Between 2 weeks and 3 months after that last puff, your circulation improves, walking becomes easier and your lung functions increase. After a year of being a non-smoker, you’ll lessen your chances of coronary heart disease by 50 percent, compared to smokers.
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.
Join a yoga class or learn ways to meditate. When the craving for a cigarette arrives, replace it with a stretching exercise or a calming meditation session. Start a daily journal - when you feel the urge to light up, make an entry in the journal instead. There are innumerable ways you can distract yourself from that craving to smoke - find the ones that work best for you.
Another key point in quitting smoking is to get a support system around you. Although the bulk of the effort at quitting smoking must come from you - no one else can do it for you - you can surround yourself with people that can help you achieve your goal. Studies have shown that those people who have a strong support system are far more likely to succeed at quitting than those who try to go it alone.
Part of getting ready to quit smoking also includes things like setting a specific quit date - whether you go “cold turkey” or engage in a gradual cessation, set a firm date that tells you exactly when you’ll become a non-smoker. Get a calendar and circle the date in red marking pen - or use some other method of setting that goal in your mind. Don’t say “I’m going to quit in 30 days.” Say “I’m going to quit smoking on June 15th.” Make it a specific, measurable goal.
Usually these symptoms pass within 3 to 5 minutes, so if you can distract yourself until they pass, you’ll bypass the destructive effects of lighting up another cigarette. Instead of reaching for your lighter and cigarette case, take yourself for a short walk. Keep a book of inspirational poetry or motivational phrases within reach or involve yourself in some task.
Added to the bad news is that nicotine is as addictive for some people as heroin or cocaine. Hence the reasons it can be so difficult to quit smoking - you’re actually kicking a drug habit - you can expect relapses and withdrawal symptoms just as when trying to kick a heroin addiction.
The first step in quitting is not simply throwing out that pack of cigarettes, but preparing yourself mentally to quit. You must begin to think of yourself as a non-smoker, rather than someone who’s kicking the nicotine habit. What’s the difference? By stating that you’re a non-smoker, you’re announcing it as an established fact; it’s a statement of who you are, similar to saying “I’m a banker,” or “I own my own company.” It’s all about mindset.
From minor inconveniences such as smell and staining of fingers, hair, clothing, furniture and draperies if you smoke inside your home to much more serious health effects such as strokes and a multitude of cancers - there is no doubt that smoking is harmful. And it’s not just harmful to the smoker - second-hand smoke also has the same harmful effects on those who live or work with smokers.
Another amazing fact is how swiftly the body begins recovery once you quit smoking. Although quitting smoking after you’ve developed lung cancer or heart disease is a little like closing the barn door after the horses have run away, in reality it’s never to late to quit. Within 20 minutes of your last cigarette, your blood pressure decreases, your pulse rate drops and the temperature in your extremities (hands and feet) returns to normal levels. (Within 20 minutes!)
The reasons for all this “nicotine backlash” are obvious - smoking represents such a health hazard, for smokers as well as those around them, that outlawing this habit is an obvious ultimate goal. Tobacco companies that once posed such a powerful threat at the federal government level have been hit by fines totaling billions of dollars over the past 20 years, and are resorting to expanding their overseas markets as the U.S. markets shrink.
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.
Reduce the amount of stress in your life. Many smokers say that “smoking helps calm them down” after they’ve had a stressful day or a troubling event. In reality, just the opposite is true; smoking stimulates the body in a number of ways. It’s the fiddling around with all the smoking paraphernalia that “calms” the smoker down - the cigarettes themselves, the ashtray, the lighter, tipping the ashes off the end of the cigarette, etc. All those patterns of behavior are what constitutes calming routine for the smoker.
The next part of preparing yourself mentally to quit smoking is to be aware that you’re facing a battle - perhaps the most important battle of your life. As with any battle, you’ll need tools and weapons to assist you. From support systems to medications, there are a variety of avenues open to you that will help you succeed.
Withdrawal symptoms from quitting smoking last a relatively short period of time during the quitting process, but can cause unpleasant levels of discomfort during that time. Symptoms of nicotine withdrawal can include mood swings (anxiety, irritableness, short-tempered or cranky), inability to sleep, extreme fatigue, difficulty concentrating, coughing, headaches, stomach upset and the like. The craving to smoke is perhaps one of the most difficult symptoms to deal with - because if you give into that craving, you’ve eliminated all the effort you’ve put into having a smoke-free day.