Why You Should Quit Smoking For Good

May 17, 2009 by Amber Eamen  
Filed under Smoking and Pregnant

With all of the unpleasant effects that smoking results, it is a wonder how many people still continue to smoke. Apart from the physical effects that unarguably are the most common negative effects of smoking, one could think of plenty of reasons why this habit should be kicked for good. It is important to take advantage of these reasons since there must be good reasons behind forcing yourself to quit. Quitting just when the impulse tells you is not the right way to start. It would, more likely than not, lead you to feel mad and discouraged that you have not accomplished what you envisioned to be possible.

Just by checking on your health, you would already find the reasons why you have to quit smoking. The list of dreadful diseases that smoking does to the body is quite long – lung cancer, heart problems, cancer of the larynx, high risk of heart attack and stroke. All of these potential problems that make a smoker prone to have should have been enough to scare people and make them vow never to pick a pack of cigarettes ever again. But, there are still those who continue to smoke and who seem not to be afraid. They feel that they cannot just stop smoking, or they are unable to stop because of the strong hold of nicotine addiction.

Breaking free from cigarette smoking is never known to be easy. Take a look at yourself in the mirror. Is that the kind of image that you would like to project to your kids? Most people would strongly say that they would not want their children to be smokers. If you engage in your habit at their presence what kind of modelling are you doing? The sad truth is parents who smoke have the greater likelihood of having children who also smoke. Try as you might, you have to work diligently to be a good example, which means you have to quit smoking yourself.

Many smokers find their health already complaining thus they need to quit. Most often the decision to quit already comes too late. Their health has already been damaged and sometimes the consequence is giving up their life, and not just their pack of cigarettes. But even then, making the supreme sacrifice of quitting is not honestly an attractive idea for most people.

It is a personal decision to quit and it is something that comes from the inner longing of the heart to change. It is certainly futile to have someone force you to quit. But it is to your benefit if you listen to the warning of people, particularly doctors, of how dangerous smoking can be to your health. Disregarding these well-meant warnings may just be to your ruin. The devastating effects of smoking will not only be on your health but also on your family. It is heartbreaking and stressful to have a smoker member in the family who smokes and who suffers its damaging consequences.

If you have checked your lifestyle as well as that of your family and want to improve both, the answer is very simple. If you make an honest and sincere effort to quit, you can immediately see the positive effects – huge improvement on health, a renewed relationship with your family, because you have shown them that you deeply care enough that you struggle just to beat the habit. Your family surely depends on you for guidance, support and love, and what better way to make them see you as dependable than seeing you in good health and free from a bad habit. It is important then that you make up your mind of the good reasons why you should quit so you can be on your way to successfully stop smoking.

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How Many Attempts Do You Need to Quit Smoking for Good

May 15, 2009 by Amber Eamen  
Filed under Smoking and Pregnant

It certainly fires up the interest of many people to know exactly how many times would it take to attempt to quit smoking. Being able to grasp the number of tries is very important. You might wonder what this information can give you. This actually hopes to build your confidence when you have already decided a date that would set you to the task of quitting. If you have a good idea of the number of times that you have to attempt before you could really be successful, it will prevent you from being frustrated when you know that a single attempt cannot do it.

The majority of those who attempted to stop smoking would honestly tell you that sometimes it takes two attempts to succeed. While many people would readily give up on the first failure, it is better to give your venture another chance. You might ask why two attempts are necessary but the logic is very simple. Many people fail in their first try because they really thought that the whole process of quitting smoking is just simple. They have the surprise in their lives when in the program they realized, it is not that simple after all! They were caught off-guard with no preparation to battle against different problems which emerged.

Cutting the addiction to nicotine is never easy and it is wishful thinking to expect to succeed on the first try. If you are used to doing things on your own, quitting smoking without asking help from other people might just lower your chances of success. A push and prod from people may just be necessary for you to continue to persevere in your efforts. Without any preparation and countermeasure plans in the first attempt, you are surely heading off to failure. This is the reason why it usually takes a second try to succeed in quitting. Even if you have already made many unsuccessful attempts, it is still good to plan to quit smoking.

