Feed: The Day I Quit Smoking - AggScore: 47.8

One Year Quit - The First Anniversary

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Sunday 21st February 2010 marked the end of my first year as a non-smoker, I am officially (according to life insurance companies) a non-smoker!!! I can now get non-smoker insurance rates, another saving to the money I have already saved by NOT buying cigarettes. I reckon that since I stopped smoking I have saved just short of £1000. This is a significant sum to me and has focused me to just how much money I have wasted during my life, killing myself with cigarettes.

I thought it would feel different to be a non-smoker for a year, that I would want to throw a party or some other sort of celebration. The truth is that not smoking has now become the norm for me and it seems silly to celebrate something that is part of my everday life. Celebrations are for achievements, life changing events etc. I should have thrown the party on the day I quit, that was more signicant than celebrating an anniversary.

For me to not smoke for a whole year is quite a personal achievement, I haven't been this long without cigarettes since the age of 12. I have quit before, but never for this long. This time as I have stated before on this blog I will stay a non-smoker for good, smoking no longer tempts me and I can see it for what it really is, a complete waste of time and money.

If you are yet to quit smoking please read through my other posts and think about when you will stop. It is not difficult if you understand how to stop, it is not difficult if you truly want to stop. If you have already stopped, well done to you, we belong to the same club, the successful one!


Quit Smoking NOW!

Quit Smoking for the New Year

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It is that time of year again when most of us make a New Years Resolution to improve our lives in some way or another. Most of us will fail and go back to our bad old ways within 6 days. Women usually last a day longer than men, on average. How many people will resolve to quit smoking this New Year and start 2010 smoke free? I never personally ever tried to quit at New Year, too much pressure to succeed. I quit in February instead when all the focus is on other things and so far I am now over 10 months smoke free!!

However, with the right tools and right frame of mind you should be able to quit anytime, you just have to want to do it. If New Year is your chosen time to quit then follow a few simple rules:

• You must want to do it and have made up your own mind to quit, don't do it because others are pressuring you or you will fail.
• Decide to do it and look forward to quitting, it is one of the single most brilliant things you can do for yourself as a smoker, be happy about it.
  
• Choose a method and stick to it, I don't recommend cold turkey, use some support or proven method.
• Don't give up, you can beat your addiction, it just takes a little bit of effort.

I have written my own short guide on preparing to quit smoking that you get here


My Free Report

It costs nothing, give it a read and I hope it will help you. It contains sound advice on quitting written from my own experience and research, the same that has lead to me being smoke free for 10 months. I am a very happy non-smoker now and I hope you can become the same.

If you are trying to quit go ahead and you have my best wishes, have a prosperous and smoke free New Year.

Quitting Not Giving Up

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At work the other day I was asked by a colleague if I was still "off the fags". I happily replied yes, in fact it has been over 8 months since I quit smoking and I was very proud to confirm that I am still a non-smoker. "Me too" she replied with a big smile and stated that she had quit three weeks ago and was determined to not smoke again. I congratulated her and during our short conversation it was apparent that her mindset had a significant component to it. She stated that she had stopped smoking, not given up smoking. This is a clear indicator of the right mindset to quit smoking. She had recognised the psychological significance of the phrase "giving up". If you give something up then you are denying yourself a pleasure so when smokers decide to give up smoking they are already at a disadvantage and less likely to succeed than the smokers who decides to just stop doing something that is harmful to them. Quitting is simply just that, it is stopping doing something with no loss, you have just stopped an act not given anything up, not made a sacrifice, just stopped.

It is this way of thinking that helped me to quit successfully and I hope anyone reading this who is thinking of quitting or is struggling after quitting finds this helpful. To your sucess in quitting.

