. Keeping things around that you can quickly pop in your mouth when you are having a craving is vital, mints, gum and boiled sweets are a common substitute for cravings as you have something in your mouth that can distract you. A lot of people also turn to vape pens as a substitute for their cravings as it a similar experience to smoking a cigarette.
Becoming A Non- Smoker
It may be a daunting and scaring thing to decide to stop smoking, however, once you are fully committed to changing your life implementing some of these tips may help you succeed on your non-smoking journey. For further advice go to NHS smoke-free webpage.
