How long have you been a smoker? While having that cigarette can be immensely satisfying at the moment, we know that a temporary nicotine fix is the only benefit. Cigarettes are detrimental to our health, the health of those around us, and are quite expensive.
Are you ready to clean up your act and save money? Here are four ways you can become a non-smoker today, no matter how long you’ve been smoking.
1. Cold Turkey.
“Just stop smoking.” It sounds outrageous, but this has been the method that has worked for thousands of people for the past century. Certain motivational programs have you set a date to quit and stick to it. You remain aware of when it is you’re most likely to want to smoke and distract yourself during these times.
The most difficult part is making it through withdrawal. The symptoms can be more intense, considering you’ve stopped all nicotine consumption at once. The effects one may feel include irritability, anxiety, depression, dizziness, headaches, and weight gain, to name a few.
2. E-Cigarettes.
Cigarettes are much more than just nicotine. In the average tobacco cigarette, you’ll also find carbon monoxide, ammonia, acetone, toluene, and more. These, along with the literal burning tobacco entering your lungs, are arguably more damaging than nicotine alone. Therefore, many simply use vaporized nicotine in a device like the Smok Stick V8.
E-liquid is placed inside of a chamber – usually a tank – and heated by a Li-Ion battery. This produces the nicotine vapor you inhale. The biggest advantage is that you can control the amount of nicotine you get, choosing liquids with specific concentrations which allow you to reduce dependency. You can even vape for the hand-mouth satisfaction after you’ve eliminated nicotine if that helps keep you “clean”.
3. Medications and Other Nicotine Replacements.
For some, the hand-mouth action provided by e-cigs is too tempting. They’ll remain very attached to the action, which means they’ll think nothing of resorting to a tobacco cigarette when their electronic device falters or is otherwise unavailable.
That’s why a nicotine patch or gum may be a better option for them. These provide specific amounts of nicotine to satiate the smoker, with patches typically being part of a step-down program to reduce dependency. Medications, which inhibit nicotine receptors in the brain, can also eliminate dependency, but come with many side effects.
4. Hypnosis.
It won’t work for everyone, naturally, but people who are highly suggestible have some success through hypnosis. This method may be best for smokers who already despise cigarettes, but need that message to sink into their minds a little deeper.
The goal of anti-smoking hypnosis is to access the subconscious. It helps to identify the underlying cause or trigger that leads one to smoke. From there, we can change the way we view cigarettes, absorbing the subconscious message that tobacco is poisonous and undesirable.
Stop spending your money on harmful chemicals, and say goodbye to hacking coughs, yellow fingernails, and bad breath forever. Reduce your risk of deadly disease and clean up the air around you with one of these four methods. If you find that one method isn’t effective in breaking your addiction, try another. With persistence, you can join the one-million-plus people who kick the habit every year.
