It is generally accepted that smoking is just a bad habit, but in fact, dependence on tobacco is a disease that even has a designation: F17.Every fifth in the world is a smoker.
Dependence implies not only the constant replenishment of nicotine, but also the rituals: go to a smoke break, take a cigarette along with a glass of wine, patry yourself in the pants in search of a lighter.All these are the usual neural paths that the body is not just to interrupt when a person quit smoking.Therefore, it is important to get rid of both physical and psychological dependence.
The material was checked by the evidence-based narcologist, psychotherapist, cognitive-behavioral therapist.
Why you need to quit smoking immediately
According to statistics, in 2017, more than 8 million people around the world died from diseases associated with tobacco smoke, of which 1.2 million from passive tobacco consumption.
For comparison: during the Covid-19 epidemic, 2.1 million people died due to the disease.At the same time, for every death from smoking, it accounts for 30 patients who suffer from diseases associated with this habit.Harmful substances provoke the development of more than 15 types of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive lung disease.
Tobacco smoke, which consists of 4000 chemical compounds, weakens the immune system and thus negatively affects all organs of the body.It can provoke infertility and impotence, and also negatively affects the quality of sperm, which can later lead to congenital defects of the embryo.Smoking also weakens bones and teeth, which is why they become more fragile, provokes the development of rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases, including an ulcer.
As soon as a person quit smoking, the body begins to instantly recover.After a day, blood pressure normalizes and blood circulation improves, after two days a person distinguishes tastes and smells better, and after a month the walls of the lungs are regenerated.
Modern ways to quit smoking
There are several methods of rejection of smoking that help to hold out in the most difficult first days.They will be effective only if a person has a motivation to cope with dependence.
Nicotin -substituting therapy
Plaster, inhalers and chewing gum that contain nicotine deliver it to your body in a much more sparing way than cigarettes.
Pros:They help to smoothly get rid of addiction, gradually reducing the dose and without exposing the body to shock.
Cons:They do not make up for the “smoker’s ritual” when a person is used to picking up a cigarette after coffee or during a break at work.
Books of Allen Carra
The method is not a ban on certain actions, but in the development of motivation.Allen Carr, who once smoked several packs per day, and then became one of the leading British and world experts to refuse smoking and other dependencies, consistently explains not only those disadvantages that relate to health, but also others-which are associated with psychology.In particular, he indicates the substitution of the concepts of “I like to smoke / I depend on smoking”, drawing the reader’s attention to the fact that addiction is weakness.
Pros:Allen Carr gradually prepares the reader for changes.So, for example, he says that you can smoke while reading his book, but you need to stop immediately after the last page is turned upside down.
Cons:A person can stretch the reading for a long time, throw the book at some point or simply do not follow the author’s instructions.
Meditation
It can be auxiliary practice in conditions of stress in case of rejection of smoking.It is proved that after several hours of classes, people calm down, they have self -control and their mood rises.
Pros:Helps not to think about tobacco.Reduces the desire to smoke a cigarette.
Cons:Requires regularity.
Hypnosis
The most important thing in preparation is a desire.People who bring their loved ones usually get the opposite effect.A person does not lend itself to the doctor’s settings, but, on the contrary, after the procedure flaunts that nothing takes him.
Pros:If hypnosis passes successfully, you can get rid of the habit very quickly.
Cons:So far, there is no scientific data that hypnotherapy is the best and 100% effective way to quit smoking.
Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is built at work with dysfunctional thoughts and irrational beliefs of the patient.For example, this: “To relieve stress, I must definitely smoke”, “Talking in a smoking team and at the same time not to smoke it myself,” “It is very difficult to quit smoking, and I can’t do it.”
The method gives excellent results in combination with nicotin -substituting therapy, some experts also use hypnosis.
Pros:A person has support and a “conductor” that will lead him out of withdrawal states.
Cons:Price.However, it will pay off by saving on cigarettes.
Electronic cigarettes will not help
Often in an attempt to reduce nicotine dependence, people switch to electronic cigarettes.Alas, as recent studies show, this is far from harmless device.Such devices support the rituality of behavior and contain nicotine.
WHO does not recognize electronic cigarettes as a means of nicotine -substituting therapy.
Scientific and prompt medicine also questioned acupuncture.This method lies in the fact that needles are introduced under the skin that facilitate the symptoms caused by the abolition syndrome.For those to whom such a process may seem unpleasant, there are simulation needles that do not go inside the tissues.According to clinical research, such therapy does not provide a proper result.
That still does not help quit smoking
Smoking mixtures often contain tobacco and other harmful substances.Homeopathic assistance also raises questions.So far, there are no reliable studies on the topic whether naturopathy helps.
What you need to know before quitting smoking yourself
According to the European Journal of Social Psychology, the formation of new habits takes from 18 to 254 days.It all depends on the age and ability of neurons to create new ways.Actually, they like to run along the already trodden paths, it is because of this that it is so difficult for us to say goodbye to the usual manner of behavior.
However, it is possible to deceive your brain with nicotine dependence.
