by Khoo Yen Thin

Created on: February 14, 2011   Last Updated: February 16, 2011

Smoking will cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) respiratory disease, cancers and even lead to death. Smoking not only affects the health of the smoker but also those people surrounding them who exposures to the second hand smoke of the person. Children who breathe second hand smoke will have breathing problems like asthma, pneumonia (lung and ear infection. Nevertheless that people know smoking is bad for health yet why it is so difficult to quit smoking. Well, nicotine which is the main substance in the cigarettes has the ability to make a person get addicted to smoking.

5 quick start steps to quit smoking

S = Set a quit date T = Tell your family, friends and co-workers about your plan to quit smoking A = Anticipate and plan for coping the smoking withdrawal symptoms R = Remove cigarettes and other tobacco products where you can reach T = Talk to your doctor about getting help to quit

Find out how much dependency you have on nicotine

Knowing how addicted your are to nicotine will help you to identify how much extra help such as medicine or support needed in quit smoking program. Here are the evaluation lists for your reference and if you have above 3 “yes” answer for the following checklist then you are more likely to get help to quit smoking:

Do you smoke your first cigarette within half an hour after your wake up? Do you find it hard not to smoke where public places that does not allow smoking? Do you smoke 10 or more cigarettes a day? Do you smoke 25 or more cigarettes a day? Do you smoke more during the morning that the rest of the day? Do you smoke even when you are sick?

 Know your triggers why you smoke

Do I smoke when I feel stressed? Do I smoke when I feel down? Do I smoke when I talk over the phone? Do I smoke when I am nervous? Do I smoke when I drink alcohol? Do I smoke when watching TV? Do I smoke when being with other smokers? Do I smoke when I am not able to sleep? Do I smoke when cooling off after a fight? Do I smoke after feeling lonely?

 Once knowing your triggers then you can start to fight against the urge of tempted to smoking:

Stay away from smoking places

Keep your hands busy such as holding a pen or carry a water bottle

Stay away from people who smoke

Chew sugar-free gum, snack on a carrot or celery stick

Stay away from alcohol and replace with juice, ice water instead

Keep yourself busy with activity such as go for an exercise or go for a movie or do gardening, etc

Reward yourself with some material stuff to celebrate when you are able to fight against smoking temptation such as treat yourself for a good meal, buy nice clothes, etc

 There are some medicines (Nicotine replacement therapy) available in local pharmacy to help smoker to cope with withdrawal symptoms:

Bupropion SR pills Nicotine gum Nicotine inhaler Nicotine lozenge Nicotine nasal spray Nicotine patch

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