Quit Smoking Facts - Quit Smoking Information - Quit Smoking Help
Smoking is an addiction. Tobacco smoke contains nicotine, a drug that is addictive and can make it very hard, but not impossible, to quit.
More than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. each year are from smoking-related illnesses. Smoking greatly increases your risk for lung cancer and many other cancers.
The Consequences Of Smoking Cigarettes
Cigarette, cigar, and pipe-smoking are so debilitating that the immediate cessation of the habit is always the first step of any program to improve one's health - even more important than vitamins, diet, or exercise.
The smoker's body cells have become addicted to nicotine, and to quit smoking won't be easy, since withdrawal symptoms can be expected. Here are some helpful tips that might ease the quitting process:
Physical withdrawal from nicotine is a temporary condition, but it can cause a fair amount of discomfort while it lasts. The nickname of having "quitter's flu" has been given to this phase of smoking cessation because nicotine withdrawal symptoms often mimic a cold or a mild case of the flu. Understanding what to expect and following the pointers for coping will help you move through this stage more easily
For anyone considering giving up smoking, we've put together a short primer to cover some basic things you should be familiar with. We'll cover subjects such as what steps to follow, what quit smoking products do, and the effects you'll experience over time
Nicotine is a drug found naturally in tobacco. It is highly addictive – as addictive as heroin or cocaine. Over time, the body becomes physically and psychologically dependent on nicotine. Studies have shown that smokers must overcome both of these to be successful at quitting and staying quit.
Good Reasons To Quit Smoking Cigarettes
Health concerns usually top the list of reasons people give for quitting smoking. About half of all smokers who continue to smoke will end up dying from a smoking-related illness. Nearly everyone knows that smoking can cause lung cancer, but few people realize it is also a risk factor for many other kinds of cancer as well, including cancer of the mouth, voice box (larynx), throat (pharynx), esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, stomach, and some leukemias.
Before you start using nicotine replacement or sign up for a stop smoking class or program, you may wonder what its success rate is. That's a hard question to answer for several reasons.
The decision to quit tobacco use is one that only you can make. Others may want you to quit, but the real commitment must come from you. Researchers have looked into how and why people stop tobacco use. They have some ideas, or models, of how this happens.
Set A Date To Quit Smoking Then Stop Smoking Cigarettes
Once you've made a decision to quit, you're ready to pick a quit date. This is a very important step. Pick a specific day within the next month as your "Quit Day." Picking a date too far in the future allows you time to rationalize and change your mind. But do give yourself enough time to prepare and come up with a plan.
Withdrawal from nicotine has 2 parts – the physical and the psychological. The physical symptoms, while annoying, are not life threatening. Nicotine replacement can help reduce many of these physical symptoms. But most users find that the bigger challenge is the mental part of quitting.
Stop Smoking Cigarettes And Stay Stopped For Good
Remember the quotation by Mark Twain? Maybe you, too, have quit many times before. So you know that staying quit is the final, and most important, stage of the process. You can use the same methods to stay quit as you did to help you through withdrawal. Think ahead to those times when you may be tempted to smoke, and plan on how you will use alternatives and activities to cope with these situations.
Special Concerns When You Give Up Cigarette Smoking
Weight Gain : Many smokers do gain some weight when they quit. Even without special attempts at diet and exercise, however, the gain is usually less than 10 pounds. Women tend to gain slightly more weight than men. There is some evidence that smokers will gain weight after they quit even if they do not eat more
Quitting smoking can be a long, difficult process. Few people can do it overnight. But staying quit is the final, and most important, stage of the process. Many of the methods that help you quit can help you stay that way.
The first few weeks after quitting smoking can be difficult for anyone. This can be especially true during the holiday season, when stress and the temptation to overindulge are there for everyone. Some special approaches can help you celebrate the holidays without giving in to the urge to smoke. Many of these strategies can also be helpful throughout the year.
Helping A Smoker To Quit Cigarettes
Do respect that the quitter is in charge. This is their lifestyle change and their challenge, not yours. Do ask the person whether he or she wants you to call or visit regularly to see how he or she is doing. Let the person know that it's okay to call you whenever he or she needs to hear encouraging words.