Using Nicotine Gum as an aid to Quitting Smoking

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Addiction to nicotine is one of the hardest things to kick, that you will ever come across if you just try to go cold turkey. Many studies have shown that it is one of the most addictive substances known, as addictive as cocaine or heroin, and most people will become dependant on it soon after they start smoking. When you smoke a cigarette, your body receives an instant rush of nicotine - there is a spike in your nicotine levels which slowly dissipates, over approximately 20 minutes. When your nicotine levels drop below a certain point you will crave another hit, in the form of another cigarette.
As a smoker, wanting to become a non-smoker you will need to consider how you will tackle your body's physical addiction to nicotine and how you will relieve the cravings that can make quitting smoking so difficult. The most important thing in any attempt to quit smoking is your frame of mind, and how you mentally approach quitting. The chances that you will succeed are increased dramatically by having a positive approach to quitting and believing in yourself, if you approach quitting with fear then your chances of success are extremely slim. In some cases, however, people have found great benefit from using a medical aid to assist their confidence in quitting and provide a degree of reassurance. The most common and well known aids to quitting smoking are those that supply and regulate nicotine in the bloodstream. These did not work for me but I think that at the time I relied solely upon the NRT aid to make me quit.
One of the most popular choices is nicotine gum. This is gum that resembles ordinary chewing gum, but of course it contains a regulated dose of nicotine. The reason that some people find nicotine gum effective is because it can replace the cigarette, in providing the nicotine hit in their bloodstream that they are craving, thus relieving the pain and fear that manifest with addiction cravings. The problem that some people run into with the nicotine patch - the other popular nicotine replacement aid - is that a nicotine patch supplies a steady amount of nicotine into your bloodstream. There is no spike, or "hit", as with a cigarette, and for this reason some people still find themselves craving cigarettes when they use the patch. This has happened to several of my friends and to me, the last time I used a patch about ten years ago. Even though the body is receiving nicotine, it desires the hit, the rush of nicotine that the cigarette provides.
With nicotine gum, you can attempt to replicate this hit without a cigarette and all the other harmful chemicals that come along with it. The gum is not chewed like normal gum, there is a special technique. Rather than chewing like normal gum you only chew until you can taste the nicotine (not very pleasant at first) then you hold the gum in your mouth without chewing until the nicotine subsides. Then give it a few chews every time you want a release of nicotine, as much as you would when taking a drag on a cigarette for a quick nicotine hit. A typical guideline for nicotine gum would be to chew it 3-4 times, until you feel a tingling sensation, at which point you should flatten it and place it between your cheek and gum. Repeat the brief chewing process at occasional intervals as necessary. Under no circumstances should nicotine gum be chewed like ordinary gum, as too much nicotine will be released into your bloodstream at once, you will probably feel sick. I did, yes, I didn’t read the instructions first time.
Nicotine Gum comes in 2mg and 4mg strengths (the 4mg is recommended if you smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day.) It is recommended that you use the gum every 1-2 hours throughout the day, for a period of up to 3 months. The only drawback of nicotine gum is that you cannot drink anything except water for 15 minutes before and during chewing. For this reason nicotine gum isn't helpful at a bar, which is where many ex-smokers need the most help. Despite this, nicotine gum can be an effective tool -- when combined with your determination and frame of mind -- in an attempt to quit smoking.

6 Months Quit Smoking and Beyond

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I've had a really busy Summer and missed my 6 month quit update, with holidays, my birthday and getting sick with 'flu I have just not found the time to update. I'm back now and just as focussed as always on remaining a non-smoker. I have actually reached 7 months quit today. I very rarely think about smoking anymore, the situations that I used to associate with smoking are becoming less and less significant and the thought of ever smoking again is getting less and less appealing.

I do remember what it is like to smoke and I still can understand why smokers smoke. I can still relate to that feeling of defiance, that feeling of making up excuses to justify my disgusting habit. It just makes me more determined to stay quit.

Staying quit is a subject that I am going to try to focus on for the next few posts. I have done lots of research as you will know if you have read any of my previous posts. If you search the vastness of the internet on the subject of quitting smoking you will find lots of methods on how to quit. Some of these are featured on my other site "Quit Smoking With Nick" and are very popular and successful methods of quitting. What I have not found much of is material on the subject of staying quit.

We all know that quitting smoking can be difficult, it can also be very easy. We all know that it usually takes several attempts to quit for good, why is this? If the quit smoking methods are so good why do we at some time start to smoke again? Is it because there is a lack of support and motivation for those who have quit? Every resource, course, method etc. is aimed at the smoker, what about the recent smoker? What about that person who quits and maybe two years later starts again, what support is there for the relapsing smoker to prevent the relapse? After much searching I can say not a lot. If you think that you might find some help with staying quit useful or would just like to throw in some ideas then please mail me at nick@quitsmokingwithnick.com

One quick idea is to find another hobby or interest to throw your energy into and the number one that I came up with after talking to ex-smokers is losing or keeping off the weight after quitting smoking. You don't have to put weight on when you quit but some people do and it is a major reason why some people start smoking again. If you are having a weight after quitting problem check this out, Fat Burning Furnace, it looks pretty good.

