Quitting Smoking

Learn How to Get Rid of Your Tobacco Habits

© Naheed Ali

Mar 17, 2009
Quitting Smoking, MorgueFile/Free Photo
Quitting smoking can be a long-term process for some people. For others, it can be a very smooth transition and lifestyle change.

The interests of tobacco producers are becoming increasingly rigorous. Moreover, cigarettes contain ingredients that cause addiction, thus creating a “captive” pool of customers worldwide. For nonsmokers, this has been one of the causes for relief from the dangers of smoking cigarettes.

Smoking addiction arises from cigarette ingredients, including nicotine, but there are other factors that keep people from quitting smoking.

Social Factors that Keep People from Quitting Smoking

Smokers are persuaded to smoke socially because they tend to imitate others in particular environments and therefore start to smoke from a relatively young age. It is almost like a learning process that includes bad habits.

Quitting smoking can be very difficult when a potential quitter is constantly in a smokers’ environment. Smoking in proximity of other smokers introduces a social factor and thus makes it even harder for quitting smoking.

Inhalation factors and the desire to restrain appetite may have something to do with hardships of quitting smoking. For example, we are all prone to the need for chewing and inhaling. For many people, a cigarette may be a means to meet this need, as a way to cope with anxiety, nervousness, habit, hunger, or other long-term issue.

Quitting smoking encompasses meeting this need via other means. You should always have something to chew on when the urge to smoke cigarettes arises. For example, chewing on fruits or gum can help with the process of quitting smoking.

Repetitive Habits Stop You from Quitting Smoking

People have a tendency to have their thoughts easily become decisions that, in turn, become actions. After repeated occurrences, these actions become habits. Later on this becomes a repeated pattern of behavior that is difficult to break. This is another reason why quitting smoking is such a challenging task.

The addiction becomes almost like a place of refuge because of the sense of satisfaction it provides. Unfortunately in the end, smoking provides a false “refuge” in times of stress, anxiety, fear, and insecurity. As a result, a smoker’s goal for quitting smoking becomes increasingly unattainable.

People who are interested in quitting smoking should analyze their patterns of use and conditions under which they turn to a cigarette. Subsequently, seek to avoid such environments or circumstances and reverse the pattern. In the end, quitting smoking will be a much easier task.

The Effects of Not Quitting Smoking

Not only is quitting smoking a situation of conduct, but the addiction to chemicals that the cigarette provides can prove devastating. Cigarettes contain nicotine, which has a relaxing effect on the nervous system. The smoker will then require more doses of nicotine to achieve this effect and therefore people tend to smoke more and more over the long term, hindering the efforts for quitting smoking.

Quitting smoking is in many ways similar to quitting the addiction to caffeine. A smoker gets the feeling of deprivation when he or she does not smoke. This brings unwanted effects like headache, anxiety and physical and psychological discomfort.

The information represented here is for informational purposes and isn’t intended to provide medical advice or consultation. It does not replace the advice of the doctor or specialist. Consult your doctor before starting any treatment or physical program associated with quitting smoking.

Related Articles:

Parkinsonism

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The Politics of Food

References:

NIH

About.com Health


The copyright of the article Quitting Smoking in Health Psychology is owned by Naheed Ali. Permission to republish Quitting Smoking in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.


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