Smoking tobacco is both physical and psychological habit. The nicotine from cigarettes provides temporary relief. Eliminating that nicotine will cause your body to experience physical withdrawal symptoms and craving. Nicotine provides the feel-good effect on the brain that’s why some people do smoking as a way of reducing stress, depression, anxiety or even boredom. At the same the same time you started smoking on the daily basis. It may be an automatic response for you to smoke a cigarette with your morning coffee. Or while taking a break from the school or work or during your commute home at the end of a long day. Or even you share your smoke with family members, friends, and colleagues. To successfully stop smoking you will need to address both the addiction habits and routine that go along with it.
Ways to Stop Smoking:
1.) Nicotine Replacement to Stop Craving
Many people successfully quit smoking when they take some king of nicotine therapy because nicotine is responsible for all your addiction.
- Nicotine therapy involves using a nicotine patch, nicotine lozenges or any other form of nicotine therapy.
- It basically reduces the amount of nicotine going into your body. Gradually, it decreases the amount the nicotine you take each day and finally get rid of the nicotine and replace nicotine entirely.
- This helps to wean our body off from smoking slowly without having just cut back on cigarettes over time. You will still feel the effect of nicotine action in your body, but you will not be suffering from all the negative effects of smoking a cigarette. It is not considered as the safest of stop smoking, but it works the best for the largest number of people.
2.) Avoid Triggers to Stop Smoking
Triggers are the things that make you crave for smoking. Different people have different triggers such as stressful situation, going to a party, sipping coffee, or smelling cigarette smoke. Most triggers falls in one these categories like emotional, Pattern, Social, Withdrawal.
- Emotional- Many people smoke when they have intense emotions. Emotional trigger reminds you how you felt when you used smoking to enhance a good mood or come out from a bad one. Stressed, excited, anxious, bored, happy, lonely, satisfied etc are the most common emotional trigger.
- Telling family members or friends about how you feel can help you.
- A deep breath will also work very effectively it helps to slow down your body, quiet your mind and reduce craving. This a very effective way to manage anxiety and stress.
- Doing physical activity is a great way to handle emotions. When you exercise your brain releases the hormone called endorphins. Endorphins hormones is responsible to give you a good feeling.
- Listening to calm music can help you to slow your heart rate and lower your blood pressure and decrease stress hormones.
- Pattern- A pattern trigger is an activity that you connect with smoking like drinking alcohol, driving, before going to bed, watching tv, finishing a meal etc. One way to beat pattern trigger is to break the association with trigger and transfer your feeling to another activity.
- Eat chewing gum to busy your mouth.
- Try an activity that keeps your hand busy like do beading or needlework, Squeeze a handball etc.
- Or you can go for a walk, bike ride, swimming, exercising that will help to distract you from smoking.
- Change your routine like brushing your teeth at a different time, take coffee at a different time.
- Social Trigger- Social trigger are the occasion that usually include other people who smoke. Such as going to a bar, going to concert, going to a party or other social event, celebrating a big event.
- Once you have made a decision it is best to avoid that type of places and people for some time. Ask your friend not to smoke around you.
- Withdrawal Trigger- If you have been long time smoker and your body is used to getting a regular dose of nicotine. When you will stop smoking, withdrawal symptoms will produce a craving for nicotine. Trigger include smelling cigarette smoke, handling cigarette, lighters, and matches, craving the taste of cigarette etc.
- You need to distract yourself. Find something to take your mind off the craving. You can also try nicotine replacement medication.
3.) Cold Turkey to Quit Smoking
It would be hard to believe for you, but the majority of people who have successfully stop smoking have done it cold turkey. They decided that they will never smoke the cigarette and they followed through on that promise. It may seem odd but more people stop smoking this way than another.
According to the report of American Cancer Society more than 80% of those who have successfully stop smoking done it by cold turkey. Many people who have stop smoking with cold turkey did so with a lot of support from other people. They surrounded themselves with the people who cared about them. They made a detailed plan about how they are going to stop. This method also includes a lot of willpower, so think about the people who want you to stop smoking.