Admitting that quitting is difficult is a good first step. If you know that you will have many challenges ahead of you, you will be in a better position to draft a plan that would counter the potential problems. Knowing exactly what are these temptations and problems as well as identifying what had influenced you to smoke in the first place, would allow you to create a suitable plan. For example, you have identified stress as the cause why you smoke, then list down the sources of this stress and as much as possible avoid any encounters with them.

If you have carefully made a plan before the actual quitting attempt begins, you are heading yourself for a successful single try. But not having a plan would increase your chances of failure and to try once again or several times. Creating a plan is attainable. It only means that you know the potential problems which will arise and you have devised countermeasures for them. Just by taking the time to really think and organize your goals into a clear plan would help you overcome temptations and solve potential problems with flying colors.

Deciding to quit on a whim would certainly create problems in your efforts. Taking the time to plan would prove to be advantageous in your attempt to quit smoking. By thinking up of the little details for your plan, it can already go a long way towards your goals. Just try to be certain that these small details are well organized. You also need to have confidence too as you start in your venture. Feeling inadequate and incapable of the task would only pose greater problems for you. Trying to avoid problems or handling them well as they arise is the best formula in which a few attempts to stop smoking can work.

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Get Healthier by Quitting Smoking – It’s Time to Save Your Health

May 8, 2009 by Amber Eamen  
Filed under Smoking and Pregnant

Trying to quit smoking is far from easy. Reducing your consumption of cigarette sticks as well as quitting completely is a difficult process. If you have backed out many times before in your attempts, it definitely was because you encountered several problems. There is really no simple method to stop smoking. Although you might have been frustrated from all your efforts before which just turned into failures, there is still help available for you. Your trouble sticking to your quit smoking program does not automatically qualify you as lifelong smoker.

If you have realized the problems that you were not able to overcome in your previous attempts, you are in a better position to start on your next attempt. At least you now recognized those problems and you can create a plan with better strategies of approaching those issues. For instance, if you are still hooked to smoking, but would like to quit, you might try a different approach. One of the best ways is to quit smoking slowly.

Not everyone who wishes to kick the habit can do it one time and at once. Many people have difficulty doing this and end up cold turkey in their efforts. If you take the effort slowly and just do it a step at a time, the process would be easier. Cutting back a few cigarettes each day can make you minimize your smoking habit, without feeling completely agonized by your situation.

An important thing that should be considered when trying to quit slowly is you have to keep yourself busy especially in the period when you are not smoking. If you have selected some periods when you must not take any cigarettes, try to make that period as the most preoccupied time of all. This would mean you keep both your minds and hands full. If you are idle, the urge would become so high and you would feel your hands itch wanting to reach out for a stick of cigarette again and for all you know you are back into your habit again.

If you feel a very strong urge to smoke during these times, immediately set out a specific task for you to do. Having a cigarette substitute like chewing gum may be a very big help when you are at the brink of giving in to your temptation. Regardless of how heavy you smoke, you should not cut out more than two cigarette sticks per day unless you have already established a successful pattern.

If you have gone a week and has successfully cut your cigarettes two in a day then start the next week cutting two more from your daily consumption. Going slow will give you few benefits. You can recognize problems as they arise and build your self-confidence as you go through the process. At most, you can find your health slowly getting back in shape and you will have added motivation to cut back cigarettes even more. Of course, it is still best to quit smoking at once but this method is not effective and possible to everyone.

Trying to make your attempt to quit smoking, this time, to succeed would ask of you serious and earnest commitment. Let your strong desire to kick the habit truly motivate you. You need to recognize problems that threaten to disrupt your efforts and deal with them immediately. Try to create new habits in place of the old to guarantee a much healthier lifestyle. Take time to recognize the little benefits of smoking that are coming out and improving your life. This appreciation of the positive little changes that happen in your life, particularly on your health, is essential to your success in completely breaking free from the habit of smoking.

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