Stop Smoking Now - Tips to Quit Smoking

obacco is responsible for the death of 1 in 10 adults all over the world, which translates to around 5 million deaths every year. The disease mainly strikes the cardiovascular system, resulting to heart attack, respiratory tract diseases, and even cancer. Regardless of the risks of smoking cigarettes, to quit smoking is not an easy task, yet it is possible.
It is no secret to the many people who have tried before, putting an end to the bad habit of smoking can be one of the most demanding trials one can face.
This article has been written to provide you with information on various methods available to help quit smoking.
Sometimes leading to several attempts to quit without the needed result. Smoking can eventually become more than a habit, and more than an addiction. It can be evaluated as a progressive disability that will without a doubt lead to disease.
What once was a social habit may now harm your social life as your clothes constantly smell like smoke. At the same time you are deliberately polluting your lungs and the rest of your body while poisoning your mind with the art of addiction. Smoking eventually leads to completely replacing your real needs with cigarettes, you smoke instead of eating and can no longer run like you used to. By all means there is nothing good or cool about smoking and you should not convince yourself or allow others to convince you otherwise.
Smoking kills your body, it burns the inside of your throat and lungs leaving you damaged and open to health problems, all this by choice. The list of bad things it can do to your body can literally go on forever so why continue?
Will you allow an addiction to take away your life and overall health?
What is worst, a few weeks of suffering, or a lifetime rendered short? These are not questions you should ask, you should already know the most logical answer. You should act at once and fight that part of you that wants to smoke, see it as an enemy and fight it without mercy, or even better ignore it. If you think you can fight it then you can, if you feel you are stronger then the addiction, then you may just be able to leave it behind and adapt to living a healthy life.
Quitting smoking allows you to get back to enjoying food again without the constant need of a cigarette. See how much better it is when what you are consuming everyday is good for you, and not meant to kill you.
For those of you who feel that stopping smoking from one minute to the next is impossible, which is without a doubt the best way, then you can get some help through your doctor and prescriptions. One thing is for sure, it has to stop.

Methods to Help Quit Smoking

If you are struggling with the nicotine withdrawal instead of lighting up a cigarette and falling of the wagon look into nicotine replacement products instead. There are many great products on the market today ranging from gums to patches. The idea is not to create a new dependence on these nicotine substitutes. Instead of buying the gum or patches and using it to systematically reduce your nicotine addiction, use it on a need to use basis.

Smoking Patches - One of the most popular ways to stop smoking is by using the patches, which is in most cases placed on your arm.
What this does is it will insert calculated amounts of nicotine inside of your body to feed you the nicotine your body demands. With time the amounts are reduced until they eventually become non existent. This will in a way help to stop your urge to smoke by slowly getting rid of the chemicals that your body is asking for without taking it away in one instant. At the same time it is discreet and can be hidden under your sleeves.
All you have to do is follow the plan and let time do it's work. This product has been widely used and has proved to be efficient for many.
Some have even claimed that it can make the symptoms practically disappear making the process a lot easier. Like any other tool meant to help quitting, you must be determined to stop as this will not work by itself.
Nicorette patches should be applied to a clean, dry, non-hairy, non-irritated area of skin on the hip, chest or upper arm in the morning. Remove the patch after 16 hours (usually at bedtime) and in the morning apply a new patch to a different area of skin. Avoid using the same skin site on consecutive days. Do not wear more than one patch at a time. Do not cut the patches.
Do not apply the patches to broken, red or irritated skin.
If you exercise while wearing a nicotine patch the amount of nicotine absorbed into your bloodstream may increase, which could increase the side effects of nicotine.
If you get a severe or persistent skin reaction, such as severe redness, itching, rash, hives or swelling after using these patches, you should stop using them and consult your doctor for advice.
Make sure you do not leave unused or used Nicorette patches where children can reach them. Doses of nicotine that are tolerated by adult smokers during treatment can produce severe symptoms of poisoning in small children and may prove fatal. Fold used patches in half so the sticky side is inside and put them inside the opened sachet, or in a piece of tinfoil. Dispose of used patches carefully, away from children and animals, as they will still contain some nicotine.

