My 10 Point Quit Smoking Plan All you need to become a successful quitter I’ve been working in the area of helping patients to quit smoking for over 35 years, and I’ve lectured on this topic in over 27 countries (so my kids tell me!) For most of my years I’ve ran a ‘Smoker’s Clinic at the University Hospital of South Manchester, helping smokers in huge groups of 200, to help kick their addiction to tobacco. I was there in the early days when we made smokers smoke so many cigarettes so rapidly that they eventually vomited, and then I made them smoke cigarettes whilst giving them electric shocks. Boy, those early treatments were very barbaric!! The first two patients I treated then were - Max Beesley (father of Max Beesley, actor and drummer to Take That band) and Benny Van den Burgh (a close friend who worked in the very stressful environment of the early Manchester club scene, and was one of the most nicotine-addicted patients I’ve ever treated). The aversion therapy they received stopped them smoking and neither has smoked to this very day!! Nowadays, treatments at helping you stop are far more acceptable. Most are based on giving you low doses of nicotine, to just take the edge off any cravings, whilst you learn to live without cigarettes in your life. So, to help you cope for living life without the need for cigarettes, here is my tried and tested Quit Plan – Stopping Smoking with the Nicotine Phase-Out Plan.
TEN POINT QUIT PLAN
1-Quit day: Fix a day when you are actually going to try and quit the cigs. Make sure that this is the best day for you to really try and quit.
2-Quit with a friend: quitting can be a lonely business. Non-smokers don’t know what you’re going through, ex-smokers will tell you that it’s a ‘doddle’ (they’ve done it so they feel it’s so easy – although they probably went through hell coping with it!)... and smokers will be the very ones who’ll offer ‘just that one cig’ when you’re actually dying for one! If one of your friends is quitting with you, then that makes coping easier.
3-Cash not ash: You’re probably spending nearly £5 a day on your fags. So put £5 every day into a clear glass jar at the end of every day whilst you’ve not smoked. That’s £150 every month,£900 every 6 months, and £1,800 in your glass jar in 12 months time. Then just go and spend it on yourself – you’ve deserved it!!
4-Shift all cigs: because you don’t smoke, get rid of all cigarettes, lighters and matches. All of these prompts could lead to you into temptation to smoke again. The night before you quit, clean out the car, your office, and shift all the ashtrays
5-Just for Today: When you awake on the morning of your ‘Quit Day’, and every morning thereafter, tell yourself that ‘Just for Today’ I won’t have a smoke. Coping with just one day at a time, makes coping with any problem a lot easier. If it means going to bed earlier at night just to get that day behind you – then do it. Every little helps, and if you can get through one day with out smoking, then you can certainly do one more day.
6-Nicotine replacement: tobacco is a dangerous source of nicotine, to which you have become addicted. Using any of the nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs) will more than double your chances of quitting – there are nicotine gum, patches, lozenges, nasal spray, inhalator, micro-tabs and the non-nicotine drug bupropion (Zyban). To be honest, if you really want to quit smoking you have never had it so good. There are so many treatments available to you now, and you can get even more help. So ask your GP to refer you onto your own local Smoking Cessation service for personal treatment. Come on, you’ve now got no excuse to quit smoking.
7-Distract yourself: whenever you feel a craving coming on, distract yourself, do some slow deep breathing. Imagine that you’re actually smoking a cigarette, breathing the air in deeply and slowly, and as you breathe out allow yourself to feel more and more relaxed. In other words smoke fresh clean air … breathe in slowly and breathe out slowly, feeling more and more relaxed with each breath out! Another way of distracting yourself is to get involved in an all-absorbing hobby – a hobby will distract you from the transient cravings that come upon you when you crave for a cig – remember cravings only last for seconds so keep yourself busy for hours - with an all-absorbing hobby!! One of my patients created a huge collection of doodles, which he did whilst distracting himself from his cravings – the doodles were miniature works of art, and I told him that he should publish them!
8-The Fat Farewell Weight Loss Plan: because so many cigarette-quitters gain weight on quitting smoking I’ve also enclosed a simple weight loss plan into this ‘TEN POINT QUIT PLAN FOR SMOKERS’. You can access it on the Lose Weight page of the site.
9-No thanks... I don’t smoke! Now this is the crunch.When you’ve actually quit the cigs and stopped smoking – somebody offers you a cigarette!! My best advice to you is to say “No thanks, I don’t smoke” and then change the subject straight away. Never, say, “Oh I’m just trying to quit”, because that will cause all sorts of problems. Comments like “You must be dying for a cig, aren’t, you?” or “ When I tried I was craving all the time – I just had to give in – I just don’t know how you’re going to get through, because it’s so difficult!” etc etc etc. Smokers will drive you mad, so remember, when offered a cigarette – “No thanks, I don’t smoke!” and change the topic of conversation.
