Tips for giving up smoking...?

Question

What things can I do to help myself quit smoking apart from the patches and stuff? Has anyone got any tips on how they gave up? I'm 26 and have smoked for about 10 years. Thanks. Any help would be much appreciated, no silly answers please.

Thanks for that mate, think u made a mistake there!!

Answer 1

Drink lots of water, when an urge hits you take a walk and tell yourself " but I DON'T SMOKE". I had to stay away from some of my smoking friends for a couple of months, they underestood adn supported me, I just knew I wouldn't be strong enough to sit at their table (or have them at mine) drinking and playing cards without smoking - so i avoided smoking situations for a while. - now i can handle it (although it stinks and makes me a little ill to be around all the smoke) and when it comes time for that after eating cigarette - brush your teeth. Try not to substitute any food or other bad habits in it's place.

Answer 2

I AM IN THE SAME SITUATION AS YOU...I am 31 and have been smoking for 10 years, firstly I've got to say if you haven't got the complete self-determination to give up - forget it, it's not going to work the most important thing you need is willpower. Have you tried the patches I have found them to work well you stick one on (they may itch a little at first) but then you can forget about them all day you will still get the habit crave but this lasts only a few minutes (I find snacking on something healthy gets you through this...an apple works great), but I would advise you to take them off before bed as I and others I have spoken too have had bad nightmares when wearing the patches to bed.

My main stumbling block has been the fact that my partner who also smokes wants to give up but keeps buying cigs, and the temptation is too much for me knowing that he might have some, even if he doesn't smoke around me. So I have finally got him to STOP tomorrow, this is second time round for me I am going to use the patches again and I am so determined not to be a slave to this stupid game any longer , I know it's going to work.

Good Luck I am sure you know as I do there is no sense in smoking but stopping is damn hard work.

Answer 3

When I quit about 2 years ago was to keep telling my self to wait another 5 minutes before i had another cigarette. (By the way my husband still smokes so does my son, daughter-in-law and several of my friends.) I just did it gradually, plus the lady I took care of kept telling me I didn't need that cigarette, and I would tell her ok and I would wait a little longer. Then I eventually got down to about 2 or 3 a day. Then I just put them down. Once you get that far, You don't ever take another drag because that will get you right back to smoking again. I hope this helps you. What works for me may or may not help you.

Answer 4

I quit smoking when I was about 29 years old after smoking for about 11 years. Twice I quit for an entire year and started smoking again before I finally quit for good about 13 years ago. First, you really have to WANT to quit, not just try to quit because you think you should, or because it's the "right" thing to do. Also, when I quit for good, I was about halfway through a pack of cigarettes. After I quit, I carried the rest of the pack around in my purse for probably 6 months before I finally threw them away. Even though they were old and stale, something about knowing they were within reach eased my anxiety although I never touched them again.I hope this helps, and good luck to you. Quitting will be the best thing you can do for yourself.

Answer 5

Easyway – Allen Carr.

Honestly it is the only way I have ever known to actually help people quite, stay quit and be damn happy about it...unfortunately most people think the idea of an easy way to quit smoking is nonsense as people think it needs to be hard…it really doesn't.

This does exactly what it says, it is an easy way to stop smoking, and the way it works is essentially by de-programming the ingrained notions you have on smoking and quitting smoking so that it deals with the psychological problems of your smoking rather than the chemical. The chemical addiction is not the problem, you can go all night without being woken up by a craving, you will find sometimes you're having so much fun you forget to have a cigarette, quitting smoking does not have serious withdrawal.

Socially we are taught that smoking needs to be difficult, we live now in a very anti-smoking society, rather than a pro-quitting society, where there is no real support for people to quit, it teaches non-smokers that smokers are idiots and smokers that they have to suffer when they quit – if you believe it is difficult, this makes quitting smoking difficult – you believe to quit smoking requires will power and that quitting smoking will be depriving yourself of something you like doing, when you do not really like doing it, nor are you depriving yourself of anything, you are actually gaining something by quitting smoking.

