Breaking the habit of smoking requires some difficult tactics because of the addiction to nicotine which is one of the chemicals found in cigarettes. Addiction is characterised by compulsive urge to smoke even at the risk of negative health consequences. To have the best chance of quitting smoking, you need to know what you’re up against, the gravity of the battle you’re to engage yourself in and the most reliable sources of assistance you will have to seek out. While there are a number of ways to quit smoking, not all of them are equally successful keeping in mind that success rates will vary from person to person. In the end, quitting comes down to your individual decision and the level of self-discipline you apply plus a variety of factors affecting your daily life. If you want to quit smoking, it requires developing a comprehensive cigarette-control strategy that calls for time, effort and commitment to start your path towards a healthier life. The following methods have been used and proved successful to those who quit smoking and if applied with willingness, they can work for you too. Begin by gradually reducing the amounts of cigarettes you smoke each day to deplete the amount of nicotine in your body and make the cravings easier to resist. You can just slowly cut back how much you smoke from day to day and week to week. This means adjusting your body off smoking slowly without having to just stop smoking abruptly. You will still feel the effects of nicotine on your body, but you won’t be suffering from all the severe negative effects of smoking a cigarette. It’s not the safest way to quit smoking, but it works the best for the largest number of people. Smokers often start smoking largely because of group influences. You need to learn to discipline yourself and own your life. This involves a lot of willpower as well as avoiding situations that make you feel like you need a cigarette. Get support from close friends or family members who have always advised you to quit smoking. People are more likely to succeed at quitting when friends and family help. Consider confiding in a counselor, trusted teacher or join an online or in-person support group. Set a quit date. Pick a day that you’ll stop smoking and write down all the reasons why you want to quit smoking, like the money you’ll save or how this will help you to concentrate on your academic work. Finally, throw away all of your cigarettes. It’s quite hard to stop smoking with cigarettes around to tempt you and wash all your clothes to get rid of the smell of cigarettes. Substitute something else for cigarettes like carrot sticks, sugar-free gum or toothpicks. The bottom line is that tobacco addiction is both mental and physical so the best way to quit will be some combination of medicine, a method to change personal habits, and emotional support from concerned friends and family.
