The Process of Overcoming Nicotine AddictionSmoking has become more frequent among people of all age-groups (BBC News). People, despite their age or gender, may smoke up to two packets of cigarettes in a single day, which weighs heavily on their physical, mental, and financial states.
Smokers know about the dangers that smoking pose to their health, yet they cannot stop themselves from inhaling that toxic substance due to their addiction to its constituent compounds, especially nicotine. Due to the improvement in health awareness among the populace and their desire to become healthier, about 1.3 million people attempt and succeed to rid themselves of their addiction to nicotine on a yearly basis (US News Health). The steps that many of these people followed to overcome nicotine addiction were to avoid people who consume it, have the will to change for the better, and to look for alternatives to take their minds off of smoking.The first step to getting rid of the damaging addiction to the consumption of nicotine is to choose the people you associate with wisely. For a person who wishes to stop smoking, other chain-smokers may pose the biggest threat to halting their progress.
Smokers may bully a person into smoking again by targeting their ‘manliness’ for not smoking, or by persuading them into thinking that one more cigarette would not change anything, which is definitely wrong. Moreover, the urge to smoke once again may arise when you spend a lot of time with other smokers. The smell of the fumes produced by cigarettes can be tempting since the olfactory bulb, a bud in the cerebral cortex of the brain responsible for remembering scents, would become activated (Neuroscientifically Challenged). Upon stimulation of the bulb, a message, sent to the brain, would cause the secretions of some chemicals that would trigger the feelings of nostalgia and longing for the source of the scent. These feelings can easily sway a person into smoking again, thus making all progress toward freedom from nicotine meaningless. Additionally, most people who attempt to quit smoking but fail to do so actually end up reaching the same level of addiction they had before. For example, an uncle of mine went through surgery due to a disease called ischemia where blood flow gets blocked due to the blockage of the blood vessels.
He stopped smoking for a couple of years after the surgery until some of his friends convinced him otherwise, and as a result, he went back to smoking regularly, which led to him undergoing another surgical operation. Another important step that can help rid yourself of nicotine-dependence is to have the will to change for the better. You have to be ready to make some radical changes in your lifestyle. That can be initiated by discarding everything that contains nicotine in your possession. Not a single cigarette should be accessible to you if you want to truly stop smoking and thus inhaling nicotine. Additionally, try to stop, or at least limit, the amount of stressful activities that you do on a daily basis since being under stress is one of the main reasons that make people want to smoke in the first place.
Furthermore, always refuse smoking under all circumstances. Being able to prevent yourself from accepting a cigarette from anyone, no matter how close they are to you, is a characteristic that you must maintain at all times. To avoid being put in a situation where you are placed under pressure, tell people like your friends and family about your desire to stop smoking and to start living a more healthful life.
Also, never delude yourself into thinking that smoking just one more cigarette for whatever reason is acceptable, for it is not the case. This mentality turns one cigarette into two, two cigarettes to a packet and so on until the person no longer has any control over the nicotine intake, making them turn into addicts once more.Finding alternatives to getting your mind off of smoking is the final step which can prevent addiction to nicotine. That can be done by pursuing some hobbies. For instance, you can work out to regain some of the fitness that you undeniably lost as a smoker while keeping your mind off of smoking, thus killing two birds with one stone.
Additionally, you can take up some nerve-relaxing activities, such as meditation or yoga, which contribute to distracting yourself from smoking while reducing your stress levels at the same time. Another great way that has many benefits is to join with others who also wish to stop smoking. Being in company with other peolple whose desires are the same as yours can improve all participants’ efforts in the prevention of smoking since you would motivate one another. Regardless, we are susceptible to succumbing to our desires as humans, so if things get bad and you feel like you might smoke a cigarette, you can get some medications instead. Such medications include nicotine gum and nicotine patches (NIH). Although these alternate medications release some nicotine into the body, the amount is incomparable to the amount that is present in a single cigarette, not to mention the fact that it would steer you away from other harmful chemicals.Indeed, addiction to nicotine has become problematic to many people since it affects their health, psyche, and financial statuses, which leads to them wanting to change for the better.
There are three steps which are followed by those who wish to free themselves of nicotine. Firstly, smokers should be avoided if possible because of their adverse influence. Secondly, the willpower to quit must be maintained. Finally, the mind must be kept off of smoking whenever the temptation to smoke arises. In my opinion, these three steps provide an easy method for whoever wants to quit smoking since all they require is the dedication to change for the better. Sources:- “Smoker Numbers Edge Close to One Billion” BBC News.
bbc.com. 2014. Web. October 8, 2018.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-25635121- “Smoking Cessation” U.S News Health. health,usnews.com. Web.
October 8, 2018. https://health.usnews.com/health-conditions/allergy-asthma-respiratory/smoking-cessation/overview- “Know Your Brain: Olfactory Bulb” Neuroscientifically Challenged. Neuroscientificallychallenged.com. Web.
October 14, 2018. https://www.neuroscientificallychallenged.com/blog/know-your-brain-olfactory-bulb- “Tobacco, Nicotine, and E-Cigarettes” National Institute on Drug Abuse.
drugabuse.gov. January 5, 2018. Web.
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