Various tricks - electronic cigarettes, plaster, psychotherapy techniques - are being used today to try to overcome nicotine addiction. At the same time, many are wondering how to quit smoking at home and whether this idea is feasible because over the years, dependence on tobacco has developed not only on a physical but also on a psychological level.
The Suffering of a Smoker
Amateurs are hard to lift today. The state has significantly restricted the rights of smokers in the health care of citizens. And now a large army of fellow tobacco-addicted citizens are forced to gather in designated smoking areas, to leave the usual “smoking rooms” at the entrances, to suffer from nicotine “hunger” when they visit various institutions.
And then there’s a new law on the road - we recommend banning smoking closer than 10 meters from the entrance, as residents of the lower floors complain about the tobacco house entering the room from the street. Can you imagine the picture - a prestigious father leaves the house, runs 10 meters from the entrance and hides in the bushes? There is only one left - to smoke at home, that is, to endanger the health of loved ones.
In this situation, even an experienced smoker is thinking about how to break a long-term habit. As he pulls himself up, he remembers how much money is literally dissolving in the air next to tobacco smoke. After all, a pack of cigarettes has become more expensive several times over the years, the quality of tobacco products has fallen by the same proportion, and it smells like manure instead of the usual tobacco aroma of cigarettes today. In addition, health fails - a dry cough in the morning gets tears in your lungs, the pressure rises, and your heart plays a prank.
Sighing resignedly, the person decides to quit the bad habit. But how can you quit smoking on your own if you don’t have the willpower and any stressful situation is unsettling? A real "withdrawal" begins, the hand itself reaches for the cigarette, and the body needs a "sedative" dose of nicotine, otherwise people in the area are forced to communicate with an inappropriate person who responds to every little thing with irritation. In response, lucky people who have managed to quit smoking argue that motivation is paramount.
Motivation to quit smoking
Many experienced smokers themselves understand that their addiction is not physical but psychological. Cigarettes give you confidence, help you relax, calm down, think about their stressful actions. The daily ceremony becomes a habit, and now a morning cup of coffee is unthinkable without “replenishing” nicotine.
At the same time, one realizes that smoking is a serious blow to one’s health, but one cannot give up a bad habit. Any confidential conversation on this topic, requests from loved ones, the example of friends divorced with a cigarette will only achieve the desired effect if the person recognizes their problem.
Good to knowYou can only stop smoking whenever you want! A person must independently motivate themselves to fight smoking and agree with their subconscious, which plays a key role in attachment to addiction. An example of this is the story of two men.
The first of them smoked for many years, automatically noting that after every cigarette smoked, a characteristic cough appears, the heart is pressed in the morning, and the viscous discharge leaves the lungs. He gradually realized that the smell of cigarettes and smoking clothes made him disgusted. As a result, one day he simply realized he didn’t need it and gave up the tobacco forever, without the accompanying “withdrawal” and breakdowns.
Another successful young man with 10 years of smoking experience succumbed to his wife’s persuasion and pressure from relatives and was determined to “quit”. He couldn’t take a cigarette in his hand for weeks, but as soon as he got to an event with alcohol, his subconscious mind lifted the restriction, and he smoked again with rapture and returned to his old habit until the next attempt until he wanted to cope with the tobacco monster.
How do you motivate yourself to quit smoking, which method is considered the most effective and will help you cope with the psychological dependence of smoking at home? Let's look at the most popular techniques.
How to quit smoking on your own without pills?
A proper mental attitude is needed first. If you decide to give up a bad habit, try to follow 5 basic guidelines:
- Don't listen to advice on quitting smoking. Reducing the number of cigarettes smoked does not solve the problem. You should stop smoking immediately, at the same time, without making an indefinite decision.
- Get rid of anything addictive - send the remaining cigarettes to the trash, take out the ashtray, lighter and matches. Send smoky clothes to the sink.
- Rethink your habits and be aware of the actions associated with psychological addiction. If your morning cigarette was accompanied by a cup of coffee, replace it with tea. If an alcoholic party or gathering of friends is unthinkable without traditional smoke breaks, stop them for a while. Better yet, accept with your friends that in the next 10-15 years you won’t touch a cigarette. Just ask something really valuable to you.
- Don’t give in to provocations and the opinions of “knowledgeable” people who say it’s impossible to quit an experienced smoker all of a sudden because latent illnesses appear right away. On the contrary, every day the internal organs and lungs are gradually cleared of nicotine and tobacco toxins, as a result of which the state of health will improve.