Problem with most methods is that they will either involve going cold-turkey or nicotine replacement. Cold-turkey is not only depriving yourself of smoking but it is also just dealing with the chemical addiction rather than dealing with the psychological, nicotine replacement isn't depriving you however it is again only dealing with the chemical addiction, this is not the problem with smoking.

Allen Carr can explain this far better than I can, so let me just stick to telling you about Easyway – yes, it sounds gimmicky but it is the only way I have ever seen anyone quit smoking for good, and the only method to quit smoking that I have seen people happy with rather than being moody miserable and remaining under the impression that they need to fight the urge to smoke every day for the rest of their lives.

A book on Easyway from Amazon will set you back just £4, less than a pack of cigarettes, the book also offers money off their clinics – their clinics boast well over 90% success rate and give you a money-back guarantee – so that is just £4 you are spending for something that will help you quit smoking, be happy about quitting smoking and remain a non-smoker.

Not only that but you are allowed to carry on smoking while you are reading the book, in fact you are specifically told to carry on smoking while you read and the further you get into the book the less you want to smoke.

Check out the book reviews;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0141026898/202-2911417-2461432?v=glance&n=266239&s=gateway&v=glance

You really don't know unless you try it, I honestly recommend this to everyone I know, a lot of people are too scared to try it because they aren't ready to quit yet, but all those who have read it agree it is fantastic and the only sensible way to go about quitting smoking.

Link to Easyway web site - http://www.allencarrseasyway.com

Answer 6

Just stop. Convince yourself that that IS what you want and do it.
Believe that IS what you need to achieve and set out to do so.
Do it half-heartedly and you will not succeed. This is also why diets don't work most of the time.Change your life to not include smoking.
I did after 37 years smoking... it can be done.
You don't need props (Pills, patches, people with positive stroking, whatever)- we can all do it when your brain is right.

GO FOR IT

Answer 7

I gave up smoking using Zyban, available on prescription from your gp.

There are a lot of medical conditions which will prohibit its use, but its worth talking to your doctor about.

Its simply a tablet that you take, and it gradually 'cuts off' the signal from your brain that says you are craving a ciggie.

You take it for about three months. You continue smoking at first, then on a decided day (mine was day 11) you wake up and dont smoke any more. Ive tried patches, gum, microtabs, willpower, inhalators, everything you can think of, but Zyban worked wonders for me.

When I woke up on day 11, I was really scared as it seemed such cold turkey, but I was surprised that I didnt have any physical cravings at all. i thoguht about fags a lot, but didnt have any urge to have one. I even managed to sit in the smoking room witht he smokers in work and was fine.

Its not for eveybody, if you are on certain medication you cant take it, or if you have ever had any head injury, major major depression, or fits of any sort.

But if you are eligible, I highly recommend it.

Answer 8

always having something in your mouth like gum, pretzels ect. Going to a hipnotizer. My father when to a place where they hipnotized him to quit smoking, He has been smokng for 25 years, once we went there, he quit. . another thing that might help, is say if you smoke a pack a day, smoke 2 less each day. so the second day smoke 18, then 16.. ect.

Answer 9

Mental Issues: - Fear that you have no activities to take the place of smoking. - Allowing the idea that nicotine is in control. Physical Aid: - When you have the urge to smoke, chug a bottle/glass of water. - Keep a handy case of candy or mint and eat consistently to keep your mind from thinking of smoking. - Use patches or gum to facilitate the process. Emergency: - I known many people who just sucked up the will to not smoke for 3 days straight. It was painful, but at the end, they lost the urge once and for all.

Answer 10

Jolly Ranchers hard candy really helped me out or the fire sticks by them. I was a smoker for over 20 years-it's hard but it's all about discipline and will power. Just taking time out to ask means you really want to quit so just put that will power to work!!!We all know you can do it!!!If I can loose weight - you can stop smoking!!Good Luck!!!