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Quitting the Bad Habit: Smoking

3rd June, 2009 - Posted by health news - No Comments

When comparing smoking to drinking, many would go for drinking. Although both the habits are bad for the health, many people find it easier to quit drinking rather than smoking. Smoking has several detrimental effects on the body. It can cause yellow teeth, dark gums, premature aging, impairment in the taste, lung cancer and a lot more.

The main reason why smoking is so addictive is because of nicotine. Any cigarette you find has substantial amounts of nicotine. The body can get easily hooked to nicotine. That is why most smokers find it hard to quit smoking, especially if the body started developing mannerisms when it does not receive its regular dose of nicotine. Fortunately, there are several steps that can help you to quit smoking and live a healthy life.

Cold Turkey or Gradually

Quitting smoking can give you and your family tons of benefits. If you do decide to quit the two things you need to decide on first is whether to go cold turkey or gradually quit smoking. Each has its own advantages and cons. Firstly, going cold turkey can make you prone to the symptoms of withdrawal syndrome for smokers. Needless to say, it may result in several illnesses like profuse sweating, throat irritations, colds and cough and even fever. You don’t have to worry, though, because withdrawal syndrome is only the body healing itself.

Gradual smoking rarely causes withdrawal syndrome. However, this kind of method is not for someone who doesn’t have great self-control. You start by smoking five to ten sticks for the first week and gradually reduce it to a stick per day until such time you can actually fight the cravings. For a person who has weak self-control, gradually quitting smoking can be very hard. However, it is still effective as going cold turkey.

Throw Out the Habit

Once you have decided to quit smoking, it is helpful to throw out everything related to smoking. If you still have a cheap zippo lighter but find it hard to throw it away due to sentimental reasons, there are many ways you can dispose of it. Lighter is one of the coolest Groomsmen Gifts. If you have a buddy who has a wedding coming up, you can give him your valuable lighter as a gift.

Other cigar accessories like ashtrays, cigarette cases and others should also be thrown away. It is important to really put them away from your house. Keeping them somewhere in your house would not make any difference because you can still find them when cravings strike you.

Time to Isolate Yourself

The hardest part of quitting smoking is isolating yourself from others. You don’t necessarily have to become a hermit. All you have to do is to keep away from others for about a week or so until such time you are ready to face other smokers again. Make sure that you can control your cravings first or even stop them before facing others.

It is really hard to quit smoking when your friends are smokers. However, quitting is one milestone in every smoker’s life. If you’re able to successfully quit the habit, why don’t you influence your friends to also do so? There is nothing to lose but everything to gain when you finally stop smoking.