There is nothing easier than quitting smoking
That's what Mark Twain said, but he added: I've done it more than two hundred times. In other words, many people quit smoking, but not everyone manages to quit. Because it's only in words that we all have amazing willpower and can quit smoking at any moment. In reality, it's an incredibly difficult matter.
The main difficulty is that a person feels that he is left alone without a cigarette. And then this feeling is joined by the protest of the body, which does not have enough nicotine. He asks to light up and gets nervous because he is not allowed to do this, but everyone around continues to tar, giggle and offer a cigarette.
Oddly enough, two opposite trends are developing in the world today at the same time. On the one hand, smokers in all civilized countries are being slowly but steadily attacked. They are forbidden to smoke in offices, airplanes, trains, public places, restaurants and theaters. On the other hand, the number of smokers is still not decreasing, and sometimes even increasing. At the same time, the age threshold is constantly decreasing (it seems that soon children will be lit in their cradles), and the proportion of women smokers (especially in Ukraine, who suddenly realized that the variety of tobacco products with menthol and other exotic additives exists in the world) is growing every day.
And yet, hoarse bass in the voice, teeth and fingers yellowed from nicotine, the indestructible smell of stale tobacco - this alone is enough to find the strength in yourself and at least try.
There is no magical painless recipe for quitting smoking. But many experts believe that the most correct way is to use medications that maintain the level of nicotine in the blood with its gradual decrease. Plus the advice of a doctor.
Doctors believe that smoking, like high blood pressure, is a physical problem, but with a pronounced behavioral component, that is, a habit. To cope with chemical dependence more easily, a person needs to take nicotine for a certain period of time (so-called replacement therapy). Its source can be anything except cigarettes: a patch, chewing gum, etc.
The idea is not only to wean the smoker off nicotine, but also to destroy in his mind the logical connection between cigarettes and pleasure. By using drugs (containing nicotine), you saturate the receptors in the brain, thereby switching from cigarettes to a substitute, in order to later give it up.
After the longing for nicotine has been slightly overcome, it's time to talk about the longing for cigarettes in the fingers. This factor very often prevents women from quitting smoking. They have already created a certain image in which a thin cigarette in well-groomed, elegant fingers is an integral part, - and suddenly destroy it yourself?!
To cope with the problem, it is best to decide on several things:
1. You need to accurately determine the day when you decide to quit smoking. It does not matter whether this day and hour will be a time of decisive “kick” or gradual weaning from cigarettes.
2. You should not widely announce to the surrounding population that you have quit smoking. After all, you do not want to become a target for the ridicule of your sly girlfriends and the eternal jokes of your beloved. And if your attempt to “quit” ends in failure, then only you and no one else will know about your shame.
3. You should not expect praise or support from other people, except for your boyfriend or parents. It is worth remembering that you should not throw out all your suffering on those around you and burden this “worldwide” problem on familiar and unfamiliar people.
4. Set yourself up to believe that the desire to light up will pursue you relentlessly. Moreover, if you previously smoked a pack of cigarettes during the day, then there will be at least twenty such attacks of desire. It is possible that there will be cigarettes even in a dream, and the need to tar will not give you peace, especially before going to bed. If you are not confident in your willpower, then you can (and should) throw away all the cigarette stash along with the lighter. But when you feel angry because you do not have familiar objects in your hands, it is best to use the services of auto-training, saying to yourself: “I can light up at any second, but I will not light up, because I decided so (decided)”.
5. You can simply deceive yourself, convincing yourself that you quit smoking only today. With the onset of the next day, convince yourself that this day is today. And so on endlessly. Doctors claim that, absorbing lollipops, chewing gum and seeds in huge quantities, it does not become easier from the burning suffering. But the manifestation of an unconscious replacement of smoking with a passion for coffee, strong tea and alcohol is quite possible.
There are legends that those who quit smoking instantly gain weight and exaggeration. Experts believe that the increase in weight is insignificant and on average is 1.5 kg. Moreover, in the end it can be quite easily driven away. So you should not justify your weakness with this.
The main thing is to hold out for the first 48 hours. These are the very black hours of a hardened smoker. Other critical stops will be: 1 month, 3 months, 6 months - and at the last term most break down - and, finally, a year. As a rule, there is a desire to somehow celebrate a significant event and test your willpower. A cigarette enters your mouth, and... all suffering and torment disappear instantly.
There are several simple ways to deceive yourself and still quit smoking:
1. If you have not smoked for a short time (two or three years, no more), then you can try to quit smoking right away, supporting yourself with nicotine substitutes. If you have a long time, then it is better to gradually reduce the number of cigarettes smoked to a minimum and only then quit smoking with substitution treatment.
2. Try to smoke 1 or 2 cigarettes less every day. You need to take a strictly defined norm to work and not dare to “shoot” cigarettes at colleagues. In addition, if you have a desire to light up, you should try to postpone this inevitable action for at least five to seven minutes, occupying yourself with some urgent matter. You see, this desire will somehow be forgotten.
A psychotherapist will really help you quit smoking. Do not be afraid that as soon as you explain why you came to him, he will put a straitjacket on you. Our psychiatrists are humane people. With the help of antidepressants that a doctor will prescribe, you can relatively easily cope with irritation, anxiety, lethargy, and other symptoms that spoil life when you quit smoking. They act directly on the nicotine-stimulating receptors of the brain, deceiving the brain, which believes that nicotine continues to arrive, although in reality this is not the case.