Nicotine Dependency

Quit Smoking Once and for all, when it comes to incentives to quit smoking scare tactics don’t work. Women know that smoking causes lung cancer. They know that it raises their risk of stroke and heart attack a whopping tenfold if you also take birth control pills. Smokers and non-smokers alike are also now learning that smoking contributes cervix and pancreas. What’s more, it can lead to early menopause, fertility problems and miscarriage. Chances are, if you smoke, you’ve tried to quit several times but just couldn’t kick the habit. In a survey 73% of the 22 million American women who were smoking in one year said that they wanted to quit. But 80% of those who had tried to quit said that they couldn’t even manage to cut back. More than a third reported significant withdrawal symptoms; irritability, anxiety, hunger, fatigue, dry mouth, headaches, insomnia, constipation, of course cigarette cravings.

The truth is, cigarettes are just as addictive as cocaine or even heroin and equally hard to ditch. Studies show that it’s very difficult for people to stop using products containing nicotine. Also, fear of weight gain a common occurrence among ex-smokers also keeps many women from quitting. But it’s worth efforts to quit again. Smoking can lead permanent damage. Nicotine withdrawal, by contrast, is only temporary. Here’s what you can do to minimize withdrawal symptoms and avoid weight again. A few weeks before you plan to quit, try switching to a brand that’s lower in nicotine than what you currently smoke. Just make sure that you don’t smoke more cigarettes than usual or inhale more deeply, since that defeats the purpose. If you can quit cold turkey, consider yourself lucky. More than likely, you’ll need to cut back gradually to ease withdrawal symptoms. Smoking only half of each cigarette, or allowing yourself too smokes only during certain times of the day. Or putting a progressively lower limit on the number of smokes that you’re allowed daily, once you’re down to five to six quit altogether.  If you’ve just quit, and your mouth feels dry and woolly, or if your throat, gums or tongue hurts, try sipping ice-cold water or fruit juice. Make sure that you have lots of low calorie snacks on hand fruit, cut-up raw vegetables, small packages of lat bread, skimmed milk or sugarless gum. By taking the low cal route, you can eat more without gaining more. But don’t automatically reach for food when you think that you’re hungry. Try having a no-cal drink preferably water first. Drink through a straw if that helps. You may think that you’re hungry but you really need a drink or you simply want something your hand or mouth. Exercises relieve irritability and anxiety, and it helps you avoid adding extra pounds when you quit. Increasing the amounts of aerobic exercise that you do is one of the best ways to control your weight. If you walk for 20 minutes three times a week, make it to 30 minutes a stretch or do 20 minutes 4 times a week. Aspirin and other pain relievers can soothe a nicotine-withdrawal headache. A warm bath or shower may also do the trick.

Relaxing in a hot bath can also help ease anxiety and irritability, if there’s no bath in sight, try visualizing yourself in a soothing pleasant place. Or relax with some deep breathing. Take a long, deep breath, count to ten and release, repeat it 5 times. Most relapses happen the first week after you quit, when withdrawal symptoms are the strongest. Make quitting easier by avoiding things that you associate with cigarettes like alcohol or other smokers. Most people make four or five attempts before they succeed in quitting. One cigarette doesn’t have to lead to a pack and relapse doesn’t mean that you’re never going to quit.

Reward Yourself along the way; No doubt about it giving up cigarettes can be rough. Just ask Anne Geller, a neurologist. Dr Geller experienced nicotine withdrawal first hand when she quit a 17 year cigarette habit in 1980 and learned some withdrawal coping strategies in the process. When she was quitting, she soaked away the irritability and anxiety in a nightly hot bath. I also found that exercise was another wonderful antidote to the irritability and anxiety. After I quit I was more interested in pudding than I had been, while I was smoking, my after dinner cigarette had always been my goodies. So that she wouldn’t be tempted. She stopped making desserts. And once a week, Dr Geller says that she would take the money that she saved on cigarettes and spend it on a record or some other small treat. If you’re quitting smoking, try to build some pleasurable activities little purchases, so don’t feel you’re deprived.