Around the pandemic, many people suffered from lung issues and for a few people, the issues were life-threatening because they were regular smokers. Many people understood how the habit of smoking resulted in severe effects on the lungs at the same time and many have given up on smoking due to the same reason. We already know the negatives of smoking and how it impacts the lungs, healthy cells, and our body at a DNA level wherein it can cause cancer as well; that’s why staying away from it is important. Many people go cold turkey when giving up cigarettes but then they can’t stay this way for long and start craving them again. There are many ways to quit and many of my clients have taken the help of clinical hypnotherapy, counselling, nicotine gum, home remedies, alternatives, etc., to slowly give up on this habit. So here are the simplest ways to stop smoking:
Healthy alternatives: Adding something into your routine to help break the routine of smoking is helpful. Sometimes these alternatives may not be anything else to chew or eat; it could just be a hobby that you do to divert your mind. Try to find one such hobby to divert your mind from smoking. Apart from that, one can even chew on spices such as cardamom, ajwain, or fennel to change the taste of the mouth and control the urge.
Don’t go cold turkey: If you are smoking 10 cigarettes daily then suddenly stopping it will give you severe withdrawal symptoms. It is better to smoke 10 cigarettes till halfway done and throw it. This way, you will automatically cut down on your smoking, then gradually make it to 8/6 halves and then stop.
Find distractions: If you know of a specific time when you smoke a cigarette, then instead of smoking, find a distraction like drinking a glass of water or talking to your near or dear ones—so you subconsciously create an anchor. This way, you weaken the neural pattern so that you can work over it and don’t get the urge to smoke.
Your health and value add: Why do you smoke? Social stigma or any feelings attached to the same? We have seen a few clients smoking first thing in the morning to clear their bowel movements. But there are a few questions that you need to ask yourself, how does smoking add value to your life? Is it making your life and health better? The answer is usually NO. Is it creating any disease in the body? We all know the answer is YES. When you keep asking these questions daily, you will understand that it is not adding any value, in fact, it is creating disease and with this, you might stop altogether.
Stress: Many people smoke under stress because that makes them feel better. But rather than running away from stress, find out the ‘whys’ for your stress and start working on feeling better. Take a deep breath, do some activity, walk, etc., to divert your mind from stress and you may really not need the smoke.
Deepika Rathod
Chief Nutrition Officer, Luke Coutinho Holistic Healing Systems.
The writer is a clinical nutritionist with a focus on healthy lifestyle choices.