4.) Lobelia to Stop Smoking
Lobelia has an active ingredient called lobeline that helps to reduce the effects of nicotine in the body, especially the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine.
- You can buy lobelia in the form of vinegar tincture from the market. The typical dosage is 20 to 60 drops of the tincture three times daily.
- The best way to begin the dosage is from lower dosage. Start from three to five drops and then increase the dosage gradually. Use this herb under the supervision of a qualifies practitioner.
5.) Licorice to Quit Smoking
Licorice is a demulcent and herb that can help you stop smoking naturally. The slightly sweet taste of licorice helps to kill the urge to smoke. It also helps to relieve smoker’s cough.
- This herb is an adrenal tonic and can help to balance to the level of cortisol, reduce fatigue and restore energy.
- You can drink licorice root tea two or three times a day or you can chew a small stick of licorice root. It can help to satisfy your urge to smoke.
- Those who have, high blood pressure, diabetes, adrenal disease or reduces liver or kidney functioning don’t take this remedy.
6.) Ginseng to Stop Smoking
Ginseng can also help to reduce the frequency of craving. It helps to re-establish the proper cortisol level in the blood stream and considered a tonic for the adrenal gland. Ginseng also helps the body to deal with emotional and physical stress and restores balance in the body when experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
- It also helps to sharpen the concentration and deal with mental stress, improves mood and lessens anxiety.
- Adding one teaspoon of ginseng powder to your breakfast meal help to reduce the craving for smoking. You can swallow the juice or also can chew the small amount of dried ginseng.
- If you are suffering from heart problems, diabetes, schizophrenia, an autoimmune disease or a hormone sensitive condition do take ginseng.
7.) Green Oats to Quit Smoking
Green oats are also known as wild oats or Avena sativa. It is an effective herbal treatment to help you stop smoking. A study found that green oats can reduce the desire for nicotine and ease withdrawal symptoms. It also helps to promote detoxification of nicotine during the withdrawal process.
- Green oats have a sedative effect on the nervous system, which can be highly beneficial for those who are struggling to quit smoking.
- You can also buy green oats capsules from the market. You can safely take about 300 mg of green oats daily. But first, consult your doctor for the correct dosage.
8.) St john’s Wort to Stop Smoking
This herb provides calming properties to fight the effect and stress caused due to stop smoking. This is one of the best remedies to treat withdrawal symptoms.
- It has been observed that people experience symptoms of stress and anxiety like those suffering from depression when going through nicotine withdrawal.
- A study conducted on 24 people. Who smoked one or more cigarette a day took St john’s wort capsules of 450 mg twice a day along with smoking cessation counseling. After 12 weeks 9 people stop smoking out of 24.
- St john wort is available in bulk, liquid and capsules form in the market. You should take it before two weeks you plan to quit.
- This herb can interfere with the effectiveness of prescription and over the counter drugs. So first consult your doctor before taking this herb. It is not recommended for pregnant or nursing women.
9.) Slowly But Surely
You can stop smoking by cutting back on your cigarettes until you no longer need a cigarette. This is a very good method for chain smokers. You can just slowly cut back how much you smoke from day-to-day. If you are a smoker who smoke 20 cigarettes per day, then you can slowly cut down one cigarette in every third day. But they are going well for some people just like cold turkey because quitting cigarette is something a personal decision and each individual has to find its own best way.
10.) E-cigarettes to Quit Smoking
Studies have found that e-cigarette can help to stop smoking. Quitting cigarette with electronic cigarette will not going to work overnight, it will be a long process. You will have to use this cigarette minimum four to five months. Most people take around a year to quit. You need to stay away from you’re yourself from the nicotine and the idea is to do this slowly so that your body will not even notice the difference. Your craving will be satisfied by a short burst of nicotine from the e-cigarette and slowly you will stop smoking.