- Motivate yourself to fight smoking, realize all the “minuses” of a bad habit, make sure your tobacco rejection comes from within, this will help get rid of subconscious nicotine addiction.
The main stages of motivation are awareness of the dangers of smoking and the degree of danger to one's own health, which can be supported by a full medical examination and watching videos on the serious consequences of long-term smoking.
Popular smoking cessation methods
So you decided to give up your cigarette and are looking at a number of options to help you get through a severe recession. In this case, simple tricks that do not require a doctor’s visit, the purchase of medications, and special material costs will help.
How do you leave a man at home alone?
There are a number of popular ways to quit smoking, one of which is called:
Four stinky breaths
- The maximum feelings of inhaling tobacco smoke should be reinforced and recorded. To do this, you need to inhale tobacco smoke and hold it in your mouth for at least 30 seconds while chewing with your mouth closed.
- After half a minute, you can let the smoke into your lungs. In this case, there is a desire to cough. Don't resist him, cough.
- Using the same technique, take 2 more puffs while chewing the smoke and holding it in your mouth.
- For the fourth time, simply pull out the smoke-filled lungs and then cough slowly, tightening your abdominal muscles. He then writes on the package the date he "took a stinky breath" and stopped smoking.
If you have an unbearable urge to smoke, repeat the procedure with chewing smoke and try to increase the intervals between such occasions. Soon the body reacts to the cigarette with disgust and the urge to smoke evaporates.
Milk cigarettes
This technique causes strong aversion to tobacco. It is enough to soak the cigarettes in milk or fermented milk drinks and dry them thoroughly. They taste disgusting, so it is impossible to smoke for more than 5-7 days. During this time, a special reflex develops that causes the rejection of all tobacco products.
Replacement method
This is a much nicer way to replace cigarettes with various tasty substitutes. As soon as you feel the urge to smoke, put a lollipop, chewing gum, chocolate in your mouth immediately, or chew on seeds and nuts. This method is more suitable for men as it has an unacceptable side effect for women - weight gain. But in this case, you can avoid the appearance of extra pounds by replacing the sweets with natural candied fruits (such as pineapple) or dried fruits.
Pain stimulus
A standard wrist strap can instantly bring a former smoker to mind the moment an irresistible urge hits a cigarette. All you have to do is click on the rubber band on your hand and your thoughts about smoking will turn into painful feelings. With strong motivation, this is a fairly effective way to prevent rest.
How can a girl quit smoking on her own?
Many psychologists note that the prettier ones are not much more motivated to quit smoking than men. And this is not surprising, because smoking affects appearance in the most unfavorable way.
Yellow teeth from plaque, a bad complexion, a hoarse, smoky tone, the smell of tobacco from clothes and hair don’t give a woman magic. Such a lady alienates the man rather than attracts her attention. In addition, nicotine has a very negative effect on reproductive function and can cause fetal defects if a pregnant woman smokes. Therefore, ladies are much more able to overcome the craving for bad habits and return to a healthy lifestyle. What methods help them with this?
Nicotine patch
You can buy this patch at any pharmacy. It is glued to the forearm or the outside of the thigh. Records are changed every day. The nicotine from the patch penetrates the skin and deceives the body, suppressing the urge to smoke. 
The treatment process takes an average of about a month; nicotine levels should be reduced every week. For the same purpose, you can switch to nicotine chewing gum, herbal cigars and similar substitutes.
Electronic Cigarette
For many, vaporizers (electronic cigarettes) have become a real salvation because of their nicotine addiction. It's still fashionable to be a vaper now. Instead of tobacco, such devices contain a special liquid that evaporates from the surface of the heating element and transforms into an aromatic vapor cloud that appears to be smoky. This is a real finding for a smoker with a strong psychological dependence, as all signs of smoking remain, but without the harmful nicotine component.
Pills and drops
Nicotine cravings can be relieved with medication. Take Tabex or Nicorette tablets for this purpose. The dose of the drugs and the duration of administration should be determined by your doctor. These drugs gradually reduce the urge to smoke and are averse to nicotine.
Another drug, Tabamex, has recently appeared on the pharmaceutical market. This innovative anti-nicotine drug comes in the form of drops and gels. For many smokers, the drug has become a real lifesaver, discouraging the urge to smoke without the side effects that come with it - excess weight or mental instability.
