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Stop Smoking Tips

By Wayne Cooper

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 18Sep2008 Word count: 690 Viewed: 225 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Whether you have just decided it is time to stop smoking, or you have been trying for some time, it never hurts to get a bit of help. Of course, everyone is different, and everyone will have a different way of quitting that works best for them. Hopefully these Stop Smoking Tips will help you find the right way for you to become smoke free.

There are two basic ways to quit smoking. Going 'cold turkey' and weaning off. Each way works best for different personality types. So the first thing you need to do is determine which suits you best. Then focus on the stop smoking tips for that technique.

Going cold turkey is simply STOPPING. One day, all the tobacco in the flat is thrown out, most of the lighters and matches follow (most people do keep one lighter around for candles on the holidays, but some just get rid of everything). Going cold turkey can be a spur of the moment impulse, and when it is, it rarely works. Committing to never pick up a smoke again, especially when you will be surrounded by ads on the telly and coworkers offering a light for the rest of your life, isn't easy. If you want to go cold turkey, make sure you can make the commitment and stick with it. Going cold turkey works best for people who like short goodbyes and have little patience with unnecessary shenanigans. It can also be necessary for people with certain medical conditions.

There aren't many stop smoking tips for after you go cold turkey, but some prep can make a big difference in your success. First off, tell your family and co-workers what you are planning. Ask them to keep their smokes away from you and not offer you any when they light up. A support system can make a big difference. Pick a distraction. Before you quit, pick out a couple of different distractions, for work, home, and when you are socializing. Any time you find yourself thinking of lighting up, pull out that distraction. Maybe anytime you want a smoke and you are at home, you can get a couple of biscuits and sit down with a book (most people who stop smoking add ten to fifteen pounds in the first couple of months. Don't worry, it can come off later). Lastly, whatever you do, make sure that you always keep in mind why you are quitting. That way, if you get tempted, you can easily say to yourself, "No I'm not going to because....."

The one big stop smoking tip for cold turkey to implement after you stop, is that after years of smoking it is going to be difficult to get used to not having something in your hand and mouth. Right now, don't even try to. Instead, keep a bag of hard candies on hand, or get one of the plastic 'cigarettes' or anything else that works for you to pop in your mouth once in a while.

Weaning off can be a lot easier and is in some ways much easier than going cold turkey. There is no nicotine withdrawal, no sudden change in habits. There a lot more options available to a smoker weaning off, and a lot more stop smoking tips that can help. The two most common means of weaning of are timers and alternative nicotine sources. Someone looking to wean off using timers starts by figuring out how often they smoke. Then they set a timer for 5 minutes longer than they normally go between smokes. When the timer goes off, they have a smoke, and reset the timer. Each day, or each week, they add five more minutes to the timer. Alternative nicotine sources are other ways of getting nicotine, such as gum or a patch. Using these tools lets you know exactly how much nicotine you are getting, and stops further intake of cancer causing chemicals.

There is obviously a lot more out there to help you stop smoking. Take these stop smoking tips as a starting point, and build your own path to a smoke free life.

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