Preparing for the Day You Quit Smoking

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Millions of people all around the world smoke, pouring billions of their money into the pockets of the tobacco industry. To many, particularly those that have been smoking for a long time, the prospect of quitting smoking seems very daunting. An addiction to smoking is a serious and complex one. It manifests itself in both a physical way, in that your body craves the nicotine the cigarettes contain, and a psychological way, in that your mind has been conditioned to believe that you have to smoke or terrible things will happen to you. To overcome this two sided assault it is important that you come up with a plan of attack in order to quit smoking. Although the cold-turkey or willpower technique works for some people, the vast majority of smokers will have success only with a more comprehensive and detailed plan with the right amount of preparation.

When you first start considering quitting smoking, it will probably seem so far away from where you are as a smoker that to reach it is either impossible or just too hard to start. Keep in mind that thousands of people a year, people that were also smokers just like you, quit smoking. If they are able to do it, there's no reason that you can't. Many smokers also feel that after a certain time spent smoking it is "too-late" to quit, that there is no benefit and the damage is done. Simply put, this isn't true, and is nothing more than an excuse to avoid the attempt to quit smoking. The health benefits of quitting smoking begin the very day you stop and apply to anyone, anytime.

Before you actually have your last cigarette, begin to visualise yourself as a non-smoker. Visualisation is a very powerful psychological weapon in the battle to quit smoking. When you think about your everyday activities imagine yourself doing them without the cigarette break. Spend a lot of time thinking of the reasons that you want to quit smoking. If you have no worthwhile reasons to quit, why should you do it? Think of as many as you can and write them down. Learn about the health benefits of quitting, not just for yourself but the people around you as well, such as your children or other members of your family that are exposed to your cigarette smoke. Do the maths and come up with some figures for the amount of money you'll save by not buying cigarettes, then think of something you'll use that money for. It is essential to get your mind in the right frame for quitting.
Once you have achieved the right frame of mind it's time to plan having your last cigarette. To give you an idea of what will happen, understand that the human body is incredibly resilient, and that your health will improve as soon as you stop smoking, literally within 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop down to normal levels as the nicotine starts to leave your body. 8 hours after your last cigarette, carbon monoxide levels will drop and oxygen levels will rise in your blood stream returning it to normal levels. At 24 hours after your last cigarette, you statistically reduce your chance of a heart attack. Only 48 hours after your last cigarette, your sense of taste and smell will improve as your nerve endings start re-growing.

By coming up with a concrete and achievable plan to quit smoking you will greatly increase your chances of success. It is crucial to understand how being in the right frame of mind will affect your chances of success. Knowing why you are quitting and believing in yourself, in your attempt to quit are also essential. Once you've stopped consider yourself a non-smoker, and to help, remind yourself of the health benefits you will be experiencing immediately after putting out that last cigarette.


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Quit Smoking and Beat Nicotine Addiction

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Quitting smoking can be difficult and daunting due to the two sides of addiction that it presents. Every type of addiction has a chemical or physical side and a mental or psychological side. These two combine to present a powerful barrier when trying to free oneself from the particular addiction. One weapon that should be in every addicts arsenal when trying to beat addiction is knowledge of the enemy. This article specifically looks at nicotine addiction and the effect it has on every smoker. It also looks at the nature of nicotine itself, what effects it has on the body and how its grip makes quitting smoking a difficult task.

According to the 1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, around 62 million people aged 12 and older in the United States smoke cigarettes. This makes nicotine one of the most heavily used addictive drugs in the US. When a smoker inhales cigarette smoke it takes about 7 seconds for the nicotine in the smoke to be absorbed into the blood stream and affect the brain. It takes up to two hours for enough nicotine to leave the body to cause a craving.

Nicotine then starts to affect the body's reward system similarly to other addictive drugs such as cocaine. It has the overall effect of increasing alertness and enhancing mental performance. Nicotine affects the cardiovascular system by increasing heart rate and blood pressure and restricting blood flow to the heart muscle. Nicotine also stimulates the release of the hormone epinephrine which is a "fight or flight" hormone with a powerful effect on the nervous system. Another hormone that nicotine promotes the release of is beta-endorphin which inhibits pain.Nicotine itself is a colourless oily compound and if you were to inject it directly into your bloodstream you would die, as it is quite a strong poison, 40-60mg of nicotine would be a lethal dose to a human. In fact its natural function in plants of the nightshade family is as an anti-herbivore chemical to prevent the plant being eaten. This is why nicotine has been widely used in the past as an insecticide, bear this in mind next time you smoke a cigarette or as you try to quit smoking.

