Quit Smoking

In the modern world, a person faces many difficult situations which he/she needs to overcome to get the experience and know how to behave in this or that situation or how to cope with things which make his/her life unbearable. The most challenging thing in our life is an addiction. There are many kinds of addictions. The most spread one is smoking addiction.

Every person who smokes has his\her own reasons for smoking. The most difficult thing that faces smokers in this situation is how to quit smoking? Or how can you change your smoking habit? Most smokers started smoking in their teens. It is very often common that children who have friends and / or parents who smoke start smoking themselves than those who do not have such connections. Some teens say “this is for experience, try it once” or thought that smoking gives you a certain social status among peers.

Advertising of various products of the tobacco industry is of great importance in this matter. Advertising offers discounted prices and various promotional offers, which have a great impact on our society. Unfortunately, there is a trend showing smoking as exciting, glamorous and safe. Tobacco use is also shown in video games, on the Internet and on television, although manufacturers note that smoking is only from a certain age, but when did it stop someone? Films depicting smokers have also had a major impact.

Stop Smoking

Studies show that young people who see smoking in films are more likely to start smoking, as the films are played by actors who have some influence on the younger generation and naturally want to imitate them. Whichever way a person starts smoking, it must be remembered that everything starts with one cigarette. Anyone who starts using tobacco can become addicted to nicotine. Research shows that smoking most often becomes a habit during adolescence. The younger you are when you start smoking, the more likely you are to become addicted to nicotine. Addiction is characterized by repeated, compulsive search or use of a substance, despite its harmful effects and unwanted consequences.

I. If you smoke and you want to stop it, first, you must understand the reason and then choose the way which is better for solving your problem. Remember that in this situation everything is up to you.

There are several ways to overcome this bad habit.

  • Saving money. When buying a pack of cigarettes, write down the cost, and at the end of the week, calculate how much you could save and spend on something more valuable. Just imagine how much money you might save if you count a year!? Do not buy cigarettes in blocks; until you run out of cigarettes in one pack, do not buy another.
  • Get a goal. Set a date in advance when you will quit smoking. It can be timed to coincide with a significant event for you (vacation, birthday, holiday) to make it more emotional and significant. Subsequently, don’t look for excuses to postpone what was planned. You can also have a like-minded person. Find a partner to quit smoking with. Try to help someone else, especially your spouse, boyfriend\girlfriend, or even your parents. Remove from the room ashtrays, lighters - in general, all items that remind you of smoking. Refrain from smoking in the company of relatives, friends, children. Do not carry cigarettes with you.
  • Timing. Decide whether you will quit smoking immediately or gradually. If gradually, set intermediate goals for yourself, for example: smoke 2 fewer cigarettes every day, or completely quit smoking after 2 weeks. Smoke only half a cigarette. If you have a desire to smoke, do not immediately take out the cigarette, but hold the pack in your hands for at least 3 minutes. During this period of time, do something interesting, pleasant that would help to distract yourself from the cigarette, for example, call a good friend, walk along the corridor, etc.
  • Immediately or step-by-step. If you feel a very strong need to smoke, it is better to quit smoking immediately and irrevocably. Smoke about twice as many cigarettes a day or two before you finally quit. The body will be oversaturated with nicotine, other harmful components of tobacco, you will feel especially acutely the harmfulness of smoking, and it will be easier for you to quit. If your work environment prompts you to smoke, choose non-working days - Saturday or Sunday, holiday, vacation - or a business trip to quit smoking. Give up smoking for one day, tomorrow for another, the day after tomorrow for another, etc. Argue with someone that you will achieve your goal.
  • Replacement activity. Instead of another cigarette, resort to light exercise, a short vigorous walk. Do not replace a cigarette with food, especially high-calorie food - fatty, sweet, flour. Cause it might lead you to another addiction – gluttony and you might harm your health even more. Try to visit theaters, cinemas, museums, in the halls of which smoking is prohibited.

II. If you begin to realize that your addiction to nicotine and cigarettes is getting stronger every time, and you are not able to cope with this problem alone, there is no need to panic.

You don't even need to quit smoking abruptly. You just need to not inhale nicotine through your lungs. After all, the next dose of nicotine may well enter the body in the form of special tablets or gum. Nicotine patches also work well. Inhalers can be used.

By the way, when it comes to transdermal patches, they are very easy to use. From the moment such a patch is applied to the body, nicotine will be released for almost a whole day, gradually delivering nicotine into the blood.

If you have decided to quit nicotine and do not want to experience all the unpleasant symptoms, these patches can help you.

Nicotine Patches

If you take all the means of nicotine replacement therapy, it is the patches that deliver nicotine to the body most slowly. Of course, cigarettes do it the fastest. However, having smoked one cigarette, a person very quickly begins to want another, while the nicotine patch acts throughout the day, eliminating the strongest addiction to nicotine.

Pills, lozenges, and gum that contain nicotine are also effective. However, the effect appears only if such funds are combined with support groups and counseling.

Like nicotine patches, these drugs are designed to reduce the symptoms of nicotine addiction. their use reduces a person's desire to reach for another cigarette.

