Quit Smoking Methods

There are, though, a few “guideline” methods to quit smoking, and these are:

1. Quitting cold turkey: stop smoking as soon as you realize you no longer want to do it. No preparation, no replacement patches, no nothing. Simply don’t light another cigarette. To some people, this may seem scary, but for some it works just fine. My opinion is that quitting cold turkey works for people who have come to the point of (almost) hating their smoking habit. This is why, from the multitude of quit smoking methods, they pick this one in particular.

2. Quit smoking using patches or other substitutes: this method will work very well if you want to first deal with the psychological addiction, and only after that deal with the physical addiction. The theory is simple: you still get your nicotine through the replacement (patches, gums, etc), but you have to resist the gesture of smoking. Once you’re familiar with not smoking (meaning, you’ve realized how to act around smokers and in what used to be ‘smoking breaks’) you can go ahead and reduce the dose of nicotine in the substitute you’re using.

Given the fact that you should get unaccustomed to the gesture of smoking – I have a personal feeling that using electronic cigarettes is not the best idea. They might work, if you want to quit in 3 step, let’s call them:

a) get unaccustomed to the smoke in your lungs – but keep getting your nicotine (at this point you’re using the electronic cigarette);

b) get unaccustomed to the gesture of smoking: quit the electronic cigarette and start using patches.

c) and finally get rid of the nicotine addiction by reducing up to zero the amount of nicotine you use daily.

3. Joining a support group: this quit smoking method works because you will get to interact with people in the exact same situation as you; you can hear what others are going through and also share your own experiences. This process will make it easier for you to understand that the ‘weird’ things happening to you are actually pretty common.

Other quitting smoking methods involve steps that need to take place BEFORE you actually quit smoking, and these are:

A. Set the correct motivation: define the reason that makes you want to quit smoking – is it because of your health? Or because the simple idea of being addicted to a drug gets you extremely mad? Or is it for the benefit of both you and your loved ones (spouse, parents, children)? From my experience, motivations not based on other people work best, because they do not depend on anyone else.

B. Get the correct mindset: be aware of the fact that you WILL get cravings. And when you do, you will need to find the correct way to get through them. For some people, this means talking to someone. For others it means getting themselves distracted by doing something new. And for some it means simply staring the addiction in the eye until the craving goes away.

In any case, you should remember that whichever quit smoking method you will pick, it is in your power to defeat this addiction, and you can do it, with the proper mindset and the proper support.