Health Effects of Smoking

Right after you quit smoking you are going to have the urge to smoke. Your daily triggers are going to beckon you to smoke. There are two types of coping skills that you should utilize when facing these urges – behavior coping skills and mental coping skills.

Behavior coping skills are actions that you can take to not smoke. For example; if you experience a stressful situation at work and the voice in your head is screaming for a smoke you can do several things to deal with the craving such as; go for a brisk walk, take some deep breaths, call a friend, and/or leave the situation. Using this same situation add some mental coping skills, which are things that you tell yourself, such as; “I manage stress without smoking”, “smoking has not benefit”, “smoking will not solve my problem”, and think of the progress you have made thus far – is it worth giving up? NO!

Don’t spend a lot of time thinking about smoking or not smoking, get your mind on something else. Our minds tend to be drawn to what we think about and if you are always thinking about smoking then you are setting yourself up to fail. Find something else to think about such as; what your 5-year old said to you this morning that made you laugh.

It is important when using mental coping skills to think about the positive. Don’t think of yourself as weak for wanting to smoke. Think about the great new life you will have once you are free from smoking. Think of the smiles on your kid’s faces, the new things you will buy with all that extra money, and the opportunities you will have. Quitting smoking should not be viewed as losing or giving up something you enjoy doing. It is quitting a habit that is killing you and those around you. There is no safe level of smoke or secondhand smoke for that matter.

Handling smoking urges is part of the process so plan for it by thinking about how you will handle some of the common triggers you think you will face and come up with some positive things to tell yourself when the time comes. You are worth it! You can do it! You are living a new healthy life that is fulfilling and full of new opportunity and healing! You are a non-smoker!

Recently an old friend was visiting and we were talking about quitting smoking, we both have smoked for years however I have quit and she has not. As she spoke about how she was “trying” to quit I thought that was great. But how long do you keep trying? I remember saying that I was trying to quit smoking for nearly a year. Now that I think back I must not of been trying very hard.

The point is – there comes a point to either “piss or get off the pot.” You either are or aren’t doing something. That holds true for everything in our lives, the things we are doing, want to do, or should stop doing. When you really take a moment to consider the word “TRY” it will ultimately lead you to one of two conclusions. Either you did do something that you intended or you didn’t!

Trying to do something for too long only leaves a loop hole for failure, an excuse to quit. Stop trying and commit to quitting smoking. When you do that you will end up in one of two places, you will either succeed or fail. Which one you achieve depends fully on you… so get the word try out of your vocabulary, unless you are trying on clothes, and take that next step and either DO or DO NOT!

After quitting smoking the urge to smoke can be very strong and at times persistent. Stress, anxiety, and negative moods are common triggers for smoking. You know this, you have experienced it first hand. If you can, what is the first thing you do when someone upsets you? You are outside lighting up a smoke, pacing, and cursing them. For so long you have conditioned your mind to use smoking and nicotine to affect and control your moods. Obviously this wasn’t done on purpose but if you smoke long enough this is what will happen.

When it comes to controlling the urge to smoke you have to have another way to deal with the triggers. Not only do you have to wait out the urge but you should come up with alternate methods of dealing with stress, anxiety, and negative moods. If you have time to smoke you have time to take a quick walk. Focus on your breathing and release the tension in your body by stretching. Turn your mind from negative thoughts and from thoughts of smoking to pleasant thoughts. Never believe that if you smoke this one time to get through a tough situation you will be able to quit again. The results won’t be pleasant because all you’re doing is solidifying a false belief that there is a benefit in smoking.

Use self-talk to remind yourself why you are quitting and that quitting is the best thing that you can do for you and your family. View yourself gaining not losing anything. If you view quitting smoking as a loss your subconscious may try to find ways to find it.

Quitting smoking has its challenges and over time the urges will occur less and less. Even after years of not smoking you may encounter a sudden urge but it is easy to dismiss. The key is to never give in to the thought of “just this once.”

We all have to start somewhere and the same goes for smoking. Do you remember when you starting smoking, the day you became addicted? Smoking statistics show that 80 percent of adult smokers started before their eighteenth birthday. Every day, nearly 4,000 teens under the age of 18 try smoking. Because of this more than 6.4 million kids living today will prematurely die because of a decision they will make to start smoking.

Click Here to Read the Reason Teens Start Smoking

Even though there are different methods to quitting smoking and products to help the basics are still the same. Mentally preparing yourself to quit smoking is vital and there is a widely used 5-day countdown to quit smoking that you should be aware of. First of all you need to set a quit date!

• Five Days Before Quitting – continue to remind yourself of all the reasons you are quitting, write them down if you haven’t already. Let your friends and family know you are quitting and get your support group lined up.
• Four Days Before Quitting – pay special attention to why and when you smoke. Make note of these triggers so you can plan for them. Think of routines and habits that need to be changed and make a list of items to hold in your hand instead of a cigarette.
• Three Days Before Quitting – think about what you will do with the extra money you will be saving by not smoking. Jot down the quit smoking hotline telephone number and put it in a place you will remember.
• Two Days Before Quitting – if you are going to use the nicotine patch or gum you should buy it and familiarize yourself with it.
• One Day Before Quitting – start cleaning your surrounding while at the same time getting rid of things that remind you of smoking.

