"Cold turkey" is the most successful approach to quitting smoking, according to the American Cancer Society's "Quitting Smoking" brochure. Nevertheless, quitting smoking is very difficult, and it often requires people to substitute other activities. The American Cancer Society reports that approximately 17 million Americans try to quit smoking each year, but more than 75 percent resume smoking within three months.
Significance
Finding something to do instead of smoking is crucial for your health and longevity, according to "Essentials for Health and Wellness." Your blood pressure becomes normal within 20 minutes after you quit. Your ability to taste and smell is enhanced within two days. Your coughing, fatigue and shortness of breath problems diminish within a few months. Your risk of dying of lung cancer is halved within five years. Your risk of heart disease is about the same as a nonsmoker after 15 years.
Preparing To Quit
Most people can't do something instead of smoking for a significant period of time unless they go through three psychological stages, according to "The Well Adult." In the motivational stage, smokers prepare to quit psychologically, keep smoking and think about smoking's dangers. In the behavioral stage, people quit, fight nicotine withdrawal and replace the joy of smoking with something else. In the maintenance stage, ex-smokers avoid situations that will spur a relapse and learn to replace the urge with another thought or behavior.
Rewards
Smoking gives pleasure to millions of people because the nicotine in cigarettes "calms you down when you feel stressed and wakes you when you feel tired," according to "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease." You need to do something joyful to replace smoking. "The Well Adult" recommends celebrating milestones such as one week and one month without smoking. A celebration can be a weekend trip, a vacation, a sumptuous dinner or an outing with a friend.
Relaxation
If you smoke to relax, you should find other ways of relaxing. Stress management techniques such as thinking about happy events in your life, deep breathing and stretching help you relax. "The enhanced ability to concentrate and the alert relaxation that comes from meditation is similar to the one produced by nicotine," says Ornish. Exercise also triggers the same physiological relaxation response as nicotine, Ornish reports.
Support
Spend more time with friends instead of smoking. Cigarettes often serve as friends that bypass the fundamental causes of unhappiness, according to Ornish. Consequently, "How to Quit Smoking," a chapter in Ornish's book, recommends that ex-smokers address underlying issues of loneliness by joining support groups composed of others who have quit or want to quit smoking, talking to friends who want to or should quit and announcing you intend to quit so friends will contact you more often to monitor your progress and provide psychological support.
References
- "Essentials for Health and Wellness;" Gordon Edlin, Eric Golanty and Kelli McCormack Brown; 2000
- "The Well Adult;" Dr. Mike Samuels and Nancy Samuels; 1988
- "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program For Reversing Heart Disease;" Dr. Dean Ornish; 1996
- "The No-Nag, No-Guilt, Do-It-Your-Own Way Guide To Quitting Smoking;" Dr. Tom Ferguson; 1989
