QUIT SMOKING METHODS-"IT'S A MIND GAME-BUT THE BODY TAKES A BEATING"
There are several different methods to quit smoking. However, before you even think about trying one of these methods, you need to be in the right mind set. Smoking is such a strongly addicting habit with nicotine acting as a major agent that draws you deeper and deeper into the habit. It requires an enormous amount of drive and determination. You need to see a visual picture (no softening of the image) to show you exactly what smoking can do to your insides over a period of time. Some pictures of someone with a buildup of tar in their system and knowing how close smoking can take you to death—all the way there—can possible jolt your mind into the proper fixation to give up smoking forever. Then, after you have established your motivation to try to quit, you can begin to explore methods to quit smoking.
The craving for a cigarette is a craving for nicotine. NRT (Nicotine Replacement Therapy) can supply your system with nicotine alone—you don’t get all the physically harmful elements found in tobacco. There are nicotine withdrawal symptoms involved in the quitting of smoking. With not having these symptoms to contend with, a person can focus more on kicking the actual smoking habit.
Some smokers have the determination to quit smoking on their own. The death of a loved one who smokes, seeing a person’s children falling into the habit, and other types of devastation can drive a person to cease the habit cold turkey. If the reason to quit outweighs the craving for that nicotine, it’s not that hard. Another reason to quit smoking is that you wreak of cigarette smoke and people can’t stand the smell of you being around them—so it is either your non-smoking friends or your cigarettes (unfortunately, most will choose their cigarettes).
Please, if you have a shred of decency, take into consideration the affects of side stream smoking—the people who are constantly around you are inhaling the same thing you are—a person can ingle enough harmful chemicals to die from side stream smoke-could be your wife, husband, or even your innocent two year old. Some quit smoking on their own. It may happen gradually—but at least they quit.
Also, a person who is adamant about looking for methods to quit smoking can find one on one counseling help with their doctor, psychologist, pharmacist, or dentist. A trained counselor can explain the hazards and possibly show you some graphic images of what your system is going to look like in a number of years of smoking. Some local clinics offer group sessions with other smokers who provide support for each other and assure each other that they are not alone in the struggle to quit puffing that cancer stick. Smoking addicts have profited a great deal from group sessions. Some people claim that smoking calms their nerves; perhaps they need to get to the core of what is upsetting their nerves in the first place and address that problem at its source.
Now, there are a number of different medications to curb or make a person quit smoking. Sometimes clonidine or nortriptyline is used as a way to quit smoking. Of course, these medications are generally used in conjunction with a behavior consultation program. They work together in helping a person smoking. You can acquire nicotine patches over the counter. Bear in mind though that everyone can’t use medications designed to help smokers quit and they have to use one of the alternative methods to quit smoking. Check with your doctor.
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