10 Ways to Quit Smoking

Smoking affects millions of Americans, a high percentage of which would like to find a way to quit smoking. Here are 10 ways to quit smoking for those who would really like to kick the habit but don’t know how.

1. Try to quit cold turkey. This is a difficult way to quit smoking but many people have been successful. One basically sets a quit date and throws away the cigarettes. There will be a great deal of craving but if your willpower is good, you can eventually overcome the cravings. Quitting cold turkey often works best after you have had a health scare related to smoking.
   
   
2. Another method among 10 ways to quit smoking is called “nicotine weaning” or “nicotine fading”. It involves switching to lower and lower nicotine level cigarettes so that eventually you can quit altogether without the extreme craving of quitting cold turkey. Experts recommend changing to lower nicotine cigarettes every week for about three weeks until you are on only 10 percent of the nicotine you were on.
   
   
3. One of the most commonly used methods among the 10 ways to quit smoking is to use nicotine gum. One chews the gum whenever there is an excessive craving and does not smoke and chew the gum at the same time. The nicotine in the gum reduces the craving for nicotine.
   
   
4. Nicotine patches are worn from morning to night or twenty four hours at a time and overall reduce your craving for nicotine by delivering a steady dose of nicotine to the system. Some people have bad dreams if they take the patch at night so they remove it every night and replace it with another patch in the morning.
   
   
5. Nicotine lozenges are relatively new but they are one of the best of the 10 ways to quit smoking. The lozenges don’t taste bad and they give a quick hit of nicotine whenever one has a craving for cigarettes. They come in different flavors and there is something for everyone.
   
   
6. Hypnosis works for some people. They see a hypnotist once or preferably more times and the hypnotist gets them to quit smoking and to develop a distaste for the drug. There are those who swear by this method of quitting smoking after just a few sessions.
   
   
7. You need to address the habitual part of smoking—the triggers that cause you to reach for a cigarette. Maybe it’s always after meals that you feel the most craving or it can be around certain events or people you know. Knowing your triggers helps to address the addiction around those triggers and to be aware when they happen. Experts suggest making a list of ten things to do besides smoking and keeping that list with you whenever you feel the urge.
   
   
8. Try Zyban, a smoking cessation medication that is the first of 10 ways to quit smoking that requires a trip to the doctor’s office. It is a prescription medication that gradually reduces the urge to smoke by acting on the brain.
   
   
9. Chantix is another prescription medication that reduces the pleasure one gets from smoking as well as the urges to smoke.
   
   
10. Make a quit smoking plan. This is one of the wisest of the 10 ways to quit smoking. Know what you plan to do and know what your triggers are. Follow through on the plan and you will be successful in quitting smoking.

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