Successfully quitting smoking requires establishing new rituals. Using willpower may help kick a smoking habit, but finding new ways to occupy your time will help conquer the smoking habit for good. Smoking is part of your daily routine. Switch your routine to avoid the rituals that give you the urge to smoke. Disassociate activities you associate with smoking. Establishing a new ritual will decrease the likelihood of you lighting up. Enlisting the help of a professional will complement the changes in your behaviors. Physicians, therapists or alternative medicine practitioners may provide additional tools to quit smoking.
Step 1
Remove ashtrays, lighters and cigarettes from your home and workplace. Disposing of the utensils required for smoking will give you a head-start.
Step 2
Write a list of actions that prompt you to smoke. Discover the triggers or times of day you are most likely to smoke.
Step 3
Create new things to do at the time you would normally smoke. For instance, walk after dinner or drink coffee and read the newspaper. Avoid smoking during work breaks. Make important telephone calls or take a short nap on breaks.
Step 4
Fight the urge to smoke by keeping your hands and mouth occupied. Chew gum as an alternate oral activity. Play with a stress ball to keep your hands occupied.
Step 5
Ask your doctor about smoking cessation medications. Smoking cessation medications decrease nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Discuss your options and either buy a medication over-the-counter or with a prescription from your doctor.
Step 6
Try an alternative method to stop smoking. Minimize smoking cessation withdrawal symptoms with acupuncture. Acupuncturists use needles to apply pressure to the body to alleviate withdrawal symptoms. Use hypnotherapy to decrease your urge to smoke. Hypnotherapists use the power of suggestion to stop the urge to smoke.
Step 7
Call a quit smoking hotline. According to "Telephone Counseling For Smoking Cessation", published in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, the likelihood of quitting smoking increases after calling a smoking hotline on three or more occasions.
Tips and Warnings
- According to Smokefree.gov, stress may trigger an urge to smoke. Use techniques like deep breathing or exercise to combat the urge to smoke.
