The Top 5 Tips to Quit Smoking

Quitting smoking has been proven to be one of the hardest and most stressful tasks you may have to go through. The fight against a nicotine addiction is a physical one but too many times people ignore the mental aspects. An effective anti-smoking regime is as much a mental battle as it is physical and you will be far better off in the end if you can keep this in mind.

One of the first things you can do is keep a smoking jar. Consider how much money you spend on cigarettes in a week and calculate the total cost. The amount is often quite staggering and that number alone can give you a lot of motivation to kick the habit. If you smoke one pack a day, which is quite normal for the average smoker, this can equal up to well over $200 dollars a month. Reward yourself by saving this money in a jar of piggy bank and your urge to keep smoking will definitely subside. If you give in and smoke, take money from the jar, if you don't add more money in.

Another great tip is to keep yourself and your hands busy. Often times, smokers are addicted to the habit and the hobby of smoking just as much as the nicotine. Get into a new hobby that keeps your hands busy such as painting or building sculptures. When you get the urge to go outside for a cigarette, just put your focus on a new sculpture or adding onto a painting that you have on the go. Even if you are not art inclined, there are a number of adequate options from playing video games to learning new cooking recipes. Substituting a new activity in times that you will usually smoke can help you leaps and bounds in your fight to quit smoking.

In addition to your hands needing something to do, your mouth often does to. Many people are afflicted with an oral fixation and this can be one of the reasons that it is so difficult to stop smoking. When you get a craving, run down to the store and get a lollipop or try to have gum on hand at all times. By giving your mouth something else to do you will distract your brain from its focus on nicotine.

Making a pact with your significant friend to quit smoking can also go a long way. Breaking a promise to yourself is often much easier than breaking a promise to someone else. You can often hide that feeling of quit if you sneak a cigarette or two and justify it to yourself quite easily. However, if you have a deal and have made a promise to someone else, that guilt is much more powerful and can often force you to keep your end of the deal.

While this last tip may be the hardest to keep, it can often be the most beneficial. Steer clear of situations and people that you know where you are more inclined to smoke. If you have a group of friends that meets up for drinks at the bar and they all smoke, avoid the situation for a few weeks. It will be hard and you will miss the night out, but after a couple of weeks you will have the patience and strength needed to once again indulge in the activity without having the urge to smoke.

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