Quitting smoking is not easy for many people. A quit smoking calendar can help you quit a habit that is harmful to your health.
The exit calendar allows you to learn about and prepare for any upcoming changes in the body.
What is a notice calendar
The smoking cessation calendar by months and days is a powerful support on the way out of nicotine addiction. It allows you to understand how the body reacts to nicotine withdrawal at different times and prepare both psychologically and physically for possible difficulties.
Note!In addition to tracking physical and psychological changes on a calendar, keeping a journal is a good idea as it helps to better understand the reasons behind your tobacco addiction.
Often the desire for another cigarette is not linked to the body's physiological need for the next dose of nicotine, but to certain psychological triggers. For example, a morning cup of coffee or a break from work are strongly associated with smoking. If you feel the urge to smoke at such moments, you should switch to another, more useful routine. For example, you can make another entry in your diary or call your loved one.
What to expect from the body
The daily diary of a smoker who has quit contains all of the likely sensations and experiences that accompany the quitting process. The most common symptoms that people who quit smoking experience are:
- Nicotine Crash. This is a rather painful condition that particularly annoys a person in the first few days of quitting smoking.
- mental breakdown. The main reason why people continue to smoke is not physiological but psychological. Smoking a cigarette is perceived by a smoker as a certain ritual, with the help of which he responds to various situations in his life. With the rejection of the usual ritualized actions, there is a lot of empty space that the psyche often does not have to fill. Hence the feeling of anxiety and anxiety that often arises in a person who has recently quit smoking when suddenly there is nothing left to occupy his hands and mouth under the usual circumstances.
- Aggravation of chronic diseases, often hidden. It is the annual calendar of a heavy smoker who quits smoking abruptly, which makes it possible to recognize that unpleasant physiological symptoms in the first weeks and even months of quitting smoking are signs that the body is cleansed and the normal functioning of its systems and organsis restored.
Further information.The intensity and duration of withdrawal symptoms are different for everyone. However, in most cases, after a few weeks, the body restores the ability to independently produce nicotinic acid in the right amount, and the physiological craving for smoking disappears. Liberation from psychological dependence is much more difficult.
emotions and thoughts
A person who has given up cigarettes can experience a wide range of emotions about it, from self-pity to pride in the strength of will shown. To achieve this goal it is necessary to abandon the idea that quitting tobacco is a restriction, a severe asceticism that requires tremendous effort and the strictest self-control.
Quitting smoking can be easy and fun. All you have to do is agree with your subconscious, convince your "inner child" that life without cigarettes is much more interesting, pleasant and "cool", that giving up tobacco can bring real joy.
For example, smokers lose their sense of smell and taste. However, this process is reversible. All you have to do is quit smoking, and familiar dishes will sparkle with new shades. Why not a reason, the most hedonistic, to quit smoking?
It helps to tune in to the right wave of overhauling global life goals. It is necessary to understand why all these changes in the usual way of life. For example, a rare woman does not dream of becoming a mother one day. When you realize that enjoying a cigarette is nothing compared to the health and well-being of your unborn child, it becomes much easier to break a bad habit.
Preliminary preparation
Quitting smoking without serious preparation is not recommended. After all, this means exposing your body and psyche to a strong shock. It is better to take a week, two, a month to mentally prepare for the upcoming events.
Analyze in writing and personally for yourself all the "pros and cons" of smoking and quitting smoking. If a loved one wants to quit smoking, you should not tick the "health" item. Here we are already talking about the value of relationships and the comfort of a partner. Only finding genuine and positive motives will ease the process of changing your lifestyle.
Next, you need to observe yourself and identify what situations and emotions make you pull out a cigarette and smoke. Then you have to come up with compensatory activities. For example, many smoke to calm down. For the same purposes, you can use various breathing exercises and visualization techniques, and drink herbal teas. Any of these activities can become your hobby, a new, "healthy" addiction.
There is no need at all to throw away all the lighters, ashtrays and other things reminiscent of an old habit. Sometimes a pack of cigarettes hidden "for a rainy day" helps to endure the process of nicotine cessation more calmly. The absence of any emotions at the sight of formerly popular smoking devices is a sign of final liberation from nicotine addiction.
Quit smoking calendar by month
Having familiarized himself with detailed information about the upcoming changes in the body for the coming year, he will not be surprised by any of his reactions and will not lose confidence in the correctness of the decision made.
First month without smoking
This is the most difficult period, characterized by unstable physical and psycho-emotional states. Therefore, it is desirable that the first days and weeks without cigarettes coincide with weekends or holidays. With a decrease in the number of physical exertions, stressful situations and an increase in the number of new positive impressions, it is much easier to get through the withdrawal syndrome.
To minimize the unpleasant consequences of nicotine hunger, it is recommended to include more green vegetables and fruits rich in pectin (apples, oranges, apricots, plums) in the diet. Buckwheat, legumes and nuts help to compensate for the lack of nicotinic acid. To reduce nervousness and improve sleep, you can use a decoction of motherwort.
The restoration of taste sensations leads to an increase in appetite, which can negatively affect body weight. Therefore, do not abuse sweets and high-calorie foods.
Second and third month
In the lungs, the stage of active recovery begins. Periodically, dry mouth, coughing and sputum production may appear, especially with increased physical activity. But that's a good sign - it means the body has resources for purification.
The cardiovascular system also changes. By the end of the third month, the vascular tone returns to normal, and the former smoker no longer suffers from dizziness and migraines.
Important!The end of the three-month cessation period is a critical period in which many return to smoking. Therefore, at this time it is necessary to stay away from temptations. Any attempt to smoke, to "remember" the taste of a cigarette, can return a person to the ranks of smokers.
Fourth to sixth month
The work of the gastrointestinal tract is restored, the chair is normalized. The ability to fully absorb all the necessary nutrients returns to the intestines, which improves the condition of the skin. Peeling, itching, which could bother a person at the initial stage of smoking, no longer bother him.
Many ex-smokers find that by the fifth or sixth month, it becomes easier to breathe, as if their lungs have expanded. This is a sign of the restoration of the bronchopulmonary system. From this moment it is recommended to start exercising.
Biking, swimming are the best options for physical activity for an even weakened body.
seventh to ninth month
Cough and sputum are practically no longer an issue at this stage. It is permissible to incorporate running and strength exercises into your training program.
By this point, many have forgotten the difficulties of the first few weeks of quitting, but the power of habit is still great. It is important that the cigarette is not lit mechanically "on the machine".
tenth to twelfth month
Physiological dependence on nicotine is completely overcome. However, the risk of returning to the old habit is still high, since many continue to experience psychological discomfort due to a change in their usual daily routine, the loss of some elements of communication. Until a person learns to fill these psychological "voids, " the desire to smoke a cigarette, to engage in "business, " may continue to plague him from time to time.
Advice for people who want to quit smoking
An ex-smoker should not be criticized for relapsing. It is better to consolidate any of his achievements, however insignificant, with positive emotions: praise, sincere admiration for the willpower shown, a gift. Another milestone on the way to breaking a bad habit can also be celebrated by spending free time together according to the wishes of the quitter. Only positive emotions, declarations of love from the closest people give the cigarette addict the necessary mental strength for changes.
Does a diary help?
As practice shows, for many, the diary turns out to be a very effective tool in the fight against nicotine addiction. Here you can throw out all your negative emotions and celebrate successes in every phase of the roll. Studying other people's public journals and the positive experiences of quitting is inspirational like nothing else.