For decades now, humans have known about the harmful effects of cigarettes to their health, yet they have continued to smoke. So, smokers, when they are smoking, they wonder what sort of an impact the cigarette that they are holding in their hands will have on their life in the long-term.
They might even worry how the life of your family will be affected if cigarettes continue to cause these harms and what about the effect of passive smoking on people around you? Is that not a great deal? They might even have to hide to smoke because they do not want their family to find out that they smoke because of the scene that would ensue if they do. Regardless of all this, you are willing to take the risk of smoking.
Why and What?
Answering why of cigarette smoking seems to be the most difficult answer for any smoker. It just feels impossible for them to point their finger at the exact reason that they choose to smoke. So, if you ever ask a smoker why they smoke, you might get a vague answer along the line of “because life”, or “why not?”, or “I could quit anytime”.
The underlying reason is their addiction. Most smokers start smoking in their teens when they want some adventure in their lives and so why not just try cigarettes. They associate adventure with cigarettes because of the trend that movies propagate of cigarettes being cool. Before they know it, however, these teens are addicted and they just cannot quit smoking. No matter how much they wanted to, they are just too dependent now.
This addiction stems from the nicotine present in cigarettes. However, there is not just nicotine that is present in cigarettes. Cigarettes contain tar – thick black chemical – that is known to contain over 3000 toxic chemical compounds. The picture gets worse, once you do light a cigarette, you introduce even more harmful chemical compounds through oxidation that comes when you light a cigarette.
Quitting
Although quitting cigarettes is still a very big deal given the extreme cravings that the nicotine absence will introduce, but you have to know that given the modern inventions of vapes, it has become relatively easy to distance yourself from cigarettes. So, a lot of people try to use vapes as an alternative to smoking because vapes do not carry the harm that cigarettes do. Other people might be a little apprehensive of the claim about vapes being less harmful – although it has been scientifically proven – and may choose to completely withdraw from cigarettes on their own.
Fighting The Stress
However, the cravings that is induced upon quitting causes extreme stress for people particularly those that smoked because they felt that smoking controlled their stress. So, here are 10 ways you could fight the stress that comes when you quit smoking:
- Understand:
Understanding that you will have to combat stress and that the craving can be vicious are part of the process to quit smoking. Only when you understand these problems can you take charge of your effort and keep yourself determined. So, before you do anything else, just try to understand the issue at hand and that will lead the way for you.
- Vape Flavors:
If you have used vapes to help you quit smoking or even to reduce your dependence on nicotine so you could eventually leave the habit, you automatically have a way to deal with the stress, which is through the millions of flavors available in the market. That ought to keep you too busy for any stress.
- Sleep:
Getting good sleep is vital. It will not only keep your mind away from the thought of smoking but will also keep you rested. This is important because you might constantly feel tired the first few days after you quit smoking.
- Avoid Stressors:
Since you already have to deal with the stress of not smoking, it is always better that you steer clear of all other little stressors in your life. If you do run into a stress inducing situation, just do your best to not think about cigarettes and you will be good to go.
- Get Out:
During the first few days that you do not smoke, try to get out of your usual routine and into something that you enjoy. Try travelling. This will keep your mind preoccupied with what you enjoy and you will not think about cigarettes and the stress will stay away.
- Exercise:
Regularly exercising will not only provide you some of the absent dopamine that your brain produces when you smoke but will also keep you fit and your mind will stay busy. All the stress that you have can be released by working out even harder.
- Yoga:
Just like exercise, yoga will help you stay relaxed and keep your mind preoccupied. Since, yoga is about controlling your breathing too, you might, during yoga, realize how badly smoking has affected your lungs and the decision to quit smoking will be reinforced.
- Friends:
If you have great friends, they will ask to join in on your effort to quit, or maybe you all could decide to quit at once. So, when you do feel stressed, just call on one of these friends and talk. You will not even realize how fast the stress goes away.
- Diet:
It is important to make sure that you keep taking in a balanced diet. A balanced diet will satisfy your basic needs and you will leave your body little to crave. You can then expect to not be led on to cigarette when you crave anything else.
- Caffeine:
It is very important to make sure that you cut out caffeine, at least for the first few days. This is because caffeine tends to make people anxious and nervous. As a result, the anxiety will lead on to smoking which is not really a great thing for your “I will quit smoking” activity.