The product contains a complex vitamin and herbal extract, the effect of which is to reduce the need for nicotine. Users note that taking the drops deters smoking almost immediately, the gel removes yellow plaque from the teeth and eliminates the smell of tobacco. One therapy is sufficient to achieve the desired effect. Until now, the medicine can only be ordered on the manufacturer's website and is not sold in pharmacies.
Acupuncture
The psychological dependence of nicotine develops at the reflex level, fixed in the cerebral cortex. During the acupuncture procedure, the reflexologist acts on certain points that break the chain of impulses entering the brain, thereby suppressing the urge to smoke. After a few times, one no longer has nicotine hunger and can soon become addicted.
Neurolinguistic programming method
According to reviews, this is one of the most effective methods, but only if the person has decided to quit smoking and the procedure is performed by a practitioner of this method. In fact, it is an ordinary hypnosis that reprograms consciousness. As a result, the negative attitude changes to a positive one and the person gives up his or her health-damaging habit.
Of course, all of the above techniques are suitable not only for women but also for men. In addition to these options, various folk remedies can be used to alleviate the craving for nicotine.
Folk recipes
To reduce tobacco dependence, herbalists recommend using the following recipes:
Oats
The old-fashioned way of combining tobacco and powdered dried oats is good for tobacco addiction.
But today, no one smokes a hand-rolled cigarette, and pouring tobacco from the cigarette, mixing it with the desired ingredient, and then refilling the shells is a long and difficult process. Therefore, it is better to use oat decoction. To prepare, grind oat grains and add 1 tbsp. l. powder in a glass with cold boiled water. Leave the composition in an infusion overnight, boil in the morning, filter and drink instead of tea.
Anti-tobacco rubber
Peel, chop and mix fresh horseradish root with the same amount of chopped plantain leaves. Then spoon this mixture into your mouth and chew it. Swallow the released juice and spit out the dry residue. In this way, you can suppress your craving for smoking and avoid relapse. You can use branches of bird cherry, currant, ginger root or calamus for the same purpose.
Rinse
Mouth rinsing with soda water or saline is recommended to combat the craving for nicotine in the first days of quitting. As soon as you have an irresistible urge to smoke, rinse your mouth with a solution prepared at a rate of 1 tablespoon. soda or salt in 200 ml of warm boiled water.
Benefits of living without a cigarette
When you quit smoking, the first week is the hardest and then it will be much easier. In addition to cigarette smoke, diseases will disappear, health and mood will improve, and you will soon notice the following positive results:
Smoker- shortness of breath and dry cough cease;
- free breathing returns, the lungs are cleansed of toxic substances;
- the risk of cardiovascular and oncological diseases is significantly reduced;
- chronic diseases of the upper respiratory tract disappear; The functions of the immune system
- are normalized, the body's defenses are restored;
- mood will rise, the nervous system will be strengthened;
- improves complexion, skin and hair condition;
- yellow tobacco leaf cleans teeth;
- efficiency and mental activity will increase as the brain does not suffer from hypoxia;
- eliminates the unpleasant smell of tobacco on clothes;
- and ultimately significant savings on your family budget will be a pleasant bonus.
To list these benefits, you may want to consider quitting smoking. Moreover, now there is other evidence of a healthy lifestyle, snow-white smile, fresh complexion and excellent health, which is absolutely incompatible with smoking.
Overview of smoking cessation methods
Overview 1
He smoked for more than 20 years, smoking his first cigarette as a teenager. At the time, the cigarette was a symbol of independence for me, giving authority in the eyes of others. Over the years, health problems began, young people left, but the habit remained. When doctors warned that there were problems with the blood vessels and that it could end in any stroke, he was seriously thinking about quitting smoking.
I’ve tried a number of medications - from nicotine patches and pills to electronic cigarettes, but I’ve consistently failed. Eventually, the medicine for smoking Cytisine helped me. Because he cut it off. Now even the smell of cigarettes is disgusting.
Review 2
Quit smoking two years ago. My wife and I were expecting our first child at the time and simply couldn’t stand the smell of tobacco. Even if I used toothpaste right away, my clothes and hair were still drowned in smoke. I myself have been thinking for a long time about how to say goodbye to a bad habit.
In the end, I just gave myself a series of instructions, but I didn’t stop abruptly, but gradually reduced the number of cigarettes smoked. When I reached 2 a day, I noticed that I almost didn’t feel like smoking. And there was no time for smoke breaks - work, part-time jobs, family, small children. As a result, I just forgot about cigarettes and now I am completely indifferent to smoking.