How to quit smoking

Part 1. How the habit is formed. 

  At some point, most, if not all smokers will try to quit. And fail. Believe it or not, this is a good thing. Having failed to quit, probably several times, is all part of quitting.  Quitting is not an event, that occurs at a specific point in time. It is an ongoing process, which takes time, information and support.
  Lets break smoking down into its 4 parts..

1. craving

2. action

3. lighting up

4. building a habit  

So, the craving for a cigarette is felt. What triggered the desire? What's the setting? Who else is there? What time is it? What are you drinking? What are you thinking?   Cravings felt first thing on waking in the morning are usually addiction/withdrawal based impulses. These usually disappear within a few days, but can sometimes take a few weeks.   Key to successfully kicking the habit is raising awareness of triggers.  For many smokers, a cigarette is associated with taking a break at work or having a cup of tea or coffee. Every time a cigarette is had along with the beverage, the association is reinforced.

Many smokers report lighting up as a reaction to stress. If this sounds like you, keep an eye out for my posts on breathing to control stress and anxiety.  

Action. This is the point where a smoker reaches for tobacco. This is something that used to be a conscious decision, but over time has been repeated so often the cigarette is in the smokers hand without a conscious decision. This habit needs to be broken.  

Lighting up. The first 2 or 3 'pulls' on the cigarette addresses the addiction, but the addict keeps smoking out of habit.   

Building a habit. Experts believe it takes on average 40 days in a row of maintaining a behaviour to establish it as a habit. The same is true of breaking a habit. A habit, with smoking, you've built up by repeating an action, probably hundreds of times per day. Putting your hand to your mouth. How many times per cigarette? How many cigarettes per day? For how many years? 


If you allow it, your body will autopilot from smoking to eating. (all those years of hand to mouth). Make it easy to autopilot to something else. Get a waterbottle with a sports cap, so you can take a quick swig without taking the top off. Keep it within arms reach at all times.


Find something else to do with your hands so they don't autopilot. 
One option is to figure out how much you'd spend on cigarettes this week, and spend it on a necklace/chain instead. Instead of hand to mouth, you've got hand to bling.  Guys, experiment with growing some facial hair. It doesn't have to be a full Grizzly Adams, even a few hairs on the chin would do the trick.  Think of how much cigarette money you can save in a month to put to something else, or in a year!!
Even being aware of the habit and spotting it when it happens will help you get past smoking.
You CAN do it!


For more help:
Try the exercise on my post Dealing with cravings
Eating certain foods can help you get off and stay off cigarettes.