Smoking is a detriment to your health and the health of those around you. The National Cancer Institute notes that 97 percent of all lung cancer deaths are caused by cigarettes. Smoking also causes a variety of other types of cancers, including throat, pancreatic, liver and colon cancer. Smoking also increases your risks for heart disease and stroke, so it's no wonder that you're urged to quit by people who love you. While quitting can be difficult, replacing cigarettes can help make the transition from smoker to non-smoker easier and smoother.
Step 1
Exercise daily. An article published in the January 2005 issue of "Monitor on Psychology" reported on a psychologist named Bonnie Spring, who used herself and 315 other women to test the effects of weight loss and quitting smoking simultaneously. Excise and healthy eating seemed to create a pattern of healthier living, as those who swapped cigarettes for exercise and a healthy diet did better and controlled their weight while quitting.
Step 2
Purchase stop-smoking aids to replace your cigarettes. While nicotine gum, patches and lozenges all still have the harmful drug nicotine in the formula, it's a reduced amount. What's more, most stop- smoking programs start with gum and lozenges with a higher concentration of nicotine and slowly wean your body from the craving by slowly reducing the amount. Replace your cigarettes with stop-smoking aids to keep your mouth busy and calm the cravings.
Step 3
Meditate throughout the day to keep your stress level in check, suggests MayoClinic.com. You may have used cigarettes as a crutch when you felt stressed out and anxious, which is why it can be difficult to quit. Replacing your smoking with meditation, yoga, sports or any other activity that helps to calm you can help you control your cravings and kick the habit once and for all.
Step 4
Switch your old routine for something new. Certain triggers cause you to crave a cigarette, and following the same routine can put you back in a smoking rut. If you always woke up, and had a cigarette while drinking coffee, replace your smoking with a morning run and green tea, suggests the American Cancer Society. Replacing your typical smoking routine with something unrelated can help you avoid your triggers.
Step 5
Avoid replacing your smoking with other harmful behaviors, like smoking drugs, using "low tar cigarettes" or chewing tobacco. All are still harmful to your health, notes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Safe" cigarettes simply don't exist, so if you're quitting for your health, choose something healthier that helps you to quit instead of feeding your addiction to smoking and cigarettes.
