Tips to Quit Smoking

A simple “home made” poll will reveal the most smokers are aware of the risks derived from their addiction. They in fact know that they are more exposed than non-smokers to cardiac diseases, vascular incidents, lung cancer, emphysema and less physical capabilities due to what they call “lack of air”. These are just some of the problems caused by this nasty habit, but should suffice to get serious about quitting smoking.

About 70 percent of smoker adults decide or have decided sometime to quit smoking, but didn’t make it. Why can’t they be successful?

The key is to have the proper motivation and follow a series of recommendations that will help you achieve definitive results. For instance, there are a lot of smokers that have given up that habit after suffering a heart attack. For them, the desire of being alive became a strong motivation after being so close to death.

There is people who tries to reduce the amount of cigarettes they smoke, hoping to eliminate the need of them in a progressive way. Sadly, it’s not uncommon for them to be smoking again just the same quantity of cigarettes than they smoked before, or even more. This happens because of the highly addictive power of nicotine. To eliminate dependence, the best thing to do is eliminate nicotine from the body all at one time.

Other people choose certain low-nicotine cigarettes. But that is almost worse, for they will eventually end up smoking many more cigarettes just to experience the same feeling of satisfaction, thus inhaling much more smoke each time. Those cigarettes may be low in nicotine, but their smoke contains a whole lot more carcinogens and toxins. Not finding enough satisfaction with each smoke leads to an increase in anxiety, and also the amount of cigarettes consumed. These people most frequently end up failing in their attempts to quit smoking.

There are some helpful keys to successfully quit this habit. The first step, as with any other addiction and, in general, any problem in life, is acceptance. There are still many smokers that unconsciously say that they don’t depend on nicotine and that they can stop smoking any time they want. This constitutes a denial that keeps them from achieving their goal. It is necessary to acknowledge that this is an addiction, and therefore a real problem.

The second step is top find a motivation that really boosts our desire to abandon tobacco forever. There is no magical formula here; the immense diversity of interests and values of people makes what is a perfect stimulus and motivation for one person totally useless for others. It’s in this step that a particular problem or situation may be useful to find the best possible motivation for each person. Many times love for a related one is the best motivation; that is the case of pregnant women that quit smoking for that child they are carrying.

The third step is to accept the magnitude of the goal set. Nicotine dependence is an addiction, and getting out of it will be a hard task for sure. There will be some times in which determination and willing to quit smoking will be threatened by intense desires to light a cigarette. Some symptoms can even resemble the abstinence syndrome often present on quitting alcoholics. It is up to each smoker to evaluate the effort that this process will demand and the real chances of success. It’s useful to know that these symptoms are not so hard on people with an adequate diet, and some smokers start taking natural food supplements to help them out through the hard walk into a healthy life.