Quit Smoking
Almost all health risks associated with smoking tobacco decrease as soon as you quit smoking, no matter how long you have smoked. Your chances of having a heart attack, for example, drop rapidly. After five years from quiting smoking, the risk of premature death from smoking-related diseases is almost halved. After 15 years the risk has all but disappeared.
Research about quit smoking indicates that while nearly four out of five smokers want to quit, only about a quarter of those who try to quit smoking manage to do so. However, many of those who fail to quit are those who are not willing to put up with the inconvenience and withdrawal symptoms that giving up smoking almost inevitably involves. Methods such as hypnotism, group therapy, or acupuncture may help to ease those symptoms. If you want to quit smoking tobacco and have been unable to succeed on your own, consult your physician. He or she may be able to suggest new medications,ways to stop, or refer you to a stop-smoking program if there is one in your community.
If you are truly serious about putting down your smoking habit for good, there are a few steps that will help you along the way. These steps are procedures which have been proven effective for thousands of people who have been able to quit smoking.
1. Analyze your smoking habits. Write down how often you smoke, the time of day, the scenario, etc. Study when and why you “need” cigarettes for about three weeks. This increasing concern with the act of smoking is a good way to prepare for the task of breaking the habit.
2. Make up your mind that there can be no turning back. Convince yourself that the effort is worth making before you do it.
3. Name the day you intend to quit. Circle it on your calendar, and give up totally on that day. This is the most successful and, in the long run, the least painful way to break the smoking habit. Make a great show of stopping by announcing it to the world at large. This makes it a matter of pride not to succumb to temptation.
4. Feel free to use any device you can as a cigarette substitute during the difficult early days. Hold a pencil or pen between your fingers, chew gum, use anti-smoking tablets, etc. Also, insist on dining or traveling in the non-smoking sections.
5. Enjoy not smoking! Give yourself positive rewards with each milestone, such as every day at first, then every week, and so forth.
6. During the difficult early weeks, eat as much as you want of low-calorie food and drink. Your appetite is expected to increase, and the first four weeks of quit smoking are the hardest.
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