How to Stop Smoking in a Week
Have you been wanting to stop smoking, but haven't really known the right way to stop? What if I told you that within a week from starting this one stop smoking program you could be smoke free forever? In this eBook you will learn how you can be smoke free forever!
CONTENTS
·
THE RISKS OF SMOKING
·
KNOW YOUR ENEMY
·
HOW YOU CAN QUIT SMOKING
·
QUIT SMOKING IN A WEEK
·
HOW TO HANDLE THE URGE
·
LET'S STOP RIGHT NOW!
·
DEALING WITH SYMPTOMS OF
WITHDRAWAL
·
CONCLUSION
·
CHARTS
|
THE RISKS OF SMOKING
According to health care experts, if you smoke, you
will be twelve times more likely to die from lung cancer. Now let’s just think for one short moment:
wouldn’t it be very important for you to increase your chances of living from
two to twelve times longer, gain many extra years of happy, healthy existence,
and save thousands of dollars in increased medical costs?
·
10 times more likely to die from Cancers of the mouth,
throat, and esophagus risks.
·
12 times more likely to die from lung cancer or some
form of lung diseases.
·
10 times more likely to die from cancer of the larynx.
·
6 times more likely to die of heart disease.
·
And you will be twice as likely to die of a stroke.
Enough is enough!
Another overlooked benefit is the amount of
money saved by not buying cigarettes in the first place. For example;
If you smoke one pack of cigarettes a day at $2.00 per pack, you spend
$730 per year. If your habit has continued for a period of 15 years you will
have spent an incredible $10,950! If you smoke two packs for that same period
of time, you will spend $21,900!
If you want to help yourself to be
successful, you need to be able to answer the following two questions:
1) What can
you do to reduce the desire to smoke every time it hits you ?
2) What will you do until the
urge passes?
With the information contained in this
Ebook, I will give you the ammunition you need in this war against tobacco. You
will be able to resist the urge to smoke every time it hits you and you will be
able to resist it until the urge passes.
Next, you will need to deal with the reasons that you smoke now. What
kind of satisfaction does smoking give you - physical, mental, or emotional?
Ask yourself.
KNOW YOUR ENEMY
Nicotine creates a biochemical reaction in your body
that has an immediate effect on your mood, your ability to reason, and your
metabolism. Even if you only smoke a few
cigarettes a day, you do feel so bad when you try to quit? The more that you smoke, the higher level of
chemical dependency will be reached. Light smokers can also become just as
dependent on cigarettes because of nicotine’s psychological impact. In this way
it can affect moods and feelings in certain situations.
It is only a matter of seconds after that
first puff that nicotine starts to have an effect on your central nervous
system, and the rest of your body. Certain areas of the brain, when stimulated
by nicotine, help you think more clearly.
Other areas of the brain lie in a pleasure center which when stimulated
can make you feel more relaxed and less anxious.
Nicotine also affects the hormones produced
by the body, which creates a chemical dependency to nicotine and the
accompanying craving. Heavy smokers have become dependent on heightened levels
of hormones, stimulated by nicotine, which can have an addictive quality. They
need a cigarette at certain intervals of time. After the stimulation of the
hormones starts to fall, they need another cigarette to bring them back into
the comfort zone. If they do not get that cigarette, the craving begins.
HOW YOU CAN QUIT SMOKING
Quitting is hard. If you have tried to quit smoking,
you know how hard it can be. It is hard because nicotine is a very addictive
drug some times it can be as addictive as heroin or cocaine.
Many people have found that including
physical activity in their program to quit smoking has added a tremendous
benefit to assist in quitting. There are many reasons for this:
When people are more active, they gain
confidence and like themselves more.
They feel more energy, and are more capable of dealing with tension in
their lives. With increased activity,
the smell of tobacco actually becomes offensive. Whenever you feel the need to
smoke after you have decided to quit, get up and move around instead. A brief
physical activity can provide you with the lift that you may have received from
nicotine.
QUIT SMOKING IN A WEEK
Look at the following Reasons for Quitting: -
·
You will live longer and live better.
·
Become a high-energy person without cigarettes.
·
Quitting will lower your chance of having a heart
attack
·
Reduce the chance of Cancers of the lung, mouth and
throat
·
Relax and enjoy the pleasure of relaxation without
cigarettes.