Another plus is the variety of flavors.

NRT is still the most preferred pharmacotherapy in the world. It can help reduce the urge to smoke over time.

III. If all of the above has not had any effect, you may need to use products with 0% nicotine content. Bupropion is a prime example.

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If we take statistics in developed countries, smoking kills the most of the population. Bupropion reduces the chances of unpleasant consequences. It will be interesting for you to know that this drug is completely free of nicotine, and in America it received a license only in 1997.

Medications Can Help You Quit

The UK also allowed it in 2000. The country's government wanted to challenge the nicotine addiction of residents aged 18 and over. Inhibited dopamine reuptake by neuronal vesicles is the most important factor in the effectiveness of this drug. One in five smokers got rid of this negative habit thanks to bupropion. Its safety and economy has been proven in practice.

However, it is important to consider possible side effects such as dry mouth and insomnia before taking.

IV. Varenicline. The newest drug that eliminates nicotine addiction quickly and effectively. However, in the course of treatment, the patient may experience side effects; from these side effects, as well as relapse, the degree of confidence in this drug may decrease.

If the side effects worsen, the doctor may prescribe a reduced dose of this drug to the patient. If no side effects are detected, the proportion of taking the drug may be increased.

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We have listed three different drugs that can help you with nicotine addiction. Now it's time to highlight their pros and cons and compare them with each other.

Remedy Advantages Disadvantages

NRT (Nicotine replacement therapy)

The release of this drug is carried out in several forms at once.

You do not need to get a prescription from your doctor to purchase this product, and the drug itself is also available without a prescription.

People with mental instability can use this remedy successfully without unnecessary fear.

People aged 12 to 18 years also have no contraindications for the use of the drug. For breastfeeding and pregnancy, the option with lollipops and chewing gum is a good choice.

The patch can irritate your skin, this is something to keep in mind. Subsidies are provided, however exclusively for patches.

Other forms of this drug are not subsidized and are paid for by patients themselves.

Wellbutrin SR (Bupropion)

The drug is very good at helping with various forms of depression.

If a patient has a history of seizures, this drug should be stopped urgently. In the presence of mental illness, manic as well as psychotic symptoms can be observed.

Another side effect that can occur is a rash.

Champix ® (Varenicline)

The drug proves to be effective, and it is significantly higher than that of bupropion at 12 months, as well as NRT when considering a time interval of 3 months

Nausea may occur.

With a mental illness, there is a high risk of manifestation of neuropsychiatric symptoms, but even if this disease does not exist, the symptom can still appear.

If you have heart or vascular problems, as well as COPD, you should take this drug with caution, because there is no data on the safety of taking it.

V. Cannabidiol. This drug relieves not only of nicotine addiction, but also helps a person to cope with a huge number of diseases. Moreover, this drug is absolutely natural.

The main substance of this drug was found in marijuana, or cannabis as it is called. It is one of 100 chemical compounds and belongs to the group of cannabinoids.

The main psychoactive cannabinoid is considered to be tetrahydrocannabinol. It is thanks to him that people feel high when using drugs. However, this component is not psychoactive, which cannot be said about THC.

CBD oils

This feature of CBD contributes to the fact that it is increasingly chosen by people who want to experience the effects of marijuana on themselves and relieve their pain, but not feel any unpleasant symptoms.

The oil is obtained by extracting the drug from cannabis. In the future, the resulting oil will be diluted with hemp seed oil or coconut. This will slightly reduce the high level of concentration of active substances.

If you are experiencing constant anxiety and chronic pain, this drug will help you. Its use removes the symptoms of such problems very well.

CBD oil has passed various tests. At the same time, scientists managed to identify 7 key advantages at once:

1. Relief from pain

Feeling pain, people strive to get rid of it, very often they do it with the help of cigarettes. It may sound surprising, but to get rid of mental and physical pain, people began using marijuana as far back as 2900 BC. However, at the official level, scientists managed to prove the analgesic effect of marijuana quite recently.

The endocannabinoid system of the human body takes part in a huge variety of functions, in particular, it is responsible for the immune system, appetite, sleep quality, and so on. It has a direct effect on endocannabinoid receptors, the main component of marijuana makes it possible to get rid of even severe chronic pain, as well as reduce the level of inflammation.

For example, studies in rats have shown that cbd injections can reduce the level of pain associated with surgical incisions. Scientists did not stop there and conducted another study, which led to the conclusion that oral SBD treatment can reduce inflammation in the sciatic nerve and get rid of pain.

But what about the problem of arthritis and multiple sclerosis? It turns out that it is not at all necessary to immediately run to the doctor. THC and CBD may be of some help by acting together.

2. Getting rid of depression and excessive anxiety

The human psyche suffers incredibly from depression and increased levels of anxiety. Moreover, they not only bring discomfort to a person, but according to experts from the World Health Organization, they can even lead a person to a wheelchair.

As a rule, with increased nervous excitability, pills are very often taken. At the same time, many people forget about a huge number of restrictions and side effects, in particular, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, headaches and so on.

