How to trick your mind to stop smoking

Mark Twain said:

“Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I have done it hundreds of times.”

The most commonly seen public message or warning in any public place, office, and the billboard is

“Smoking is injurious to health.”

“No smoking.”

“Smoking kills.”

Why quitting smoking is important?

According to data derived from different websites,

• Tobacco smoking is one of the world’s largest health problems. Millions of people live in poor health because of it.
• Tobacco use is responsible for 25% of all cancer deaths globally
• Researchers estimate that every year around 8 million people die an early death due to smoking.
• Over a million people die every year from exposure to second-hand smoke.

Quote: “Smoking is like paying someone to kill you. They’re rich, you’re dead.”

How to trick your mind to stop smoking?

Withdrawing smoking is a complex but achievable task. Our mind plays a very important role in giving up on this obsession and realizing how to create an effective strategy. The psychological techniques mentioned below can play a very useful role in abandoning this habit of smoking.

1. Reframe your thoughts about Smoking

Generally, smokers relate the habit of smoking to something that provides them relaxation, relief from stress, and also social connection.To get rid of this habit, it is essential to change this perception completely. Instead of liking it as a means of giving relaxation, consider it leaving adverse impacts on your health and mental wellness. It is also important, to consider the brain to focus on the negative impacts of smoking on health, appearance and even financial situation. And swapping the thought: “I require a cigarette to get comfortable,” with “I am not dependent on cigarettes rather my health is more important to me.”

2. Identify triggers and replace routines

People often correlate smoking with particular habits or stimuli like smoking alongside coffee or smoking after having a meal. So, it becomes crucial to develop alternate, healthier habits. For example, if someone likes smoking alongside coffee consumption, an alternative should be developed like opting for an alternate drink or having a little walk after a meal. The reason behind this is to cut the link between the stimuli and the desire to smoke.

3. Practice Mindfulness and Deep breathing:

Usually, cravings hit in the form of waves so does not last for a very long time. It lasts a maximum of a few minutes. If one can develop the habit of mindfulness and can manage to do some deep breathing, one can suppress those cravings to quite a strong extent. For example, if one feels the craving to smoke, he can switch to breathing exercise-taking deep inhales and exhales and continue to observe how the body reacts to such exercises. This will help develop more awareness of the cravings without grabbing the cigarette right away.

4. Visualize a healthier you:

This psychological technique can play wonders for the mind. Just taking a moment to close your eyes and visualize yourself as a non-smoker someone who is healthier, full of energy, and no longer dependent on any type of addiction. One can imagine what a great achievement it would be to wake up with no cough rather fresh breath, enjoying a feeling of pride on quitting the habit. If one can regularly imagine this positive future, it can be very beneficial in strengthening the determination to quit.

5. Use Positive Affirmation:

Affirmations possess the ability to play a very vital role in reshaping of subconscious mind. One can utilize affirmations such as: “ I am capable of quitting smoking”, I hold the power to choose health and vitality”, “I have the authority to decide for myself.” It can be beneficial to a great deal to use such affirmations frequently especially when one is tempted to smoke. With consistency, this technique of affirmation can contribute to a large extent to conditioning the mindset and boosting confidence in the capacity to quit.

6. Challenge your cravings with the 5 minutes rules:

When one has to suppress the craving to smoke, this technique can be very beneficial. According to this technique, when one encounters the craving to smoke if he can hold that craving for 5 minutes and during that time, he should try to divert his attention to some other activity like drinking water, chewing gum, going out for a brisk walk or even calling a friend. Cravings can be controlled to a very large extent with this technique, eventually leading to a controlled behavior to a great extent.

7. Reward yourself for Milestones:

In this make plans for short-term and long-term goals for quitting smoking. And when a goal is achieved, he rewards himself to keep–up the motivation. For instance, rewarding oneself with a treat, or an activity that he likes after being smoke-free for a day, a week then after a month. This technique leads to positive reinforcement, and eventually keeps one stay motivated till he quits this habit completely.

8. Understand the science of nicotine Addiction:

It is crucial to enlighten oneself on the impacts nicotine has on the human brain and body to decode the addiction process. One should realize that nicotine creates a false sense of excitement by releasing dopamine; a feel-good hormone. Understanding that these feelings are artificially induced can encourage in disconnecting oneself from this habit. Rather this way, he will be able to convince himself to find better alternatives to seek happiness and peace.

9. Seek Support and Accountability:

Keeping someone along, who can help one stay motivated and whom one can express all that he is feeling while passing through that phase and someone who can help in keeping high spirits is very essential. Sometimes people become part of a support group or seek help from a therapist or express everything to a friend or a family member, this also helps them to a great deal. Having an accountability buddy can help one stay motivated and focused, encourage when one achieves the target and motivate when he feels low.

10. Embrace the power of “Not One Puff”:

In this technique, one can make a rule that when he has decided to completely abandon this habit of smoking he has no room to take a single puff. With the help of this technique any haziness or loophole has to be eliminated, thus setting a solid boundary that serves to stick to the decision to stay smoke-free.

Quote: The best way to quit smoking is to just stop- no ifs, ands or buts.

Conclusion:

Withdrawing from smoking is not just getting rid of these nicotine urges. It also helps to manage the psychological triggers. But by following the above-discussed techniques one can start a healthy life with no traces of nicotine and its urges.