How to quit smoking
Posted on 17 November, 2009 | No Comments
If you want to quit smoking, it’s time for you to use a Stop smoking support group (some offer one-to-one sessions). These are free, confidential and can be very effective and are great for people who do not want to give up smoking alone.
Smoking can seriously damage your health. According to tests done, there are 4,000 chemicals in a cigarette a poisonous gas in tobacco smoke which lowers oxygen in the bloodstream.
These scary chemicals in a cigarette, including carbon monoxide (CO), binds with your red blood cells and prevents oxygen from circulating in your system, which can lead to a grey complexion, cold fingers and toes, gangrene and limb amputation. Other chemicals include acetone (used in nail varnish remover), pesticides and formaldehyde.
The first few days can be hard at smokefree sessions and you may feel twitchy and even want to have a cigarette at times. You can choose NRT (nicotine replacement therapy)ie., gum, patches and so on. The group leader will talk to you about using these and various ways to manage any cravings
But after your first smokefree week, you may feel amazing with no guilt, no ashtray mouth and your lungs may feel easier. I liked this new me and was determined to keep it up. The gum and the patches may really take most of your cravings away. The group leader will suggest you how to do this, also the group may share ideas. Mostly, he support of the group will make all the difference to your quitting of smoking.
However, you may have side effects, such as irritability or disturbed sleep., but using NRT, as recommended, will help ease these. Remember, they only last a maximum of four weeks. After that may feel so much healthier and fitter, and may not need NRT patches.
Having a cigarette after you quit, may activate the brain’s nicotine pathways, making you want to reach for the next and the next. That’s why you should not even have a single puff. After two months of smokefree sessions, you may feel more in control of yourself, healthier, happier and slightly richer, and would love saying no to a cigarette.