5 Ways To Stop Smoking

Having been a smoker for over forty years I know that trying to give up smoking will not be easy. I have tried in the past and succeeded for a while but then fell back into my old ways again. Quitting smoking is a difficult thing to do so I decided to read up on ways to quit smoking.

There used to be no alternatives and in the past if you wanted to stop smoking you just stopped and then tried to use your willpower to overcome the craving for smoking. Thousands of people have stopped this way and many still do it this way. You do need to be totally convinced that you want to be a non-smoker and if you are this may work and you will stop smoking cigarettes.

For some people they need a replacement therapy such as a dummy cigarette. One of the habitual features of smoking is that you have something between your fingers and the idea is that by replacing that cigarette with something else to put between your fingers you can reduce the feeling of loss.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best so try smelling an ashtray. It stinks doesn’t it. Every time you want a cigarette go and smell an ashtray. It is very unpleasant and a great reminder of just what is happening to your lungs. Smelling an ashtray every time you are tempted to smoke should slow down you smoking and might just put you off forever.

Nicotine patches are a more recent development and some people find these very effective. The idea is that by putting a patch on your skin which releases small amounts of nicotine into your body the cravings are reduced. They are quite expensive but it is only for a few weeks or months and they usually cost less than the smoking does .

The idea that inserting needles into parts of your body could stop you smoking seems a little odd. However, acupuncture has been around for thousands of years and has had some success in stopping people smoking. My brother stopped smoking for several years after acupuncture so it can work and if you have tried everything else to stop you smoking then you might want to give acupunctue a go.

Willpower is the key to controlling any habit and if you can strenthen your resolve to stop smoking then that will help you enormously. This seems to be the idea with hypnosis so that your subconcious mind becomes more convinced that you do not want to smoke a cigarette at all. I have not tried this myself but it seems that some people have found this a very effective way of overcoming their desire for a cigarette.