I was chatting with a friend today who is desperate to give up smoking, so I thought this is the perfect subject for a blog as we enter into 2016. It’s well into the festive season. Its one of those times of year, when social smoking can take its toll, so why not look at quitting before the festive season has come and gone. Smoking introduces toxins into the body that undermine your overall health and decrease your immune system’s capacity to respond to other threats. Quitting smoking at any age drastically increases your expected lifespan. It also clears up your skin, helps you to breathe easier, and improves your eyesight over your lifespan. Quitting can be hard, but you can do it. Let’s look at what we know, and strategies that you can leverage to help you succeed.
Women are more susceptible to social cues than men. This means that if you are around others who smoke you are more likely to smoke, and if you are around others who don’t smoke, it will be easier for you to avoid lighting up. Use this to your advantage by:
- Increasing the time you spend around nonsmokers, including going to places such as the gym, the cinema, or cafes where even your smoking friends are less likely to partake in front of you.
- Letting your smoking friends know that you are trying to quit and asking that they not smoke in front of you. You might even be successful in finding a buddy to join you in quitting.
- Consider getting involved in an activity where smoking is not the norm, whether because of the activity itself, such as jogging, or because the group you’re connected with simply doesn’t smoke.
Addressing concerns about weight-gain increases the likelihood of a woman’s success in quitting smoking. Female smokers fear that if they give up cigarettes they will take up overeating and gain weight. In one of my past blogs posts I discuss resistant weight loss. The strategies I covered there can be applied here as well.
- Seek out a personalized, holistic approach to managing your weight that caters to your body’s individual needs.
- Remove toxins from your body and eat nutrient-rich whole foods to provide what you need to thrive.
- In addition, you may benefit from finding another activity that occupies your hands and sates your mouth. This need not be junk food. Instead, try having tea on hand or natural ginger chews.
Moderating mood and decreasing stress improves the likelihood of you quitting. Decreasing stress in your life will decrease your desire for a cigarette and increase your body’s ability to respond to urges. Try these 3 tips to help reduce stress and anxiety.
- Stay connected, open and present – build strong mutually reciprocating friendships and include regular touch in your daily routine.
- Be positive and use language that is affirming – try gratitude journaling, signing, or focused meditation on positive aspects of your life.
- Tend to those you love, including yourself – you might support loved ones, create a plan for your own success, or nurture a baby.
Stress is often triggered by a sense of responsibility for things that you cannot control. As part of being positive, try mentally letting go of those things that frustrate or anger you, yet that you cannot change.
Next support your body with nutrients
Magnesium to help with anxiety and cravings
You can try a homeopathic to ween off smoking
Tyrosine to increase relaxing neurotransmitters
Rhodiola to improve your bodies resilience to stress and balance cortisol
30mg zinc to help detox the nasty chemicals
Collagen protein to repair damage to connective tissue
Take advantage of your body and mind’s capacity to heal yourself by ending your smoking habit today. Now is as better time as any.
Good luck and may 2016 be a great year for you.
