How To Stop Smoking - 5 Different Approaches

by: TimGreen
Total views: 11 | Word Count: 467

After many years of smoking I am concerned that I should give up while I still can. I have smoked for so long that I can hardly imagine not smoking but I know I must stop and I know it will be hard to do. I have been trying to find the best way to stop and I thought others would be interested too.

The most common way people try to stop smoking is by going cold turkey. You just stop smoking and fight the withdrawal symptoms. This does work for some people. They just wake up one morning and decide to stop smoking and that is it. They never touch another cigarette again.

You may be able to deal with your body craving nicotine but what do you do with your hands? If you have become used to holding a cigarette between your fingers then the absence of that can be a problem for some people. Overcoming this physical habit can be done with a dummy cigarette which gives you the reassuring feeling you need. Some think these are silly but it can make all the difference between succeeding or not.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best so try smelling an ashtray. It stinks doesn't it. Every time you want a cigarette go and smell an ashtray. It is very unpleasant and a great reminder of just what is happening to your lungs. Smelling an ashtray every time you are tempted to smoke should slow down you smoking and might just put you off forever.

One of the more recent developments has been nicotine patches which you fix onto your skin. The patches release a certain amount of nicotine into your skin which helps prevent your body craving the chemical. With your body's habit satisfied you only need to get yourself over the idea of smoking and patches, perhaps, combined with one or other of the ideas mentioned here might do the trick for you.

The idea that inserting needles into parts of your body could stop you smoking seems a little odd. However, acupuncture has been around for thousands of years and has had some success in stopping people smoking. My brother stopped smoking for several years after acupuncture so it can work and if you have tried everything else to stop you smoking then you might want to give acupunctue a go.

Willpower is the key to controlling any habit and if you can strenthen your resolve to stop smoking then that will help you enormously. This seems to be the idea with hypnosis so that your subconcious mind becomes more convinced that you do not want to smoke a cigarette at all. I have not tried this myself but it seems that some people have found this a very effective way of overcoming their desire for a cigarette.