Smoking harms nearly every organ in your body. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Unlike so many other conditions or diseases, you have the power to prevent yourself from smoking-related illnesses or death. The benefits of not smoking start within days of quitting.
Nicotine Facts - Nicotine Information - Nicotine Details
Nicotine, one of more than 4,000 chemicals found in the smoke from tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars, and pipes, is the primary component in tobacco that acts on the brain.
Most smokers use tobacco regularly because they are addicted to nicotine. Addiction is characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and use, even in the face of negative health consequences, and tobacco use certainly fits the description.
Nicotine is an addictive drug. It causes changes in the brain that make people want to use it more and more. In addition, addictive drugs cause unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. The good feelings that result when an addictive drug is present — and the bad feelings when it's absent — make breaking any addiction very difficult.
What is the best way to quit smoking - The way that works! No two people are alike. That's why you must find the method for quitting smoking that works for YOU. If every method or product worked for everybody, you probably would have quit by now.
The Psychology of Quitting Smoking
Many experts believe smoking is only about 10% physical addiction and a whopping 90% psychological addiction. Your body will recover fairly quickly from nicotine withdrawals (the worst symptoms usually abate in three days or less), but your psychological dependency on cigarettes can be much more difficult to defeat
One of the most important aspects of living a healthy and prosperous life is understanding "risk." By this I mean knowing how to understand and analyze situations in life that affect health. Being able to accurately weigh benefits and risks when making health decisions is very important! Too often decisions are based on incomplete or inaccurate information and this is a huge mistake with significant consequences!
Ask almost any current smoker why she continues to indulge in such a dangerous habit and she will normally reply, "Because I like smoking." While she may say this in all honesty, it is a very misleading statement, both to the listener and to the smoker herself.
Some smokers say they smoke because they are nervous. Others say they smoke to celebrate. Some think they smoke for energy. Many smoke to look sexy. Yet others smoke to stay awake or to sleep.
Most smokers spend countless hours during their smoking careers trying to satisfactorily answer this most perplexing question. Typically, answers they come up with are that they smoke because they are unhappy, unsatisfied, nervous, bored, anxious, lonely, tired or just frustrated without their cigarettes.
Stress is considered a cause for smoking by many people. Actually, smoking is a cause of stress. Recent correspondence dealt with reasons people give for going back to smoking: social situations, parties, alcohol consumption and stress. This month I wish to amplify on stress
On the third day of a recent clinic, a woman participant in her late fifties who had been off smoking for just over 48 hours asked one of those questions that I have heard hundreds of times in past programs. “I have smoked so long and so heavily, what good will quitting smoking do for me now?”
This concept is taught by almost all programs which are devoted to dealing with substance abuse or emotional conflict of any kind. The reason that it is so often quoted is that it is universally applicable to almost any traumatic situation.
There Are No Good Excuses For Not Quitting Cigarettes
"I will quit when my doctor tells me I have to." "I can't quit now, it's tax season." "Maybe I will quit on vacation." "School is starting, I am too nervous to quit." "I will quit in the summer when I can exercise more." "When conditions improve at work I will stop." "Quit now, during midterm, you must be nuts!" "Maybe after my daughters wedding." "My father is in the hospital, I can't quit now."
In her 1969 book, On Death and Dying, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross identified five distinct phases which a dying person encounters. These stages are "denial," "anger," "bargaining," "depression," and finally, "acceptance." These are the exact same stages that are felt by those mourning the loss of a loved one as well.
Quitting Smoking Requires Strength And Willpower
“I can't believe it, I'm just too weak to quit smoking.” This statement came to me on the fourth day of a clinic by a participant who could not stop smoking for even one day. When I asked him where he kept getting the cigarettes from, he replied, "They are mine, I never threw them out." When I asked him why he never got rid of them he said that it was because he knew the only way for him to handle not smoking would be by keeping cigarettes around in case he needed one.