Smoking can harm your health, and alter your lifestyle. It affects how you look, stains your teeth and makes your clothes smell. The worst part is that it harms you physically. It is possible to undo all the damage caused by smoking by simply quitting. For people who are unsure how to quit, this article provides useful advice.
If you smoke in your home, give it a very thorough cleaning when you quit. Steam-clean or shampoo your carpet and furniture, scrub the walls and wash your curtains and drapes. Not only will your house look and smell clean and refreshing, but you won't be tempted by the lingering odor of cigarettes whenever you come home.
Smoking is a step-by-step process that should be done day by day. Take your journey day by day, focusing on the moment instead of the future. Sometimes when you think that your goals aren't that far away, you'll be more mentally and physically prepared. As each day passes, extend your timeline a little more into the future.
Ensure that you're getting an adequate amount of sleep when you're in the process of giving up your smoking habit. Staying up late can elevate fatigue, increasing cravings for a cigarette. There are not people around late at night, this will make it easy for you to sneak a smoke. Optimize your health and reduce your cravings by sleeping for at least eight hours per night.
To help quit smoking, find an item you can play with in your hands to replace a cigarette. For instance, you can place a toothpick in your mouth as a substitute. Gum, candies, nuts and seeds are also a great alternative. But, do not use food as a replacement as this could cause weight gain.
Counseling might help you quit smoing. Some people smoke as a result of emotional issues. If you can successfully deal with those issues, you may lose the urge to light up or be better able to control it. Ask your doctor for help getting started with this program if you think it might work for you.
Hypnosis is worth giving a try for those searching for a way to quit smoking. Many individuals have quit successfully after working with a licensed hypnotist. The professional can entrance you and then give you positive affirmations. Once you come out of the trance, the desire to smoke will not be as strong. This means you will be closer to quitting successfully.
Many inventive types have realized that maintaining a meticulous journal may help in the fight to stop smoking. Most of the time people smoke to relax or to help calm their nerves. Regularly writing in a journal offers another, more healthy means of working out stress, depression and anxiety. And if you need another incentive, it doesn't cost you anything!
Get rid of anything in your life that reminds you of smoking. Throw out or give away all your lighters and ashtrays. To get rid of smoke odors in your home, clean your house and wash your clothes. This will stop anything that reminds you of your smoking days to trigger a craving.
If you are trying to stop smoking, getting adequate sleep is important. If your body feels like it is really tired, don't battle it. In fact, some smokers think sleeping helps them to pass withdrawal time more quickly. Additionally, getting more sleep helps your body heal from the effects of smoking faster.
Increase your exercise level to help you overcome withdrawal problems. When you exercise endorphins are produced, which can positively impact your mood during the day. Using exercise to help you quit smoking will have the added benefit of keeping you from gaining weight as many people do when they quit smoking.
Decorate a type of jar and place money that would've been spent on cigarettes or cigars into it. When you've made it to a year smoke-free, take the money and buy yourself something you want. Seeing how much money you are saving by not buying cigarettes is a good incentive to quit.
Take the time and money you save by quitting smoking, and apply it to exercising. Your brain releases endorphins after you work out, which will improve your mood. A workout is also an excellent distraction from your cravings. Exercising more will also help prevent you from gaining too much weight after you quit smoking.
If you want to stay motivated and stick to your goal of not smoking, remind yourself of the serious health problems that smoking causes. Look at pictures of advanced lung cancer and emphysema cases, and read some literature by people who have lost family because of smoking.
One of the keys to quitting for good is avoiding the things that make you want to smoke. For example, if you liked to smoke in the car, or when you were reading a book, then you need to change your behavior when doing those things, so as to not automatically think about smoking. Try to use other things to distract your thoughts, if you are thinking about smoking.
Above all else, quit smoking for yourself. You may have a lot of love for you spouse and your family, but quitting can only happen if you want to do it for yourself. If you quit smoking, that will be a great gift for yourself, and if you stay dedicated, you aren't going to disappoint yourself.
While you are in the process of quitting smoking, consume vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts. Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet of natural foods can help for many reasons. For instance, having your mouth and hands constantly doing something could replace the behavioral motions of smoking. Eating these foods regularly can also help slow down your weight gain after you quit smoking. The nutrients in these foods can even improve how you feel during withdrawal.
Your family and loved ones offer the greatest motivation for quitting. They can be affected by not only your possible illness or death, but also by negative health consequences from being around your smoke. Statistics prove that one in five deaths in America are related to smoking. Avoid becoming a statistic!
Because of the addictive nature of nicotine, quitting smoking is very difficult. Stopping can be so hard for people, both physically and emotionally. Use the information in this article and make it easier on yourself. With a little hard work, determination and the knowledge you've gained here, you will quit for good