You must have wished you could Stop Smoking without those Savage Nicotine Cravings
“I was a smoker too, I had an 80-cigarette-a-day habit, or should I say, more correctly, an 80-cigarette-a-day nicotine drug addiction; so I know how it feels to have those nicotine cravings for a cigarette, only too well.”
When you need to focus your thoughts and come up with some great ideas for a project, a little man on your shoulder whispers to you: have a cigarette; it will make everything easier, and you’ll feel so much better. How can just one smoke hurt?
But we both know, it will never be just one cigarette, so we’ll start again tomorrow.
And once again, we are back on the slippery slope of being a slave to nicotine.
When you feel the craving sneaking up on you, create some well-rehearsed distractions, such as:
One of the best motivators to keep you on the right road is detoxing your lungs. When you start to improve the health of your lungs, the last thing you want to do is undo all your good work.
Here is a list of my favourites:
- Keep pictures of your loved ones near at hand, the people you are quitting smoking for, maybe your grandchildren, your wife, sweetheart, or even your pets, anything that diverts your attention away from the cravings.
- A picture of a close friend who died from a smoking-related illness is often quite a strong motivator.
- You can have the same pictures on your iPhone, tablet, or computer; every little thing helps in beating off the demons of nicotine cravings.
- Drink a cold glass of water. I don’t know why, but it always helped me when I felt the nicotine urge creeping up on me. (I’m told that keeping your body well hydrated is beneficial in keeping the withdrawal symptoms at bay.
- Smoking aids can be of help. For the first week, I gave up smoking. I used to put a nicotine patch on my arm when I went to bed at night, as I found my strongest cravings for a cigarette were first thing in the morning.
** I’m not sure that it did anything other than give me a crutch to hang on to, for the first week or so, but I think it helped me mentally, so at least that was a good thing. Just make sure you don’t wear them for too long, or you’ll become hooked on them instead. - On the day you quit smoking, make a list of the reasons why you stopped smoking for good, so you can keep them with you at all times to refer to when you feel the nicotine cravings coming on strong, as they will do on occasion unless you are very lucky.
- Keep a pack of low-strength nicotine chewing gum with you for emergencies.
- When you feel your willpower is at its lowest point and you are about to cave in from the nicotine cravings, vow to yourself you will wait an extra 10 minutes before lighting up. Most often, that’s all it takes to get over the craving. (Just 10 minutes, YOU can do it!)
- Avoid places and situations that were your regular smoking haunts, like bars, certain people, TV shows, and so on, at least for the first few weeks.
- I didn’t do it personally, but I’ve been told by many people that taking up exercise also aids in quitting smoking and getting over the cravings.
- My reasons were to improve my overall health and appearance and to give me a chance to live a longer, more active life. It’s important to keep in mind at all times what the benefits of quitting smoking are, plus the downsides to starting again.
When you feel nicotine cravings coming on it’s essential to try and keep the mind occupied until the cravings for a cigarette pass, it feels like an eternity but generally passes by in about 10-15 minutes.
It is worth reminding yourself that every time you conquer the urge to smoke, you are a step nearer to your goal of becoming a non-smoker for good.
Here’s an interesting snippet on the types of Nicotine Cravings from the National Health Service in Britain.
Types of nicotine cravings
According to clinical psychologist and stop-smoking adviser Gay Sutherland, “Cravings are without doubt the most important withdrawal symptom to tackle, and one of the best predictors of success in quitting smoking is craving control.”
Cravings happen because your body misses its regular hits of nicotine. Sutherland explains that there are two types of craving:
The steady and constant background craving for a cigarette.
This type of craving decreases in intensity over several weeks after quitting.
Sudden bursts of intense desire or urge to smoke. These cravings are often triggered by a cue such as having a few drinks, feeling very happy or sad, having an argument, feeling stressed, or even having a cup of coffee.
These urges to smoke tend to get less frequent over time, but their intensity can remain strong even after many months of quitting.
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It’s a long and hard road for most of us who want to quit smoking and lead healthier and longer lives. We will have to conquer the Nicotine Cravings to get there, but if YOU really want to, YOU can.