If you become too addicted to taking benzodiazepines, you risk becoming addicted and seriously damaging your health. This is the main reason why people with depression want to smoke over and over again.

However, repeated studies have proven that CBD oil can actually help a person cope with depression and even mental disorders.

Taking a natural approach, this oil has gone down in history as a remedy for increased levels of nervous excitability in children and insomnia.

3. Fights cancer, relieves the main symptoms

There is no need to talk about how dangerous cancer is. CBD relieves symptoms associated with this disease, as well as relieves side effects such as general pain, vomiting and nausea.

After chemotherapy, CBD is also irreplaceable, taking away the main side effects. It is very common for people with cancer to experience vomiting and nausea after chemotherapy, but CBD can help relieve these symptoms even better than many medications.

4. Reduce acne

Acne is an unpleasant skin condition that affects approximately 9% of people worldwide.

It turned out that smoking will help to cope with this problem. Light use of cbd oil will effectively get rid of preexisting acne, reduce inflammation in the body and prevent problems from growing.

That there are some kind of acne, if smoking even helps get rid of cancer.

5. Has an effect on neuroprotective qualities

People with neurological disorders can greatly benefit from this property of CBD. All thanks to the ability of the component to influence the signaling system in the human brain.

Multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and other neurological disorders can be overcome with CBD, even if it's hard to believe right now.

It is still difficult to draw concrete conclusions, because not so much research has been done. However, the results are encouraging. Today scientists are ready to continue their work in this direction.

But it's important to be careful, as CBD treatment can lead to increased fatigue, fever, seizures, and other adverse reactions. In addition, CBD is also being studied as a drug with possible beneficial effects on other neurological conditions. In Parkinson's disease in particular, CBD has helped people fall asleep better.
It is also possible to prevent neurodegeneration and get rid of inflammation with CBD, as proven in numerous animal and rodent studies.

6. Has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system.

It lowers blood pressure and prevents problems such as heart attack, stroke and other diseases.
The anti-stress and antioxidant properties of CBD are responsible for lowering blood pressure levels.

7. Other Potential Benefits

Aside from the ailments we've outlined above, CBD may well be able to cope with other health problems. Scientists are studying this now.

They will have to prove that CBD helps:

  1. With schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
  2. Reduces drug addiction. It does this by adjusting the brain circuits
  3. Does not allow the development of tumors. Recent studies have shown that CBD has anti-tumor effects. CBD may help prevent cancers of the brain, breast, and prostate of the lung, colon, and other organs. At the moment, this has only been proven in animals.
  4. Fights diabetes. Human trials have not yet been conducted, but 56% of animals have proven that there is a significant amount of truth behind this.

It's important to remember that while CBD is well tolerated by most people, it does come with side effects. This refers to weight loss, changes in appetite, increased levels of fatigue, diarrhea, and so on.

All this can lead to the fact that a person will have to postpone some medications for a while due to incompatibility with CBD.

The main question is this: is it worth ruining your life and continuing to smoke? If you want to live a better life and take care of your health today, apply the tips here and quit smoking. If the first two recommendations did not work, use the third.

Here are some more important tips to help you get rid of your nicotine addiction:

  1. Believe in yourself and your willpower. Realize that it is difficult to quit smoking, but you have had a difficult time before in other life situations. However, something motivated you to exercise all your willpower and win. Remember what exactly motivated you. If you managed to win then - you can do it now.
  2. Highlight specific benefits of quitting smoking. Take a piece of paper in your hand and write down the benefits of quitting smoking. This can be an improvement in health status, preservation of additional money, a high life expectancy. Quitting smoking can help you accumulate a certain amount of money and invest it, gaining additional passive income. Why not motivation? Make sure that this list is always in front of your eyes.
  3. Set a clear date for quitting smoking. You can have a kind of farewell ceremony with the last cigarette. You can also associate this day with some important event, for example, your birthday. Your birthday will mark the beginning of your new nicotine-free life.
  4. Play sports. You've probably noticed that people who are addicted to cigarettes rarely play sports. And there is a certain connection in this. Start exercising at such an intensity that you don't have the time and energy to even think about smoking.
  5. Visualize. Sit comfortably in a relaxed environment and close your eyes. Imagine living without a passion for smoking. How qualitative has your life changed? Imagine being offered a cigarette, but you refuse, and when asked for a match or a lighter, you proudly declare - "I don't smoke!".
  6. Drastic measures. If you have tried everything, but you still have not succeeded in quitting smoking, there is another way. Buy several packs of cigarettes, preferably the cheapest ones. Come home, take a few cigarettes in one hand and scissors in the other hand, then start cutting them into small pieces until you have no cigarettes left. This method is very effective and has helped many people to get rid of nicotine addiction.

Each person is an individual, and the way to quit smoking that suits one may not bring positive results for another.

To achieve a complex effect, it is very important to combine pharmacotherapy, psychological support and motivation.

On the road to getting rid of nicotine addiction, you will face a huge number of obstacles. But remember, it's best to be patient now and then live a healthy life.

Always remember for what and who you are doing all this and endure.