Congratulations! You have taken the biggest step and that is recognising that you want to give up smoking.
The next stage in the stop process is getting to know your smoking habit. We encourage smokers to keep a diary for at least a week, recording each cigarette taken throughout the day. Include details such as time of day, location and whether you where with friends or alone. This will help you to understand when, where and why you smoke.
Did you know, there are three aspects of smoking:
Physical / chemical addiction - smokers smoke to maintain a
certain level of nicotine in their blood. When nicotine falls
below that level, you feel the desire to smoke, this results in
the smoker responding to cravings at regular intervals.
The automatic habit of smoking - this is associated with many
different activities throughout the day such as watching TV,
having a cup of tea/coffee, going to the pub or smoking after
a meal. These activities have been established over many
years.
The psychological aspect - this is associated with emotional
dependence. Smokers link smoking with a wide range of
emotions – both good and bad. Smokers then learn to link
their habit to enhance their positive experiences or to damp
down negative feelings.
It is important to recognise the love hate relationship that you can have with your smoking habit and the fact you use cigarettes for both stimulation and relaxation at different time of the day.
Once you start to learn more about your smoking habits, you need to look for ways to break those habits.
Some of the easiest ways include:Then, it’s time to set a date to stop smoking and stick to it!
<< Thinking About It Stopping Smoking >>