·
Deal with your tensions without a cigarette.
·
If you are pregnant women, this will improve chances
of having a healthy baby.
·
The people you live with, especially family members
will be healthier.
·
Save money.
Consider the following question: -
How and when do you want to quit smoking?
There are only two ways to effectively quit
smoking, immediately (cold turkey), or gradually. When you quit gradually, you
use various methods to taper off before you have that last cigarette. Neither
way is better than the other for all people. Pick the one that you feel fits
your temperament. Either way, a nicotine patch may prove to be a real benefit
in giving up, especially if you are a heavy smoker.
Try this test to see which way is better
for you.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT METHOD OF QUITING FOR YOU
Answer the questions by circling “yes”, “no”, or “not sure”.
1.
Stopping smoking is
one of the most important things in the world for me right now. Yes no
not sure
2.
I can handle a tough
problem without a smoke.
Yes no
not sure
3. I have to quit smoking and my reasons are good enough
to do it now.
Yes no
not sure
4. If I quit this minute, I know I can find a
way to resist the craving to smoke, even if it is strong. Yes no
not sure
If your answer to all of the above questions is ‘yes’,
you may be a candidate to quit immediately. But before you do, read on to get
the tools necessary to be successful. After reading the following, set a time
to quit. If not right now, then tomorrow, but do it.
What about the doubts you may be feeling
now?
Most smokers will get a sense of doubt when they read
the questions above. You probably are not confident in your ability to follow
through with resisting any future craving to smoke, or finding something to
substitute for the feelings that smoking has given to you.
In
order to have the confidence to quit, you :
(1) must find an alternative to handle the urge
to smoke, when it hits, and
(2) create ways to deal with the reasons that
you smoked in the first place.
Together we will accomplish both these
tasks so that when the day comes that you had planned to quit, you will be
confident to do it.
HOW TO HANDLE THE URGE
There are several weapons that you can use in your
fight to quit.
EACH OF THESE WEAPONS WORK- THEY HAVE BEEN PROVEN
You may use one, all, or a combination of
several to achieve your goal. The urge to smoke is immediate, and usually lasts
for five minutes. If you can resist for that period of time, you reduce the
urge.
1.
Take a deep breath,
hold it for a few seconds, and exhale as if you had just taken your first puff
on a cigarette. Part of the feeling you get from smoking is a direct result of
taking a deep breath. A deep breath allows you to take in a maximum amount of
oxygen, and exhaling lets out large quantities of carbon dioxide. This results
in a feeling of relaxation. Try it, you’ll see.
2.
Take a sip of water
several times during this five minute period. It can help to diminish the need
to smoke, and gives you something to do with your hands. The extra water will
also help to flush the nicotine out of your body.
3.
Put something in your
mouth that has no calories, such as a stirrer, toothpick, or another substitute
for a cigarette.
4. Get busy with something, anything, to keep
you busy for the next five minutes.
5. As long as it does not lead to a craving,
chew a piece of gum or a piece of hard candy. Life Savers work well.
6. Get up and move around for five minutes. It
will help the urge to smoke to pass.
7.
Use a nicotine patch
as replacement therapy.
LET’S
STOP RIGHT NOW!
The first thing to do is set a date when you are going
to quit smoking. Let’s start one week from today. That will give you plenty of
time to practice with the weapons in your arsenal. Eight days from today, it
will be the beginning of the end of your smoking habit.
Days 1 and 2
Examine your smoking behavior for the first
two days. Every time you light up, ask yourself:
1. Why am I smoking this cigarette?
2. Would this be an easy one or a difficult
one to do without?
4.
If I did not smoke
this cigarette, what would I do instead?
Day 3
Let’s get out and test your weapons today.
At least once today, use your weapons to
shoot down the urge to smoke.
During the five minutes that it will take
for the urge to pass, try out some of your arsenal. Try one, or all, or find a
combination that works for you.
Day 4
Today is the big testing day. If you
haven’t already tried it, skip those one or two cigarettes that you feel may be
the toughest to give up in your daily routine. Pick the ones that you rated
“difficult” during your monitoring period.
Remember, this is a practice period, and
you must not get upset if you are unable to give up a difficult cigarette. You
must practice and experiment with your different weapons to realize how you can
be more effective.
