why should you exercise if you want to quit smoking?

Answer 1

The most important strategy in remaining free from smoking is to put an exercise component into your life. The major benefits of exercise are these:

* Exercise brings a true, natural, and sustained high.

* Exercise gives relief from tension, a benefit smokers falsely think they get from cigarettes.

* Exercise decreases neuromuscular tension and increases relaxation.

* Aerobic exercise slows and even reverses the aging process.

* The exercised heart pumps more blood with each stroke, so this efficiency saves 20 million superfluous heartbeats per year.

* Exercise offers a long-term reduction of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

* Exercise dilates blood vessels, allowing blood to circulate freely to the hands, feet, and surface areas of the body. (Most smokers complain of cold hands and feet.)

* Exercise can prevent the potential weight gain connected with breaking free of cigarettes.

* You can develop a healthy addiction to exercise, which will be manifested in many positive changes in addition to losing interest in cigarettes.

Answer 2

When you get the urge to smoke you should do some type of excercise ...like just take a walk around the block.
You should exercise because Exercise can curb cravings and keep the weight off that is sometimes associated with quitting smoking.
Doctors have also recomended taking three deep breaths, brush your teeth, chew gum or drink some water.

Answer 3

Several reasons:
Distraction, keep your mind off smoking and on healthy.
To counteract changes in metabolism that happen as a result of quitting or starting smoking.
Most people tend to eat more (specially in the first year after quitting) .. exercise helps one keep from gaining too much weight, which often discourages them from quitting.
I quit 4 + years ago. BEST move I ever made (smoked 30 years!!) .. I walk every day, drink lots of water and have never felt better in my life.
Smoking is unhealthy behaviour - exercise is its opposite.
Plus when a person Really wants to quit and Stay quit - they do whatever it takes.
Walking is the Best exercise there is... plus it helps clear the toxins out of the lungs a little faster.

You quitting? .. Right On!!! May you be as successful as I have been!

Answer 4

I made the mistake of not exercising while quitting smoking. While I have successfully quit almost a year and a half ago, I have packed on 50+ lbs, which I have no one to blame but myself...

I have been chipping away at my weight now for about 2 months, but it is a slow go... I feel I would've had a leg up on my weight gain if I would've exercised at the same time I quit smoking.

Answer 5

Exercising is a step towards better health, as is quitting smoking. Combine the 2 and you'll feel much better physically in no time! Also, by quitting smoking and exercising, you will be encouraging your lungs to strengthen (if you do cardio).

Answer 6

There's a tendency to gain weight because the oral fixation associated with smoking is usually replaced by eating. Exercise not only helps keep the weight off, but rebuilds the lung capacity that has been damaged from smoking.

Answer 7

Mostly because it's a healthy distraction that helps take your mind off the nicotine cravings. Plus, people tend to eat more when they're suffering from nicotine withdrawl, so the extra exercise helps to balance the extra calories.

Also, exercising enough can cause your body to release endorphins, which your brain can potentially relate to in this way: "Exercising instead of smoking makes me happy. I want to exercise instead of smoke."

Kind of a mind trick you play on yourself, basically.

Answer 8

That sounds sort of backwards to me. I just quit smoking a month ago and said I would wait thirty days before I joined a gym, because I wanted to give my lungs time to heal before I jumped into a gym membership, my breathing is horrible because my lungs are in bad shape from smoking. But hey whatever floats your boat.

Answer 9

To keep your mind on another type of addiction: RUNNING instead of huffing and puffing on that stupid little rod of paper and tobacco... Also, when you find out your LUNGS are so wasted and you can't even run for 3 minutes straight, maybe then you will GET THE MESSAGE that smoking has been silently killing you. Who knows, that may be a huge turning point for really quitting the addiction...

Answer 10

Its an alternative to sitting around thinking about smoking and the increased metabolism from exercise can clear the toxins out of your system faster.