As one of the most addictive habits on the planet, smoking comes with a very high percentage of relapses. There are plenty of ways, however, to avoid the trap of "just one more cigarette" if you are willing to make some changes in the habits in your life. Below are five tips for resisting tobacco cravings when you're quitting smoking.
- Physical activity - You might think that physical activity and smoking have opposite effects on the body. There is a misconception that smoking is meant to relax and physical activity involves stressing the body. However, the results of physical activity and smoking are the same: Stress in the body goes down. When exercising, the body emits certain chemicals that relax muscles and make people feel happier. In short, physical activity is like smoking a cigarette without all the nasty negatives.
- Tobacco alternatives - There are a number of products created specifically to wean a person away from craving tobacco. People who use nicotine replacement therapies such as patches, gums, lozenges, and sprays when a craving hits can often overcome the temptation to turn to smoking.
- Mixing up routines - One habit tends to lead to another. If your daily routine is always the same, then you will likely feel the need to smoke a cigarette at the same time every day. Changing your entire routine makes your brain disassociate your daily experience from a cigarette and helps you form new habits much more easily.
- Finding other nonsmokers - Spending time with people who are not smokers will likely help you fight the urge to smoke tobacco. They will likely have problems with the health effects and smell of secondhand smoke, and they frequently hang out in places that do not allow smokers in the first place.
- Rewarding success - Instead of looking at quitting smoking as a negative thing that you must "get through" every day, look at it as a task you need to complete before you are able to receive a reward. This means that you must give yourself a reward of some sort when you meet a certain goal of not smoking. These rewards must be ongoing, because the craving for tobacco does not simply go away and never return.
