Once a person decides that it’s time he or she stopped smoking, it is best to start immediately. However, how do you stop smoking, when you have been smoking for a number of years? Smoking is an extremely difficult addiction to break as tobacco contains the substance called nicotine which is addictive to both the mind and body.
Several studies have proven that every time you smoke a cigarette, it costs you about 5 to 20 minutes of your life. Apart from weakening the body, smoking leaves a person with bad breath, yellow teeth, dry skin, lower bone density, fertility problems that will eventually affect the sexual health of both men and women and a bigger risk of becoming infected with deadly diseases such as lung cancer. Smoking is costly and can reduce the life span of a person by about 10 years or even more.
Ways to quit smoking can be seen in various places and there are also many kinds of medication that can be prescribed. Some smokers are prescribed nicotine replacements such as nicotine gums, nicotine patches, lozenges, inhalers, etc. But the problem with all these is that it deals with mainly the physical aspect of what smoking does to the body. The truth is that more than the body, it is the mind that is addicted to smoking.
The most difficult part of stopping smoking comes when trying to cope with the mind. A smoker’s mind frequently becomes convinced that their happiness, enjoyment and leading a stress free life, all depend on smoking. Understanding that this is just not the case is one of the most important issues in quitting smoking.
One of the most important things to bear in mind when trying to stop smoking, is the breaking of such connections in the mind. Smokers believe that they have to have a cigarette to help them cope with daily stresses. Once you are able to overcome this dependency, in time your mind will learn to deal with daily activities without needing a cigarette.
A good piece of advice when trying to quit smoking can be to attend counselling classes and get advice from someone who is an ex-smoker, ie a person who has undergone similar experiences. Talking about your problems about stopping smoking and thereby relieving the fears you have by attending such sessions can be beneficial to anyone who is trying to quit smoking.
If you have made up your mind that you ought to give up smoking, don’t hesitate, grab the bull by the horns and start stopping now. You will soon start to notice the difference to your health. You will find that exercising will be easier, your fitness level will rise quickly, food will taste far better and your mouth will be fresher.