How to quit smoking yourself
- Designate yourself a date when you forgive with tobacco.Two weeks before the hour, ICs can start preparation.For example, abandon ritual cigarettes in the morning and for coffee.It makes sense to follow what moments you smoke, because you really want it, and when it is just a habit - on a walk, driving, under your favorite song, after eating.All these patterns need to be broken one after another.
- Tell everyone.In a solid decision, it is advisable to notify all friends and acquaintances.It is possible through social networks.If many people know what you abandoned, it will be more difficult for you to admit to them that you could not do it.
- Set a goal.To begin with, you can say to yourself that you do not smoke for a week.The most difficult thing will be the third day without nicotine, when its amount in the blood is minimized.It is during this period that a person begins to experience cancellation syndrome, which is accompanied by irritability, headache and increased appetite.For this day you can prepare in advance and come up with what to distract yourself.Relaxing practices can help. Having passed the first “breaking”, you need to set yourself a second goal.For example, hold out ten days.And so gradually move towards the goal.
- Take your hands.This will help interrupt the ritual of habit.It is advisable to have some kind of item, for example, spinner or pencil.The perfect solution is a puzzle per 1000 pieces or puzzle.
- Be prepared to replace addictions.The easiest option is to eat more.That is why, abandoning cigarettes, some gain weight.Over time, the power process is normalized and the extra pounds will leave.During this period, it is best to have a bottle of water at hand or low -calorie snacks, such as chopped vegetables and fruits.As a substitution of habit, you should more actively engage in your body, for example, practice yoga or running.
- Do not scold yourself with a breakdown.You fight not just with a habit, but with addiction.This is a disease that is not so easy to win on your own.So if you smoked a cigarette, it is important to praise yourself for lasting so long and set yourself the next goal.
Applications to quit smoking
For those who find it difficult to cope on their own, there are applications that help to survive this period.Many of them are built on motivation.You need to indicate how many cigarettes disappears from your pack per day, the date when you are going to leave, and then - look into the application every time you want to drag on.Here the amount of time and money that you did not spend.For example, if you smoke a pack per day, and it costs in the area of $ 1.3, then the annual savings will be approximately $ 530.
But most importantly, the application will tell what is happening to your body.So, already six hours later, the process of cleaning the lungs will begin, and after ten the body will get rid of half the nicotine and carbon oxide in the blood.
A program that is developed on the basis of cognitive-behavioral therapy methods will gradually help those who wish to abandon cigarettes.The main task is to help get control over your actions.Instead of forcing you to quit smoking right away, the application offers to set goals, for example, smoking three cigarettes per day.Having completed the task, you will find out how much money saved, how many months of their life have returned.
There is a program for 222 days.In the game, which was developed along with the Center for the Prevention of Cancer Diseases, a person opens new levels every day, receiving motivational messages.
Comments of specialists
“With regard to nicotine addiction, we can safely say that you can often quit smoking yourself.In my practice, there were cases when one session of cognitive-behavioral therapy was enough for the patient, during which the patient’s idea “I couldn’t quit smoking” was called into question.This is an irrational belief that can be completely refuted by facts, stories.Motivation counseling also helps well, during which the therapist points to the patient the discrepancies between his behavior and the goal that he sets himself.The method is aimed at increasing self -efficiency.
In the event of an anxious component join in withdrawal syndrome, both drug treatment (nicotine replacement therapy, anxiolytics), and normal duration protocols of cognitive-behavioral therapy or motivational consulting are necessary.
A good help here will be dialectical and behavioral therapy, which in its arsenal has a lot of self-help skills both with anxiety and in mood swings.
If therapy is carried out correctly, then the risk of “flowing” of one dependence into another is minimal.The increased appetite in the first moments after refusing tobacco should be treated calmly, this is a normal reaction of the body. ”
“In our culture, smoking is often treated as a habit with a bad reputation.People who cannot abandon tobacco consider them weak -willed, unable to force themselves to change even under the threat of harm to health.
From the point of view of a psychologist, everything is more complicated.Often, the smoking process is only the visible top of the iceberg, in the underwater part of which the mechanism of addiction itself is concentrated - both psychological and chemical.And those who decided to tie up, most likely, have to deal with one and the other component: they are interconnected.
The deepest roots of habits - to take a cigarette during stress - can be formed before 1.5 years.During this period, a baby, in order to reduce the alarm and relax, for example, in the absence of a mother, begins to suck a dummy or finger.
Smoking can serve a variety of needs.Moreover, far from always a person is able to recognize them, since they were not only frustrated, but also supplanted into the unconscious.
In the case when a person quit smoking with a strong-willed decision, the symptom can shift in the direction where you can discharge a vague, unconscious tension and find a symbolic support in another way.Often this support becomes food, the most affordable and individually suitable form of substitution of one addiction to another.People subconsciously perceive it as a symbol of belonging and love.Often, instead of emotional proximity, others offer food as the only form of the manifestation of care.Having adopted the behavior of the elders, already grown children retain loyalty to such self -support.However, in this way, a person again finds himself at the top of the iceberg of his needs.
The practices of awareness, which are aimed at understanding and feeling of oneself, their needs and motives, their body, will help to figure it out.For example, psychotherapy, yoga, meditation.Having satisfied his true needs, a person is quite capable of forgetting when he lasted a cigarette in his mouth. ”