Never Give Up - There Are Many Ways to Quit Smoking

Since World War II, one major global achievement is the numbers of ways people have found to quit smoking. Although people are still fighting the war against tobacco and trying to overturn this long-standing habit, it is not over completely yet. By country, these achievement figures vary a great deal but the international tobacco addiction fight has gained such force and strength that fortunately, there is no turning back. One of the causes of this outstanding success is the amount of ways there are available to quit smoking. You can live any place today and there are no longer any good excuses for continuing to smoke. In poorer communities, some adults plead ignorance to the dangerous and harmful effects caused by smoking but as literacy spreads, these people, including their children, become more aware of the dangers of nicotine addiction and ways available to help them quit smoking.

Many people that succeeded in quitting smoking, along with their relieved families, are happy to share these success stories with others about the many ways to stop smoking. Many smokers decide to quit and give up their nicotine habit but find that some ways to quit smoking seldom works, including:

• Setting a prospective date to quit smoking months in advance is usually unsuccessful for most people. The best time to quit smoking is immediately, using one of the many ways to quit smoking.
• People that reduce the amount they smoke in preparation to stop smoking are only fooling themselves. It is impossible to reduce nicotine or any other addiction gradually. Once you decide to stop smoking, you need to quit immediately and completely.
• Although cigars of all kinds and chewing tobacco do not have the tar that the paper on cigarettes has, they do have nicotine, which is the substance that people who smoke become addicted to, so switching from cigarettes to another form of tobacco is useless.

Some people trying to quit smoking find that using rewards and enjoying other pleasures as an incentive, helps them in their fight against the deadly addiction of nicotine. By saving the money that they would normally spend on smoking, many people that gave up smoking buy themselves small gifts and treats or save up for something larger, such as a trip or new television. Chewing gum and suckers, carrots, celery, straws or other objects a person can put in their mouth or hold between their fingers are popular ways to help them substitute a bad habit with good ones and fight the urge to light up.

You may want to talk to your health care provider about ways to help you quit smoking. Your doctor may suggest over-the-counter medications such as nicotine gum, the patch or prescription drugs to help reduce the smoking urge and withdrawal symptoms. If you start feeling nervous or jittery, calm yourself by doing deep breathing exercises, taking long walks or finding other things to do that keep your hands and mind busy. When the urge to smoke strikes, drink lots of fluids, phone a supportive friend or have an oral substitute such as raisins, an apple or carrots. Never try to fool yourself into believing that one cigarette will not hurt, because it certainly will.