Tips To Quit Smoking: 5 Easy Ways To Conquer Tobacco Cravings

If you are a smoker, your mind may be preoccupied with the temptation to have a cigarette with your morning coffee, after a tough day at work, after a fight with a member of your family, or in a variety of other situations. Nicotine, which is a component of tobacco that is addictive, triggers brain receptors to release dopamine, which results in a pleasurable response but the number of nicotine receptors in the brain rises with time, altering its anatomy.

Cigarette smoking causes one-third of all cancers and 90% of lung cancer cases and in addition, it is a factor in cardiovascular disease, stroke, and lung illness. Tobacco addiction is associated with both mental and physical behaviors and you must address both in order to control your desire like when you feel the need to smoke, tell yourself that it will likely pass in a matter of minutes.

1. Find a valid reason

It can be a personal reason, such as improving health or reducing the chance of acquiring diseases such as lung cancer, heart disease, or other ailments; protecting your family from passive smoking; it can also be a spiritual one. You must carefully analyze the reason for quitting smoking so that it is convincing enough to overcome the desire to smoke.

2. Avoiding triggers

Triggers may include situations in which you previously smoked or chewed tobacco, such as at parties, when drinking, or under stress. Identifying trigger situations, avoiding them totally, or coping with them with non-tobacco coping mechanisms can be helpful. For example, if you usually smoke after lunch, try eating a piece of dark chocolate, which contains nicotine. Dark chocolate boosts serotonin and dopamine, improving mood and reducing stress but dark chocolate is lung-friendly.

3. Snack on it

Give your tongue something to do to combat cigarette cravings. Chew gum or hard candy without sugar. Or nibble on raw carrots, almonds, fox-nuts, or sunflower seeds—something crunchy and delicious. While attempting to quit smoking, you should not diet. It may put your body under additional stress and can backfire horribly. Try to keep your routine simple and consume more fruits, veggies, whole grains, and protein, all of which are beneficial to your health.

4. Hobbies and physical activity

Physical activity can help to distract you from your desire to smoke. Physical activities, such as exercise, sports, yoga, brisk walks, deep breathing, and even dancing, might provide a distraction from tobacco cravings and diminish their intensity. If it is not possible to engage in physical activity, hobbies such as writing, art, and crafts, meditation, stitching, planting, journal writing, cleaning, painting, visualization, massage, or listening to soothing music can be just as beneficial.

5. Don’t have ‘only one’

You may be tempted to smoke or chew tobacco just once. But don’t kid yourself into thinking that this is the point where you can quit. When you start with one, you almost always end up wanting more than one. And there’s always the possibility that you’ll start smoking again.

Also Read: 5 Easy lifestyle changes you can do to prevent heart diseases