Nicotine content in cigarettes has actually slowly increased over the years, and one study found that there was an average increase of 1.6% per year between the years of 1998 and 2005. One could take this cynically and suggest that a smoking industry with so much hostility towards it in legislation and campaigning is fighting back by trying to drug its smokers into continued loyalty.

There is no doubt that nicotine is a powerful and addictive drug, according the American Heart Association "Nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break." It has their interest as nicotine has links to circulatory disease. As a stimulant it raises blood pressure and makes it harder for the heart to pump blood through the body. This causes the body to release fats and cholesterol into the blood stream possibly adding to the risk of failure in peripheral circulation.

Nicotine is only one of the 400 or so damaging substances in tobacco smoke, I think you will agree that it does enough damage on its own to warrant special attention. When you next think of quitting smoking, think about what nicotine does to you and what effect it has on your body, how nicotine keeps you addicted to smoking and how you can take steps to beat it.

5 Months Quit and I Feel Great

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Can't believe I've done it, but I have. Almost at half a year as a non-smoker so I decided to try to find out how my body had changed and this is the best list I could find:

* In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.
* In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.
* In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.
* In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
* In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.
* In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.
* In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.
* In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
* In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
* In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.

I can certainly vouch for the increased circulation and lung capacity. I can now exercise with ease and don't get anywhere near as breathless as I used to. Also I had a very dodgy big toe on my right foot, the nail had gone a sort of grey colour and was split. I happened to notice that it has become very pink and healthy looking again. This is quite worrying as I was probably headed for a circulatory disease, hopefully I quit in time and the return of the pink colour means I have reversed the damage.

Getting ready for the 6 month mark which will be just before my birthday in August, double party!!


Click here for a way to stay focused and develop your creativity!!

Quitting Smoking and Weight Gain

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This is a myth I can personaly say truly is a myth. I am not saying that no-one who has stopped smoking hasn't gained weight, I am saying that they aren't essentially linked. One does not necessarily cause the other. Gaining weight is usually a consequence of eating more not stopping smoking, although suddenly dropping the stimulant nicotine can reduce your heart rate to a more normal level and cause less of your energy to be used up. This is where you have to start using more energy with your new fitter body. I went running today for the first time since I stopped smoking 20 weeks ago and for the first time I can remember I did not feel like throwing up afterwards.

Most people who gain weight when they stop smoking do so because they are substituting food for cigarettes. Instead of smoking they are eating....bad move. Substitution ultimately will lead to failure. The dependancy has not been removed, it has been transferred and can easily transfer back to smoking, especially when a weight gain is noted. The only way, in my opinion, to successfully stop smoking is to remove the dependancy. This is more of psychological journey than a physical one, one where your attitude to smoking has to fundamentally change. A change of thinking will remove the need to substitute and weight will not be an issue.

Start here FREE REPORT and succeed.

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Quitting Smoking Can Be So Hard

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Watching television last night I was reminded how difficult and daunting it can be to stop smoking even when faced with a life threatening situation. I was watching a reality show about Accident and Emergency departments in hospitals. A patient was admitted with severe chest pains and it was later confirmed he had suffered a heart attack, he was 42 years old......42!. He was overweight and he smoked. When he was inteviewed at home after making a recovery he explained that he had adopted a healthier lifestyle. He had changed his diet and ate much more healthily. He had not, however, stopped smoking.

It is to be applauded that this person made the choice to change his diet, accepting that one of the reasons for his heart attack was what and how much he ate. It amazed me though that he did not apply the same reasoning to his smoking. Smoking had made a hugely greater contribution to his situation than his diet, why couldn't he see this?

Then I remembered what it is like to be a smoker, the fear of being without, the terror of facing a life without cigarettes, terror all caused by the mental conditioning that comes with addiction to nicotine. Even when faced with death from heart disease at 42 this guy could not let go of his smoking. That is very powerful mental conditioning. This is the sort of person I wish I could communicate with directly, to show them there is a way out. All I can hope is that people read this blog and take some sort of inspiration to change their lives.

