How to Quit: It's worth trying

Congratulations on your first step to quitting!

The way may be narrow, difficult and with a lot of road blocks! But you are not the first person feeling so; many found this way to be daunting, yet tasted success in the end!.

Quitting can made more achievable and easier by following this procedure and steps.

SETTING QUIT DATE

Mark a specific quit date on your calendar
Choose an easy one when you won’t be under much pressure
Many select days which are emotionally significant, such as anniversaries, dear one’s birthdays, festivals, lucky days etc.,
CHOOSING THE METHOD

Cold Turkey – Quitting all on a sudden
Nicotine fading – Tapering off slowly
One should select the technique based on his or her personality.

PREPARING FOR THE ‘DAY’

Using the “Tobacco Diary” to identify your specific triggers.
Informing your family and friends about your quit day to seek help and support.
Preparing a list of reasons and keeping it with you. You can even paste it in the wall of your workplace! or home.
Changing to a non preferred brand.
Buying less cigarettes/sachet at a time rather than piling up the stock
“Ritualistic Cleaning” i.e., throwing out smoking paraphernalia including those exotic ashtrays and designer lighters, and getting rid of cigarette packets, old cartons etc from your home, work place, vehicle, etc.
Certain people try and use the other hand to hold their cigarettes!
Cutting down the cigarettes which are not much required! This can be done by making a chart where you list out your cigarettes from the most important one of the day to the least important one. You can start knocking out from the bottom of the list!
For Downloading Tobacco Diary Click here
QUIT DAY

Keep yourself occupied during the quit day. Planning ahead activities for this day helps!
Let the worries of staying smoke free for life not bother you. Keep a smoke free day as the target. Remember, micro-targets are easier to achieve!
Cravings will be stronger in the first week. Remember, cravings usually do not last for more than 10-15 minutes.
Try the 4 D’s which will be helpful in handling craving.
Delay
Remind yourself that cravings are temporary
Count to 100
Postpone the urge to another 45 minutes or one hour. Chances are that, you would engaged in some important or interesting activities that you would have forgotten about smoking!
Deep Breathing
Take deep breaths through the nose and exhale slowly through the mouth. Concentrate on the process and repeat.
Drink Water

Take a glass of water and sip it slowly and hold it in your mouth for some time.
Distract
Move out of the place, situation which triggers your craving.
Do something which you would enjoy doing for some time, such as;
Listen to music
Watch Television
Read book, newspaper, magazines
Work out
Go for a brief walk
Chat with friends or family members
Spend time with children
Play Sudoku, puzzles, Rubik’s cube, word teasers etc.,
Withdrawal
Withdrawal symptoms are actually the good news which means that your body is flushing out the harmful chemicals.
Withdrawal symptoms can be in the form of head ache, irritability, lack of concentration etc. These are temporary and will disappear in few days.
Relaxation techniques and meditation will help you to handle you irritability and difficulties in concentration.
Nicotine Replacement and anti craving medicines also help you in easing the withdrawal symptoms.
LIFE AFTER QUITTING

Learning to say NO to offers of cigarettes, request for company
Try and remain in smoke free areas
Watching out for triggers and making plans on how to handle them or how to avoid them
If you have friends or family members who smoke or use tobacco, it is very essential that you tell them that you have stopped. Please make sure that you don’t stay in their presence when they smoke!
Based on the “Tobacco diary” you would have identified certain high risk situations, make plans on how to handle each of them. Have a few options ready for each of these situations.
RELAPSE
It’s essential to understand that these is a risk of relapse involved.
A slip or a lapse s not the end of the world! More important is the ability to prevent a lapse from reaching relapse.
Make use of all the available resources to make this possible. Contact your health care professional in case of a slip; he/she would be able to help you.