Find a “hot line” that supports smoking cessation. The more contact you have with therapists or counselors experienced in therapy for those who are quitting, the more likely it is you’ll succeed. Sometimes the ability to talk to someone who’s been through what you’re going through during withdrawal is enough to overcome those momentary symptoms.
Next, change your routine - learn new skills and behaviors. Studies have shown that the human brain takes approximately three weeks to learn and implement a new pattern of behavior - the neurotransmitters in your brain are resistant to changing more quickly than that period of time. So although you may tell yourself you’re quitting on June 15th, it will take at least 21 days for the message - and the new behavior pattern - to get through to your brain.
Eight hours after quitting, the carbon monoxide level in your blood returns to normal, and your oxygen level in your bloodstream increases to normal. At 24 hours your chances of suffering a heart attack decrease. At 48 hours nerve endings start to re-grow, and taste and smell sensations return to almost normal levels.
When you quit smoking, you need to change your daily routine that included cigarettes. For example, if you normally had a cup of coffee and a cigarette for breakfast, change that to a cup of tea and read the paper. Or check your email. Or have a healthy breakfast and a quick walk before you begin your daily tasks. Change the environment around you so that it doesn’t include time for smoking.
Depending on your personality, you may want to consider quitting “cold turkey” - meaning you throw out all the cigarettes in your house, purse, car and anywhere else, and just stop smoking. The other method is to gradually reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke each day until you reach your goal of not smoking. The differing methods work according to your personal strengths and weaknesses.
If you can address the stress in your life, it can help remove the reasons, or excuses, of why you feel the need to smoke. Perhaps you work at a job you really don’t like. Start making plans to change careers if that’s what it will take - investigate new employment options or educational opportunities that will have the ultimate goal of getting you into a position or job that appeals to you.
But smoking doesn’t just affect the heart and lungs - it affects the entire body system from head to toe. If you’re a smoker, smoking will have a destructive effect on your health - there’s simply no way around it.