Start changing your life and take the first step here My Free Report - 10 Things to do Before You Quit Smoking

4 Months After Quitting Smoking

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I have been smoke free for four months now. It is now starting to feel normal to be a non-smoker.I went to a party last night and spent most of the night in the garden (it is Summer after all), this meant being surrounded by people smoking. Just after I stopped smoking this would have made me feel very uncomfortable, very nervous about how I would deal with the situation. I think the uncertainty of how I would behave is more unsettling than actually dealing with being around smokers. Four months on and with the experience to support me I now feel quite comfortable around smokers and safe in the knowledge that I am in no way tempted to smoke.

I also got off my high non-smoker horse last night and didn't try to convert anyone to quitting :). The feeling of normality helps a great deal when faced with smoking situations, it also helps to observe other non-smokers, they aren't affected by people smoking around them so why should I be? If you have recently quit keep at it, life begins to get more normal.

This 4 month milestone is something to be celebrated, now is the time to start developing your new found clarity of mind and energy. This is something I found the other day that can help you to unleash your new self and start making your life more enjoyable since casting off the slavery of smoking. Try it, you might like it!

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10 Things To Do Before You Quit Smoking

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After some very hard work I have finally finished my first report about quitting smoking. I did a lot of research and examined how I have tried, failed and finally succeeded in quitting smoking. I hope everyone who reads this finds themselves closer to quitting at the end. It is not too long, only 12 pages but I think (and my friends who proof read it tell me) that it is full of relevant and insightful information. This is how I prepared to stop smoking and I hope you will too.

You have to give an email address to download it. If you absolutely object to doing so post a comment and I will provide an alternate link.

Here is the link My Free Report go download and enjoy.

Any comments are welcome I will try to answer all.

Nick

3 Months and Counting

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Well here we are, 3 months now as a non-smoker and still counting. I think it is important to keep track of how you are doing when you undertake something as life changing as stopping smoking. Some would argue that focusing on your progress makes it harder as you are thinking about smoking all the time as you measure how you are doing. I disagree, I would encourage anyone quitting smoking to think about it, but think about it in the right way. It is all a question of attitude, as is quitting in the first place. If you think about smoking in a way that you feel you are missing something, then chances are you will start again someday. If you think about smoking as something you needed out of your life, like a bad relationship, for example, then there is no harm in focusing on it. It makes you more determined to never let it back into your life, just like that person who may have hurt you.

If you have quit, keep going, keep counting, every day you don't smoke is a success and should be celebrated. If you are thinking of quitting, go for it, it will be one of the best decisions you have ever made. Also keep looking back here I am about to release a new report titled "10 things to do before you quit smoking". This will be a free download, I am currently putting the finishing touches to it.

To your success as a non-smoker!!!

2 Months It's Official

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That is officially the score, I have now been a non-smoker for 2 months. I was going to post this on Sunday but that was only 8 weeks, this is properly 2 calendar months. It has got easier and easier to stay quit, I still have no desire to smoke. I will occasionally get a very brief urge when I do a task that I associated with smoking in the past or I visit somewhere that I associate with smoking for the first time since becoming a non-smoker. These urges are very brief and easily overcome. The most recent example was last Saturday at a birthday party. The party was a 40th and was being held at the same place as a 40th I went to last year, as a smoker. I associated the venue, the party and the people I was with, with a time when I smoked. That was quite a powerful combination but still easily overcome by remembering exactly what the benefits of smoking are: NONE. In the end it was quite amusing watching the smokers scuttle off outside, missing the fun, while I remembered what that was like and really was glad that I didn't do that anymore.

Here's looking forward to the next month smokefree.

Time Off to Reflect

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Wow it has now been over 6 weeks since I quit and smoking is becoming a distant memory. I was lucky enough to be able to face and pass a test this weekend. It was my mother's birthday so we had a party for family and friends, my cousin with whom I used to slope off to smoke, was there. He is still a smoker and I wanted to find out if I would have a desire to smoke when he did, old habits and all that. I survived the test with no trouble whatsoever, in fact I felt very smug at how I didn't feel the slightest inclination to smoke. Poor chap he was the only smoker there and I felt a little sorry for him, you could tell he felt a bit like an outcast and went to hide down the drive to smoke.

I am taking time off this week for the Easter holidays to spend some time with my son. It is also a new test for my resolve to stay a non-smoker, I always smoked more at home than away but so far this week everything has been fine, no desire at all.

More and more it seems that smoking is dying as an occupation among all the people I know. Let's hope the non-smokers to be increase in number every day.