How To Handle The Withdrawals After You Quit Smoking

September 4th, 2009

After you quit smoking your body goes through a number of physical and neurological symptoms. Many of these symptoms can make things uncomfortable. It also becomes difficult to resist satisfying your desire for nicotine.

It is important to realize what you will go through after you quit smoking. It is also important of being aware of the withdrawal symptoms you may experience and mentally be prepared to handle them.

How to handle and overcome withdrawals after you quit smoking:

Cravings for cigarette:

Nicotine is the component in cigarettes that causes addiction. It is something our body craves, and is the main reason why most continue smoking. The nicotine affects the brain neurotransmitters and causes the dopamine release.

As soon as you decide to quit smoking, you will no longer obtain that small dopamine dose, so it is natural you will crave a cigarette. Understanding the problem and dealing with the problem is very essential here. What is immediately needed at this point is distraction. Simply take a short walk, do deep breathing exercises, or some type of quick stretching exercises.

These simple things can take your mind off of smoking.

Coughing:

There are chances you will experience instances of coughing. You may consult your doctor for medical advice but in most instances this is simply because your body itself is getting rid off the poisons accumulated over the years.

Pattern of sleep:

The best part of our life is waking after a good sleep in the night. Smokers usually never experience good sleep since they have breathing difficulty and may be disturbed with cough. Now that you have made the decision to quit smoking, you can experience to wake up with full of energy. Your desire for the first cigarette of the day vanishes.

Dizzy spell:

Still there are few things more distressing than a dizzy spell which will at once make you question, what’s wrong with me. This symptom is simply your body adjusting to a better flow of oxygen. It is quite easy to handle and should pass within a few days.

Tightness of chest:

For example visualize a balloon filled with only a less quantity of air then all of a sudden getting more air, obviously the skin of the balloon will become tighter. Just imagine that balloon is your lungs getting more oxygen after many years. At this instance naturally your lungs will become tighter. If the feeling persists, of course consult your health care professional.

Becoming irritable and angry:

After you quit smoking your body misses those small dopamine doses triggered by nicotine it is quite natural sometimes you may experience moments of irritability, anger or depression. When this happens, do something else that interests you and do not allow these thoughts to control your life.

Conclusion:

Once you quit smoking you should understand the withdrawal symptoms and how to handle them easily. You should try to understand that what you are feeling is natural and normal. You have taken an important and right decision in your life so continue to walk forward towards a healthy pathway as a non-smoker.

Why Is It So Hard To Stop Smoking?

August 3rd, 2009

Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to stop smoking? You already want to quit the habit but there are factors that are making you addicted to cigarettes.

So what can you do about this? Well, realize that information is the first step in your quest to stop smoking. Through information, you will understand how your body reacts to cigarettes and what you can do to control it.

Ending your smoking habit presents a lot of health benefits to you and your loved ones. It will enhance your overall quality of life and make you enjoy life a little bit more. But quitting the smoking habit is definitely not going to be easy but you have the best chance if you get the help you need.

Nicotine Overview

Nicotine is a substance found in tobacco and it has highly addictive properties. Other substances that can be likened to it include cocaine and heroin so within a period of time, the smoker can become emotionally and physically dependent on nicotine.

Research studies shows that overcoming both physical and psychological challenges is they key to stop smoking successfully. Despite what some people might say, you should not expect that you will be able to halt your dependence if you’ve been a smoker for decades.

This is because every time you smoke, the nicotine is absorbed into your lungs and into the bloodstream. When this occurs, the whole body will become polluted with nicotine. Your blood vessels, heart, hormones, metabolism, and the brain are particularly vulnerable.

In fact, it has been revealed that nicotine can even be found on the breast milk and the mucus secretion of a smoker. For this reason, it is advised for pregnant women to stop smoking altogether because the nicotine from cigarettes can freely go to the placenta and penetrate the umbilical cord of your baby.

Impact of Nicotine to your Body

Generally, you need to stop taking nicotine into your body if you want to stop smoking. This is because nicotine produces a feeling that makes a person want to smoke some more. Because of the pleasant feeling you will experience by using this, some smokers claim that they become relaxed when they smoke.

However, the truth is, nicotine acts somewhat like a depressant that interrupts the flow of feelings and information to the nerve cells.
When the nervous systems learns how to adapt to the nicotine, the smoker usually tends to increase the number of cigarette sticks they smoke everyday.

After some time, the person will begin to have tolerance for the substance until the smoker reaches a certain level for maintenance. If you really want to stop smoking, you need to take the effects of nicotine seriously.

You cannot stop smoking overnight or even within several days because you will first need to deal with nicotine withdrawals during the first few weeks after you stop smoking. But every little bit of effort you put in order to stop smoking is definitely worth your while because of the health benefits you will receive.

You Can Quit Smoking Now

July 22nd, 2009

Don’t tell a smoker that they should quit, tell them how they can quit their habit. In most cases, smokers already realize that they need to quit smoking now because of its adverse impact on their health.

But the challenge lies in the actual quitting because they will face an uphill battle both physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is a good thing that four steps will help a person quit smoking now before its two late; these includes:

• Deciding to quit smoking now
• Setting a date of effectively and selecting an appropriate plan of action
• Dealing with withdrawal symptoms
• Maintaining the healthy lifestyle

However, the four steps above is just a basic guide that will help a smoker quit smoking now. The specific techniques of the “how” might work for some individuals while another quit smoking aid might work well for another.

Every person has his own needs and responses to stimuli that will determine the right treatment for him. Now, let us look into each of these factors to discuss it more thoroughly.

Deciding to Quit Smoking Now

This is the decision that only you yourself can make. Other people might encourage you to quit but real success can only come from your decision to break the habit and quit smoking now.

Over the years, researchers have also looked into the various factors that entice a person to quit smoking. Some of the noted factors include health reasons, a sincere attempt to quit the habit, the realization that the benefits of cessation outweigh the benefits, and knowing someone who suffered health problems due to smoking.

It is also important to be aware of the stages that a smoker goes through before arriving at the quit smoking now stage. The stages start with pre-contemplation wherein the smoker is still not thinking about quitting the habit seriously.

Then, it progresses to move on to the contemplation stage; at this point, the smoker wants to quit but is still not prepared at a serious attempt. After this though, come the preparation and action stage where the smoker becomes proactive in quit smoking now.

Date and Action Plan

The smoker should determine an exact date by which to implement his quit smoking now decision. It is an essential step because it marks a milestone in the change in your life. You can pick a special date such as your birthday or anniversary date.

Preparation is also of utmost consideration during this time because the person needs to be physically and mentally ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

Dealing with withdrawal symptoms

Withdrawals are inevitable if a person has been smoking for some time. But the physical symptoms are not life-threatening; they are just irritating and annoying for the smoker.

The psychological aspect presents a more serious problem to quit smoking now because smoking has been integrated into every part of your life. It would be difficult to let go of this habit because it has become a part of you. It is not impossible to rise up above the challenge to successfully quit smoking now though.