If you found skipping that cigarette very
difficult or even failed in the end, review any factor that got in the way of
your success. The most common causes of
difficulty or failure that a potential quitter faces are:
Chemical properties of addiction
When you do not have that cigarette, you feel
lousy. If you are a heavy smoker, a nicotine patch may help to relieve your bad
feelings.
Social pressures
You may find yourself in a situation (card
game, party, coffee break) during which you would normally smoke. It may help
to let others know of your desire to quit, and also your reasons for quitting.
Enlisting the aid of a non smoker to confide in may also help. Make sure that
he or she is aware of your goals so that they do not say or do anything to
instill a negative impact on your desire to quit.
If you feel that you may not resist the
social pressures of smoking, consider the option of giving up these social
encounters for two or three weeks until the urge passes and you can be
comfortable again.
Tension and negative emotion
Tension and negative emotion
A crisis occurs during your work or
personal day, and one of the main reasons for you to smoke has been tension
reduction. Try to deal with your negative emotions and use the tension reducing
methods that we talked about earlier. Get away from the area that the tension
is associated with. Take a walk, or go to another room. You may also find that
nicotine gum will give you enough tension relief to get through.
Days 5, 6, and 7.
You are now heading down the home stretch.
In the next three days, your goal is to come out of this week smoking half the
cigarettes that you would normally smoke. If you started as a one pack a day
smoker, cut back to ten cigarettes per day, or less. The fewer the
better. During days 5 and 6, set your goals toward achieving positive
results on day 7. Maintain your smoking record during these three days, and
continue to decrease your dependency on nicotine.
What do you do if you still have doubts?
This is probably due to your chemical dependency on nicotine. It is a highly
powerful drug, and many factors have been working together to make you
dependent. Discuss with your doctor about the feasibility of a patch or
nicotine gum. Nicotine is the hook that has gotten you to smoke which carries
the harmful effects to your body. With the help from the patch or the gum, you
will have all he tools you need to successfully quit. The patch or gum will
give you a steady influx of nicotine into your system, which will be reduced
slowly over a period of several weeks. DO NOT SMOKE WHILE ON THE PATCH. You
could experience a dangerous overdose of nicotine.
NOTE; Pregnant women should not use the gum
or patch. Smokers with any form of heart disease should consult with a
physician before using.
DEALING WITH THE SYMPTOMS OF WITHDRAWAL
Dizziness may occur
during the first one or two days. Take a quick break, it will pass.
Headaches may appear at any time during the first weeks. Try to
relax. Take any usual remedy for headache, a cold cloth on the back of your
neck, or relieve the stress by taking a short walk.
Tiredness may occur during the first few weeks, but if you
meditate or relax during the first few weeks, it will pass.
Coughing may actually increase during the first few days,
simply because the residue from the smoke has not been flushed from your
system.
Tightness in the chest may occur in the first few days. Rest and
take deep breaths, it will go away.
Sleeping problems may occur in the first few days. Try to
stay away from drinks that have a high caffeine content, try not to exercise
too strenuously in the hours prior to bedtime. A hot bath prior to retiring at
night may also be helpful.
Constipation may occur in the first month after you
quit. If this occurs, eat foods with a high fiber content, drink plenty of
fluids, and do some light exercise.
Concentration may tend to wander during the first few
weeks. Be ready for this, take a break or do something physical for a short
period of time.
The following pages will give you an
example form to chart your progress as you begin to give up cigarettes. They
are all self explanatory and should prove to be a tremendous asset in assisting
you to give up your habit. On a daily basis, chart each cigarette that you
smoke during the day. Enter the time, place, and with whom you smoked, the
reason for smoking, whether it will be easy or difficult to give that one up,
and the weapon that you will use to fight the urge to smoke that one.
CONCLUSION
If you are not completely confident that you can resist
the urge to smoke after you have quit, it may be necessary to remove any visual
reminders of smoking from your living and work areas. Throw away or give away
those leftover cigarettes, get rid of lighters, ashtrays, matches, and anything
else that could be associated with smoking. Why should you force yourself to
resist the urge to smoke when it is far simpler to just remove the reminders. If
you keep a pack of cigarettes in your home or office, there is a good chance
that you may pick one up. Just this one may be the cigarette that hooks you
again.
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