10-Finally, if you don’t succeed at quitting at this attempt, keep trying. It make take several attempts to become that successful quitter! Quitting never killed a smoker... Smoking kills 120,000 smokers each year in the UK. IF YOU DON’T SUCCEED ...QUIT...QUIT, AGAIN.
This article was published on Thu 27 July 2006Image © Aviator70 - Fotolia.com
1-Quit day: Fix a day when you are actually going to try and quit the cigs. Make sure that this is the best day for you to really try and quit.
2-Quit with a friend: quitting can be a lonely business. Non-smokers don’t know what you’re going through, ex-smokers will tell you that it’s a ‘doddle’ (they’ve done it so they feel it’s so easy – although they probably went through hell coping with it!)... and smokers will be the very ones who’ll offer ‘just that one cig’ when you’re actually dying for one! If one of your friends is quitting with you, then that makes coping easier.
3-Cash not ash: You’re probably spending nearly £5 a day on your fags. So put £5 every day into a clear glass jar at the end of every day whilst you’ve not smoked. That’s £150 every month,£900 every 6 months, and £1,800 in your glass jar in 12 months time. Then just go and spend it on yourself – you’ve deserved it!!
4-Shift all cigs: because you don’t smoke, get rid of all cigarettes, lighters and matches. All of these prompts could lead to you into temptation to smoke again. The night before you quit, clean out the car, your office, and shift all the ashtrays
5-Just for Today: When you awake on the morning of your ‘Quit Day’, and every morning thereafter, tell yourself that ‘Just for Today’ I won’t have a smoke. Coping with just one day at a time, makes coping with any problem a lot easier. If it means going to bed earlier at night just to get that day behind you – then do it. Every little helps, and if you can get through one day with out smoking, then you can certainly do one more day.
6-Nicotine replacement: tobacco is a dangerous source of nicotine, to which you have become addicted. Using any of the nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs) will more than double your chances of quitting – there are nicotine gum, patches, lozenges, nasal spray, inhalator, micro-tabs and the non-nicotine drug bupropion (Zyban). To be honest, if you really want to quit smoking you have never had it so good. There are so many treatments available to you now, and you can get even more help. So ask your GP to refer you onto your own local Smoking Cessation service for personal treatment. Come on, you’ve now got no excuse to quit smoking.
7-Distract yourself: whenever you feel a craving coming on, distract yourself, do some slow deep breathing. Imagine that you’re actually smoking a cigarette, breathing the air in deeply and slowly, and as you breathe out allow yourself to feel more and more relaxed. In other words smoke fresh clean air … breathe in slowly and breathe out slowly, feeling more and more relaxed with each breath out! Another way of distracting yourself is to get involved in an all-absorbing hobby – a hobby will distract you from the transient cravings that come upon you when you crave for a cig – remember cravings only last for seconds so keep yourself busy for hours - with an all-absorbing hobby!! One of my patients created a huge collection of doodles, which he did whilst distracting himself from his cravings – the doodles were miniature works of art, and I told him that he should publish them!
8-The Fat Farewell Weight Loss Plan: because so many cigarette-quitters gain weight on quitting smoking I’ve also enclosed a simple weight loss plan into this ‘TEN POINT QUIT PLAN FOR SMOKERS’. You can access it on the Lose Weight page of the site.
9-No thanks... I don’t smoke! Now this is the crunch.When you’ve actually quit the cigs and stopped smoking – somebody offers you a cigarette!! My best advice to you is to say “No thanks, I don’t smoke” and then change the subject straight away. Never, say, “Oh I’m just trying to quit”, because that will cause all sorts of problems. Comments like “You must be dying for a cig, aren’t, you?” or “ When I tried I was craving all the time – I just had to give in – I just don’t know how you’re going to get through, because it’s so difficult!” etc etc etc. Smokers will drive you mad, so remember, when offered a cigarette – “No thanks, I don’t smoke!” and change the topic of conversation.
10-Finally, if you don’t succeed at quitting at this attempt, keep trying. It make take several attempts to become that successful quitter! Quitting never killed a smoker... Smoking kills 120,000 smokers each year in the UK. IF YOU DON’T SUCCEED ...QUIT...QUIT, AGAIN.
This article was published on Thu 27 July 2006Image © Aviator70 - Fotolia.com
Reference:http://www.TheFamilyGP.com
No comments:
Post a Comment