Strategies To Quit Smoking
There are upwards of 400,000 deaths in the United States due to tobacco-related causes. The government and many media houses have embarked on campaigns to educate the public on the dangers of cigarette smoking to the extent that there is now a big push to quit smoking by a large section of the populace. Kicking the habit of cigarette smoking is not easy. This is because cigarettes contain nicotine, a chemical compound that acts as a brain stimulant. This causes a feeling of relaxation in most mammals and also a slight intoxication. Due to increased knowledge of the dangers of cigarette smoking, many people have determined to quit the habit but this needs a working strategy to avoid a relapse. The American Heart Association reports that this is one of the hardest habits to kick. Here are a few strategies that you can adapt in order to win this battle.
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1. Write down your goals. Researchers and educationists have recorded that people who write down their goals tend to be more successful at achieving them than people who do not write them down. This is also true to overcoming addictions such as smoking.
2. Get an accountability partner. Overcoming smoking can hardly be successful if done in solitude. An addict has to plug into a strong support system that guards against relapses which are all too common. A good accountability partner can either be a person or a group of persons such as an organization such as the 12 step program that is popular with alcoholics. The support group can consist of people who have themselves been addicted in the past. This is important because the addict needs to feel that he or she can have someone to look up to who has walked down that road and can offer valuable advice.
3. Develop new habits. Habits are formed when something is learned and then repeated severally until the mind and the body finally accept it as the norm. Whenever there is a dangerous habit present like cigarette smoking, it is necessary, even as one seeks to overcome it, to form new contrary habits which counter the destructive ones. Addictions sometimes are easily bred by inactivity or idleness. Getting into some sort of club or new hobby or sport can be highly beneficial in kicking the habit.
4. Get new friends. This can be categorized together with the accountability partners. Many of the destructive habits which we find ourselves in are as a result of the associations that we have. Selecting friends who don’t smoke can help in quitting the smoking addiction.
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May 30th, 2008 at 7:13 am
[...] HereticPB wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe government and many media houses have embarked on campaigns to educate the public on the dangers of cigarette smoking to the extent that there is now a big push to quit smoking by a large section of the populace. … [...]