If you've tried to quit smoking, you know how hard it can be. Most people fail at least two or three times before they find the combination of strategies that help them quit for good. Nicotine patches and gum can improve your odds of being successful. However, if you need more help, or want to avoid nicotine altogether, proven natural ways can help.
Exercise to Double Your Chance of Success
Women who exercise vigorously while trying to quit smoking are twice as likely to quit the habit and gain about half the weight of women who also try to quit but don't exercise, according to Bess Marcus, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University's Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine.
Exercise has many benefits that make it a good substitute for cigarettes. It helps relieve stress and anxiety, lets you sleep better, controls weight, improves self-esteem and self-control, and has a carry-over effect to other healthy habits.
If you're over 40 or haven't exercised before, get your doctor's OK first, and start out slowly, by walking the first few weeks.
Avoid "Coffee and a Cigarette" Syndrome
The usual diet advice given to people trying to quit is to detox faster by eating plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables and leafy green salads, water, green tea and to avoid foods and drinks you might associate with smoking: alcohol, coffee, sweets. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that some foods and beverages worsen or enhance the taste of cigarettes, according to Joseph McClernon, Ph.D., at Duke University's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. In his study, smokers reported that dairy products such as milk and cheese, water, and fruits and vegetables worsen the taste of cigarettes. Foods that enhanced the taste of cigarettes included alcohol, coffee and meat. Experts agree that it makes good sense to avoid those foods and drinks that trigger your desire for a smoke.
Get Poked With Needles
Acupuncture has been used to reduce withdrawal symptoms since the 1970s, when a Chinese doctor first noted that acupuncture for pain management also reduced opiate cravings. Over the years, a five-point protocol for addictions, including tobacco, has been developed by the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association.
The protocol is 12 weeks twice weekly 45 to 60 minute acupuncture treatments. Between sessions, patients have acupressure "beads" applied to their ears. They can press the beads any time they feel the need to stimulate the acupuncture points. "Acupuncture is thought to help balance the body's energy, or chi," says Elizabeth Stuyt, M.D., medical director of The Circle Program at the Colorado State Hospital in Pueblo. Her research has shown that people dealing with dual addictions who received acupuncture reported less anger, less pain, fewer body aches and headaches, better sleep, more energy and better focus and concentration than people not receiving acupuncture. Other research shows acupuncture works as well as the drug Chantix to help people quit, doubling people's success rate to 40 percent.
Breathe Deeply
When cravings strike, taking a few slow, deep, conscious belly breaths can help you relax, find your center and focus on staying healthy rather than having a cigarette, says Gay Hendricks, Ph.D., of the Hendricks Institute, in Ojai, California. "Deep breathing also increases the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your lungs, which helps you release toxins," he says.
Get Hypnotized
A study by Fayad M. Hasan, M.D. and others at North Shore Medical Center, Salem, Massachusetts, and Massachusetts General Hospital found that hypnosis was more than twice as effective as quitting "cold turkey," and over three times as effective as nicotine replacement therapy at helping people quit smoking. The study, published as an abstract in a 2007 "Chest," the professional journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, compared four smoking cessation programs used by former hospital patients who were motivated to quit. Fifty percent of patients using hypnosis quit successfully after only one hypnosis session with recorded sessions for follow-up, while only 15 percent of those using nicotine replacement quit successfully. "Hypnosis works because it offers a suggestion of positive change that filters into people's emotions and physiology and bypasses their natural resistance to change," explains Randy Gilchrist, Ph.D., a licensed psychotherapist with hypnotherapy training. "Hypnosis helps people to believe that they can do it, even when they have failed before." Such people may fail through lack of effort, rather than lack of ability, Dr. Gilchrist says. "Hyponosis helps to change their intrinsic motivation and focus, helping them develop a pleasant, positive compelling image about non-smoking, and a repellent image of smoking. It helps them to make choices that support their intention to not smoke." It works best when people practice by listening to sessions, and when it is combined with a plan for behavioral changes.
You can go to a hypnotherapist (Dr Gilchrist recommends a licensed psychotherapist who has hypnotherapy training), or get a pre-packaged program, such as an online download or DVD.
