Help with Tobacco Use
Here are some things you can do before you stop smoking to help increase your chances of success:
- If you’ve tried to quit before, think about why it didn’t work. What can you do this time to help yourself succeed?
- Tell your family and friends that you are quitting. Ask them to support you by not smoking around you and not offering you cigarettes.
- Throw out all your cigarettes, lighters, and ashtrays. If you’re going to be a non-smoker, you won’t need these things again.
- Talk to your doctor about nicotine replacement methods. Nicotine gum, patches, spray, and some new medications can really help people to stop smoking. However, for these products to work, it is important to use them the right way. Make sure someone explains to you how to use them correctly.
- Join a support group at your school or in your community.
- Find someone you can call for those times when you feel like you are having a weak moment and might smoke a cigarette.
What can I do so I won’t smoke again?
The hardest part about quitting is breaking the habits that go along with it. For example, if you are used to smoking with your friends when you are hanging out together, it will be hard to hang around with them and not smoke. The best way to keep from smoking is to not put yourself in situations with people who smoke and to stay away from places where you are used to smoking. Spend a few days or a week away from your friends who smoke.
- Go to non-smoking places with your friends, like the mall or the movies.
- Don’t drink alcohol. Alcohol will likely lower your willpower and increase your chances of having a cigarette.
- If your family smokes, ask them to not smoke in your room.
- Exercise. It will take your mind off smoking, make you feel better, and keep you healthy.
- Plan activities during the first couple of weeks to take your mind off smoking. It will be easier to quit if you keep yourself busy.
How will I feel when I’m quitting?
If you are a regular smoker, your body has gotten used to having nicotine and other chemicals around all the time. You will probably feel some symptoms of withdrawal when you stop smoking. This means that you may crave cigarettes, or you might just feel uncomfortable or nervous.
When will the nicotine craving go away?
Within a week or two, the nicotine craving will go away and you will feel more like yourself. In the beginning you also might feel frustrated, moody, or depressed. It may seem like you are all alone in your suffering and that no one understands what you are going through. Although this will be hard, these feelings will go away with time.
After a couple weeks, you will be over the hardest part of quitting – the physical addiction, when your body feels like it needs nicotine. However, it may still be hard to resist having a cigarette. The habit of having a cigarette in your hand and smoking while you do certain activities, like talking on the phone or hanging out with friends, can be difficult to break.
