Quitting Smoking - Don't Give Up Giving Up!

If you've been thinking of quitting remember that people average 4-6 attempts to quit before they are successful, so don’t give up! Each attempt you'll learn more about why and when you smoke - tools to help you be a non-smoker for good!

Rewards for quitting start right away:

After 12 hours: Almost all of the nicotine is out of your system.
After 24 hours: Carbon monoxide levels in your blood have dropped dramatically and you have more oxygen in your bloodstream.
After 5 days: Most nicotine by-products have gone
Within days: Your sense of taste and smell improve.
Within a month: Your blood pressure returns to its normal level and your immune system begins to recover.
Within 2 months: Your lungs will no longer be producing phlegm caused by smoking.
After 12 months: Your increased risk of dying from heart disease is half that of a continuing smoker.
After 10 years: Your risk of lung cancer is less than half that of a continuing smoker and continues to decline (provided it is not already present).

Step 1 – Deciding to Quit
One of the best reasons to quit smoking is the fact that you can prevent illness and possible death. About 50% of lifetime smokers will die from the habit. Two of the most common killer diseases caused by smoking include lung cancer and heart disease.

Step 2 – Getting Ready to Quit
Those who plan to quit are often more successful than those smokers who don’t. Here are four
stages to getting ready:

1. Understand your nicotine addiction
Nicotine affects the chemicals in your brain. It only takes one cigarette to give you a ‘feel good’
sensation. However, smokers’ bodies learn to depend on nicotine resulting in an increased amount of tobacco being smoked.

2. Know why you smoke
The most common reasons why people smoke are emotive, pleasure seeking, social pressure,habit and addiction.
All smokers have their own smoking triggers, and these habits are often tied to certain moods, events or places.

3. Plan ways to deal with quitting
Quitline – a 24hr telephone service that provides information on quitting and services available in your local area.
Nicotine gum and patches – visit your doctor and discuss your plans to quit smoking. Your doctor might recommend using nicotine gum or patches and can explain to you how to use them effectively.
Have a plan in place to cope with cravings. Find a quit partner as it often helps to have someone to support you.

4. Set a quit date


Step 3 – Quitting
Going cold turkey is the most successful method for most people, and involves stopping smoking suddenly and completely. If this is not for you, gradually cut down by reducing the number of cigarettes smoked each day and smoking cigarettes with less nicotine content.
Plan to quit on a specific day, within two or three weeks from now. Choose a time when you will be under minimal pressure, yet still have plenty of things to occupy yourself with.
 
Coping with recovery symptoms:To quit you must confront your cravings and learn how to live through them until they no longer exist. Remember the 4 D’s:

- Delay acting on the urge to smoke. Don’t open a pack or light a cigarette. After five minutes, the urge to smoke weakens

- Deep breathe. Take a long slow breath in, and slowly out again. Repeat three times.

- Drink water. Sip it slowly, holding it in your mouth a little longer to savor the taste.

- Do something else. Take your mind off smoking by taking action – put on some music, go for a walk, or ring a friend.

Step 4 – Staying a non smoker
Think of yourself as a non-smoker from the moment you quit. With this in mind, you can handle any situation that arises without the need to smoke. A non-smoker doesn’t turn to cigarettes to cope.

- Find new ways to handle stress and emotions
- Find new ways to relax such as self-massage, meditation and deep breathing
- Reward yourself - calculate the amount of money you are saving from being a non-smoker and buy yourself a special gift

The Quitline (13 QUIT or 137848) is a free service that provides 24 hour assistance to those trying to quit (for the cost of a local call from all landlines, more from mobiles). Their website is also a handy reference - http://www.quitnow.gov.au/

© Wesley Corporate Health (2011) - This article is provided for your information only and does not replace qualified medical advice. The information provided may not apply to every person or all situations. A medical practitioner should be consulted for all treatment and medication.