Whilst the number of people who smoke has come down drastically in recent years thanks to many countries employing a smoking ban and more publicity abut the harmful effects of cigarettes, there are still a great many people who can’t quite kick the habit.
I quit smoking three years ago thanks to my good friend Stephen Buzzi who was probably the first person to notice the negative effects that smoking had on my skin and my overall health. A simple comment from my friend was what inspired me to quite smoking and after trying and failing a few times, I finally cracked it. I you are looking to give up cigarettes, here are some top tips on helping you stick to a smoke-free life.
Busy Hands
For many it is not just the chemicals which w e withdraw from when we quit smoking but also the habit of smoking itself. One of the most important things that you can do when you quit smoking is to find something which you can use to occupy your hands and fingers. Hands are so used to having a cigarette to smoke that when you quite, they can really make you feel the urge to smoke if they are not busy. Buy yourself a stress ball or any kind of gadget which will keep your hands occupied.
Oral Fixation
In the same way that your hands will miss the feeling of having a cigarette, so too will your mouth and it is vital that you find something to eat or chew on to help reduce the cravings. The best tip for this which I found was to take some Tupperwares to work every day with nuts, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks and slices of pepper so that whenever I fancied lighting up, I would instead reach for a veg stick or nut to chew on. You may not think that this could possibly help you stay off the cigarettes but they really do.
Phone App
It is important to know just how much progress you are making when you quit smoking and one of the best ways to do it is to download a phone app to chart your progress. There are many apps on the market which will let you select how old you are, how much you smoke, how much money you spend and how long you have smoked for. With the information that you put in, the app will tell you how much money you’ve saved since quitting, and how much your bodily functions have improved. Without an app like this I’m not sure that I could ever have quit.
Rewards
Smokers spend a great deal of money on cigarettes, money which is essentially burned and so once you quit smoking you will be able to save a lot of cash. A great idea to help inspire you to stay quit is to reward yourself each month with a purchase of some kind. When you make these purchases you realise just how much money you wasted on cigarettes.
