Strategies To Stop Smoking

Why Is It So Difficult To Quit?

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Classical Conditioning And “De-conditioning”

Remember Pavlov and his dogs? It's the same with smoking — conditioning occurs when nicotine produces states that are repeatedly paired with something neutral, like being on the phone. In other words, when you smoke cigarettes while engaging in other activities, the addicting properties of nicotine eventually become “conditioned” or joined to other habits so that something as guiltless as a phone call may lead you to an increased desire to smoke. Conversely, it is possible that some of the enjoyment of smoking is actually coming from another activity repeatedly associated with the act of smoking — like having a cigarette after a meal. Smoking loses some of its appeal when activities are disrupted and the social aspects are removed.

Find A “Smoking Place”: Only smoke there. The idea behind this tip is to minimize the reinforcing properties that smoking has for you. Choose one or more locations, both at home and work, in which you do nothing but smoke.

Learn To Relax: It should come as no surprise that stress can be a barrier to quitting smoking. It is not uncommon to hear that smokers report smoking more under times of stress. However, there is little scientific data to support that smoking actually reduces stress.

This being said, it is important for you to learn a healthy way of relieving stress. You know what things work for you so use them. For example, go for a run, talk to a friend, or even take some deep breaths. Keep in mind, when you take a smoking break, you are doing more than smoking. You are typically removing yourself from a stressful situation, taking deep breaths, and talking (and sometimes walking) with others.

Active engagement also helps, for example using progressive muscle relaxation techniques, which involve slowly tensing and then releasing each muscle group in your body is one method. You should begin with the muscles in your toes and finish with those in your head. Each of these behaviors in their own right help with stress!

Rules Of Thumb: To reduce the frequency of smoking, slowly reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke each day over the course of several weeks. A good rule of thumb is not to reduce your cigarette use by more than 20% each week. In doing this, you may find it helpful to count out your daily cigarette supply at the beginning of each day and only carry that number of cigarettes around with you. This will make it easier to stick to your limit, as well as give you a visual representation of what you have left for the day. Obviously this gets more and more difficult as you progress because you have fewer cigarettes each week and thus get down to your “most important” cigarettes; however, this strategy has worked for many people.

Is Medication Necessary?

Gradually Reduce Your Nicotine Intake: Despite the establishment of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, quitting smoking remains a difficult behavior to change. Although research supports that smokers attempting to quit should be encouraged to use approved medications, they may be less effective in the real world compared to the controlled environments of research studies. For some, the use of medication is not desirable due to cost, side effects, and feelings of having less control with respect to changing this health-compromising behavior. If you want to try to quit without the use of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NTR) or other approved medications, there are other ways to reduce your nicotine intake gradually while making your withdrawal symptoms more manageable.

Brand Fading: This is another approach that can be used to wean you slowly off of nicotine. It takes a little more time and research, but the general idea is that you gradually switch the brand of cigarette you smoke to another brand with less nicotine.

Lists of nicotine yield by cigarette can be found online at www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco/tobacco_nic.shtml

You should start by finding out the nicotine yield of your current brand and type of cigarettes. Each week or so, you should find a new brand with 0.2 – 0.4 milligrams less nicotine yield and switch to that brand. However, when making the switch do not increase the number of cigarettes you smoke each day. When you reach the lowest nicotine yielding cigarettes you can find, begin reducing the number of these cigarettes you smoke each day.