According to statistics, 85% of smokers dream of quitting this addiction. This desire intensifies with age, when a person accumulates an impressive "bouquet" of diseases, and each visit to the doctor begins with the advice to quit smoking. However, is it possible to get rid of smoking on your own, and what problems can arise in this case?
Is Quitting Cigarettes Dangerous?
It is widely believed that a sharp cessation of smoking leads to an exacerbation of chronic diseases, the occurrence of heart attacks, as well as significant weight gain. It is partly like that. A person with a long history of smoking may experience some discomfort when giving up a bad habit - this is due to the fact that nicotine is incorporated into the autonomic nervous system and participates in the body's life processes.
Therefore, with severe nicotine restriction, the body experiences mental and physical stress. However, every person has individual characteristics and the perception threshold is also different. Therefore, there are many people who quit smoking "on the same day", but there are also people who cannot do it without the help of a doctor and the use of special means.
If a person is mentally ready and wants to quit smoking himself, and his body has sufficient physical health, then the process of adaptation to life without cigarettes will be easy and imperceptible. But for people who have smoked for more than 30 years, as well as for the elderly in poor health, it is better to seek psychological and medical support.
What Happens When You Quit Smoking?
A person who quits smoking may experience noticeable discomfort. What exactly should he expect?
- It is possible to weaken the immune system, which can make chronic diseases worse.
- There is cough, especially in the morning.
- There is weight gain. Most often this happens due to the fact that a person replaces the habit of smoking a cigarette with an equally bad habit of chewing something. So, if a person is used to smoking 10-15 cigarettes a day, now it turns into 10-15 snacks, which, of course, is reflected in the figure.
- Bouts of bad mood and irritability can result from having to limit yourself in some way. Constantly thinking about how not to tear yourself away often leads to distraction and inattention.
The negative effects can be significantly reduced if smoking cessation is accompanied by experts. The doctor can always provide the necessary psychological and medical help. However, the main role in smoking cessation is not played by drugs, but by a person's conscious desire to quit smoking. If he does not do this voluntarily, but on the instructions of a doctor or at the urging of his relatives, the process is different.
If a person himself is not psychologically ready for such an action, he will use any means: a nicotine patch, sugar pills, an argument or a promise. In the end, however, there will definitely be a breakdown as the subconscious persistently searches for a reason and an opportunity to smoke. A person is constantly in dissonance, and this situation mentally depresses him. In this case, he just gets upset and comes to the conclusion that it is extremely difficult to quit smoking.
How to stop smoking abruptly?
It's entirely possible to quit smoking abruptly, and it's far more effective than prolonging the farewell with a cigarette. Such an approach requires willpower and great personal desire. It should be noted that after a sharp cessation of smoking, the percentage of relapses is very small, but with a slow and gradual refusal, some people return to an unhealthy habit again. Therefore, situations are possible that Mark Twain joked about: "It's very easy to quit smoking, I've quit a thousand times myself. "
Tips to quit smoking yourself
- Keep a journal in which you write down every cigarette you smoke. Once a day (or every other day), shift the smoking time of the next cigarette by 30 minutes, then by 1 hour, then by 2 hours, etc. This will allow you to significantly reduce the number of cigarettes smoked per day.
- Buy cigarettes by the piece, reducing their number each time. Also buy less strong cigarettes each time. Gradually, the number of cigarettes decreases, and their strength decreases significantly.
- Collect smoked cigarette butts throughout the day so you can clearly see how much damage you are doing to your body every day.
- Calculate how much money you spend on cigarettes per month, per year and for the total time you smoke. Think about what you could buy with that money, because this is a clear example of the phrase "throw money down the drain".
- Instead of a break from smoking, eat an apple, drink strong tea without sugar or mineral water with lemon, walk along the street, do some exercises - this will only benefit your figure and health and will definitely not contribute to the appearance of extra pounds.