Why is it so Hard to Quit Smoking?
Foremost, this is because most smokers become addicted to the nicotine contained in tobacco products. Nicotine has a deadly addictive power. When a person smokes a cigarette, nicotine particles find their way to the lungs through inhalation. From there, nicotine is absorbed into the bloodstream just like the oxygen people breathe. It travels with the blood to the brain where it locks onto certain receptor areas. Dopamine is then released into the brain. This is the chemical that makes the smoker feel a euphoric sensation. Smokers find it difficult to quit smoking because they come to be dependent on this good feeling. And, this leads to dependence - addiction.
A person who attempts to quit smoking may experience withdrawal symptoms. Topping the bill of withdrawal symptoms is depression. With the absence of the chemical that produces the relaxing feeling, the brain becomes distressed without it. Other withdrawal symptoms from smoking include: Headaches dizziness, and nausea Shakes, chills Cough, dry throat nasal drip Hunger, fatigue Constipation, gas or stomach pain, and Insomnia
Not knowing what to do with their hands is another common complaint among people trying to quit smoking. Once people get hooked, smoking becomes a big part of their lives. They seem to actually enjoy holding onto a cigarette. And, after a long period of lighting up, it becomes a routine. As a fact, humans are creatures of habit. By some force of habit, smokers find themselves reaching for a cigarette and lighting it up automatically without thinking about it.
Certain "triggers" in the environment may also make it difficult to quit smoking. Little things may turn on a smoker's need for a cigarette. These may be feelings, places, and moods. Even the things done routinely may trigger this craving for a smoke.
For those who have been smoking for quite a while already, they may not realize it but they form some emotional attachment to cigarettes. They find the cigarette calming and comforting during those stressful times. Cigarette smoking somehow becomes an extension of their social life, particularly when they are emotionally at the highest or lowest. Giving the smoker a feeling that to quit smoking would seem like giving up a trusted friend.
These are only some of the major reasons why it is hard to quit smoking. But there are also several strategies and quitting techniques that may aid smokers to finally give up on the habit. Quitting smoking all begins with one's intention to stop. They must have the will power to overcome the craving for nicotine.
Those who smoke cigarettes must understand that to quit smoking may take more than one attempt. They must also try several methods before they can finally succeed. Smoking is a stubborn habit because it is closely tied to the acts in the course of people's everyday lives. Even so, with determination, will power, and a strategy, anyone can quit smoking.

Tips to Quit Smoking for Good
If you have tried to quit smoking in the past then you no full well the withdrawal symptoms and the sheer psychological battle it is to kick the habit successfully. The only saving grace is knowing that if you can stay of lighting up a cigarette for 30 days then chances are good that you can kick the habit for good. It just begins one day at a time. Here are some useful tips to help you quit smoking for good.
Find an accountability partner - Find someone who wants to kick the habit as much as you do or better yet find someone who has already kicked the habit who you can enlist as your accountability partner. That way you now have someone who is holding you to seeing you fulfill your goal of not smoking. The great thing with having an accountability partner is you have someone there when the going gets tough and when you lose your motivation you can have someone there that can pick your spirits back up. Setup a system to track each other whether it is calling each other or meeting with each other on a regular basis. Another great tip is when you get the urge to light up you must make a call to your accountability partner before lighting up. You will be surprised how often your accountability partner can console and talk you out of lighting up when given a chance.
Quit smoking cold turkey - Forget about all the nonsense of quitting by reducing your smoking or nicotine intake over a period of time. Not only is it just giving you more reason to keep with the addiction it just doesn't work well. If you quit smoking cold turkey then the reality is that you know if you are cheating or not by whether or not you are lighting up. The alcoholic or addicted gambler now full well that if you do have a problem you don't keep doing it but to stop it today. The best time to quit smoking was yesterday the second best time to quit smoking is today.
Replace your habit with something else - Some great habits you can think about taking up is taking up a fitness class, not only will this be great in improving your health but you get a chance to meet up and be around health conscious people which can rub off onto you.
Take up breathing exercises - You have possibly spent years destroying your lungs with the toxic smoke it's time to do your bit to help your lungs. Breathing exercises not only help you to utilize your maximum oxygen efficiency but by pumping your body better with oxygen it also acts to reduce your nicotine addiction. Great breathing methods include yoga and tai chi.

Immediate Benefits from not Smoking
After only 20 Minutes your blood pressure drops to normal
Your pulse rate drops to normal
Walking becomes easier
After 2 - 12 Weeks Circulation improves
Lung function increases up to 30 %
After 1 - 9 Months Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath, decrease.
Cilia regrow in lungs, increasing ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, reduce infection
1 Year Risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker
Your temperature in hands and feet increases to normal
After 8 Hours Carbon-monoxide level in blood drops to normal
Your Oxygen level in blood increases to normal
After just 24 Hours your chance of a heart attack decreases
After 48 Hours your nerve endings start regrowing
Your ability to smell and taste is enhanced
No more ashes in your car
No more bad breath
No more being sent out to smoke in the cold
No more being socially unacceptable
No more constant cough
No more disapproval of loved ones
No more lack of energy
No more loss of smell
No more loss of taste
Money saving ($3000 - $5000/year/per person)
No more pasty complexion
No more premature aging
Reduced risk of developing life threatening, incurable diseases.
Reduced risk of shortened life span
No more smelly clothes
No more smoker's mouth (wrinkles from inhaling)
No more nicotine stained hands and fingers
No more stale air in your house
No more yellow Teeth