Why Quit Smoking?

Before you try to convince your friend to quit smoking, it is very important for you to understand why one should quit smoking. Better understanding of the subject will help you convince your friend better and hopefully helping your friend to quit smoking for life.

Those who have witnessed the ruthless impact of cigarettes on a person’s life say the battle to quit smoking today is actually a battle to save a diseased or dying body tomorrow. Smoking puts you on high risk of life threatening diseases such as lung cancer besides cancers of the esophagus, larynx, kidney, pancreas, and cervix. Smoking also increases the risk of other health problems, such as chronic lung disease and heart disease. Smoking during pregnancy can have adverse effects on the unborn child, such as premature delivery and low birth weight.

While quitting smoking may be hard the health benefits when you "quit smoking" are immediate and substantial. Almost immediately, a person's circulation begins to improve and a person's pulse rate and blood pressure, which may be abnormally high while smoking, begin to return to normal. Within a few days of quitting, a person's sense of taste and smell return, and breathing becomes increasingly easier.

How to Quit Smoking?

Here we come to the most crucial part. Just verbal talks on quitting smoke serve absolutely no purpose unless a person is determined to quit smoking. For your dear friends who have decided to put an end to this unhealthy addiction, here are some tips on how to quit smoking -

• Avoid people and places that tempt you to smoke. Most smokers have smoking partners and favorite corners where they hang out for smoking. Strictly avoid these high temptation people and places!
  

• Use oral substitutes such as sugarless gum or hard candy, cinnamon sticks, or artificial cigarettes. Quite a number of people feel that oral substitutes are invaluable for people who have decided to quit smoking.
  

• Avoid alcohol and coffee as these tend to stimulate the desire for a cigarette. Experts also advise to drink lots of water and fluids the first few days, to help flush out the nicotine and other poisons from the body.
  

• Practice deep breathing when you experience the urge to smoke. As you breathe, gently remind yourself the goodness of quitting smoke and your determination to quit.
  

• Delay the urge. If you have a strong tendency to smoke at a particular moment tell yourself you must wait at least 10 minutes. This helps as the urge to smoke only lasts a few minutes, and will then pass.
  

• Go for exercise and develop hobbies to keep you positively occupied and avoid the temptation to smoke again.
  

• Take help of quit smoking aids such as Chantix (Varenicline). The drug imitates the effects of nicotine to reduce cravings and withdrawal effects when you stop smoking. Chantix also cuts off all the pleasures of smoking and thereby help in quitting.

Quit Smoking Help

Always remember quitting is hard but very much possible. To achieve your quitting goal you may seek help of hundreds of organizations, friends and family members who are more than willing to offer you "quit smoking help". Apart from organizations, you may also seek assistance from your doctor, dentist, local hospital or employer who may offer you information, counseling and moral support. Tell your support group in advance about your quit date so that they may offer you quit smoking help when required.

The first quit smoking help you can offer yourself is to throw away all your cigarettes, lighters and ashtrays. Also make persistent and determined efforts to avoid places, people and situations that are likely to tempt you to smoke. For a few days you are likely to suffer from withdrawal symptoms such as anger, depression, splitting headaches besides others. Request your family members, friends and colleagues for tolerance and help you quit smoke.

If you do not wish to go through the difficult process of leaving cold turkey, request your doctor to prescribe quit smoking help drugs like Chantix. Manufactured by Pfizer, "Chantix" is a non-nicotine medication that fights nicotine cravings and reduces withdrawal symptoms. The ingredient inhibits the nicotine in cigarette smoke from binding to the nicotinic receptors in the brain and helps reduce the effects of dangerous nicotine. The drug therefore removes the pleasure out of smoking so that you don’t feel like lighting another cigarette in your life!