QUIT DAY – keep yourself busy and avoid alcohol. Watch what you eat as well because some foods may trigger the urge to smoke. Avoid places and people who smoke. Stick it out and reward yourself at the end of the day.

Generally, when you make a decision to do something there is a time of contemplation. Of course you may contemplate certain things longer than others. It is much easier to make a decision quickly on a matter when there is a great reward or pleasure attached to it. When it comes to quitting smoking it is hard to realize the benefit in advance especially when you feel like you are giving up your “best friend.”

The contemplation stage can go on for a long time, in fact it can go on for years. However, once you have decided to quit smoking it is time to start making the necessary preparations. You begin to educate yourself on the different methods of quitting smoking, the challenges of quitting, and what to expect after quitting.

“Information is the seed for an idea, and only grows when it’s watered.”

Okay… so now you are ready for the next stage – ACTION. Without action nothing will happen. You have made the decision to quit and drawn up a plan on how to do. You got the quit smoking hotline on auto-dial but all that is useless unless you take the next step and quit.

There are 3 main reasons why only 8 percent of the 17 million people that try to quit smoking each year actually quit. I think a lot of people fail at quitting because they don’t fully understand what they are going to have to deal with when they quit. Sometimes it is like a constant itch that just can’t be scratched. You try and try but it doesn’t go away unless you feed it the nicotine. Cigarettes contain a powerful addictive drug called nicotine and if you smoke more than a half a pack a day chances are you are addicted to it. When you quit smoking you go through what is called “nicotine withdrawals” and it can make a person angry, irritable, depressed, restless, and anxious. Other common withdrawal symptoms include; being hungry, constipation, difficulty sleeping, headaches, and lightheadedness. After quitting smoking you may encounter several of these symptoms each day, however, as you remain smoke free their effects lessen over time.

When you do an activity day after day you develop what is known as a habit. Habits can be good or bad and smoking is definitely a bad habit. Just like with building habits it takes time to break habits or replace them with a new one. When you quit smoking you will have the urge to smoke at the regular times you normally smoke because of this.

In my opinion, the hardest thing to overcome when quitting smoking is the psychological effects of smoking. To fully understand this you need to look at how you have used smoking over the years to control your mood. Do you smoke when you are angry, trying to calm down? Do you smoke to manage stress and anxiety? What about boredom… The fact is people smoke for so many different reasons and when you combine nicotine addiction, the habit of smoking, and the psychological effects it is very difficult to quit.

By understanding what you are up against you can greatly increase you chances of success. If you feel your area of weakness is nicotine withdrawal then you may consider nicotine replacement therapy such as Nicotine Patches. When breaking the habit of smoking it is better to replace it with a new habit such as exercising or walking when you have the urge to smoke. Dealing with the psychological effects of smoking seem to be what gives people the most trouble, especially stress. You have to remember that millions and millions of people deal with stress each day without smoking and you can too. In fact, you did it before you started to smoke. The key is to find your areas of weakness and plan for them. Use a combination of resources and go into this with both eyes open ready to do battle. Check out the quit smoking help section for additional information on quitting smoking.

There is no shortage of promotions, literature, products, and ideas on how to quit smoking. The fact is different things work for different people. It is estimated that nearly 17 million Americans try to quit smoking each year. That is great news! The bad thing is that only about 1.3 million Americans are able to remain smoke free. Only 8 percent or so of smokers that quit smoking are successful in their efforts.

Obviously the physical and psychological effects of smoking have its challenges. Nicotine is addictive and when you quit smoking you will encounter nicotine withdrawal. For years you conditioned your mind to use smoking as a crutch so without it there are times it may seem impossible to cope with stress and other events that present themselves.

There are two main points to keep in mind 1) quitting smoking is possible and 2) you need to prepare yourself for quitting by knowing what to expect and replace things you lost, ie stress management mechanism.

Nearly four out of five smokers want to quit. And almost half of all adult smokers have already quit because it doesn’t matter how old you are or how long you have smoked you become healthier and stronger each day you don’t smoke.

Smoking is responsible for nearly half a million deaths each year and nearly 40 percent of them are from cancer. After you quit smoking you are adding days to your life. You’ve greatly lowered your risk of death from lung cancer and many other diseases, such as;

• Emphysema
• Stroke
• Heart Disease
• Chronic Bronchitis
• Many Other Cancers

Of course there are health benefits of quitting smoking for you but you should also consider the benefits for those around you. You’ve just cut back on dangerous second-hand smoke for your loved ones. When you quit smoking you set a good example. You show your children and other young people that are looking up to you that life without smoking is longer, healthier, and happier.

With all the time you spent damaging your body you might feel that there isn’t any use quitting, but there is and you can speed up the recovery process by detoxing your lungs of the harmful effects of smoking.