Today they are trying to defeat nicotine addiction with the help of various tricks: electronic cigarettes, patches, psychotherapeutic techniques. At the same time, many are thinking about how to quit smoking on their own at home and whether this idea is feasible, because over the years a real addiction to tobacco is formed not only physically, but also psychologically.
The suffering of the smoker
Today it is difficult for amateurs to lift. The state, in taking care of the health of citizens, has significantly limited the rights of smokers. And now, a large army of fellow citizens, addicted to tobacco, is forced to gather in designated smoking areas, to leave the usual "smoking rooms" in the entrances, to suffer from "hunger" for nicotine when visiting various institutions.
And then there is a new law coming: it is proposed to ban smoking less than 10 meters from the entrance, as the residents of the lower floors complain that the tobacconist's penetrates from the street into the premises. Can you imagine the picture: a respectable father of a family leaves the house, runs 10 meters from the entrance and hides in the bushes to smoke? There is only one thing left: smoking at home, that is, endangering the health of loved ones.
In this situation, even an experienced smoker thinks about how to break with a long-term habit. As he charges up, he remembers how much money literally dissolves in the air along with tobacco smoke. After all, a pack of cigarettes has risen in price several times in several years, and the quality of tobacco products has decreased in the same ratio and instead of the usual tobacco aroma of a cigarette today smells like manure. In addition, health fails: a dry cough in the morning tears the lungs, the pressure rises, and the heart plays tricks.
Sighing in resignation, the person decides to give up the bad habit. But how to quit smoking on your own if there is no willpower and any stressful situation is disturbing? A real "withdrawal" begins, the hand itself takes a cigarette and the body requires a "sedative" dose of nicotine, otherwise the surrounding people are forced to communicate with an inadequate person who reacts with irritation to any nonsense. In response, the lucky ones who managed to quit smoking argue that the main thing is motivation.
Motivation to quit smoking
Many experienced smokers understand that their addiction is not physical, but psychological. The cigarette gives confidence, helps to relax, calm down, reflect on one's actions in stressful situations. The daily ritual becomes a habit and now a morning cup of coffee is unthinkable without a nicotine "refill".
At the same time, a person understands that smoking causes a serious blow to his health, but he cannot give up a bad habit. Any confidential conversations on this topic, requests from loved ones, an example of friends who have separated from cigarettes will not have the desired effect until the person realizes his problem.
Good to know You can only quit smoking when you want! A person must independently motivate himself to fight smoking and negotiate with his subconscious, which plays a key role in latching on to an addiction. An example is the story of two men.
The first has been smoking for many years, automatically noticing that after each smoked cigarette a characteristic cough appears, in the morning the heart squeezes and viscous sputum leaves the lungs. Gradually, he began to realize that the smell of cigarettes and smoky clothes disgusted him. As a result, one day he simply realized he didn't need it and gave up tobacco forever, and without the resulting "withdrawal" and breakdowns.
Another successful young man with 10 years of smoking experience succumbed to the persuasion of his wife and pressure from relatives and was determined to "quit". He could not take a cigarette in his hands for several weeks, but as soon as he came to an event with alcohol, his subconscious lifted the restriction and he smoked again with ecstasy and reverted to his old habit until the next. attempt to cope with the tobacco monster.
How to motivate yourself to quit smoking, which method is considered the most effective and will help you cope with psychological addiction to smoking at home? Let's consider the most popular techniques.
How to quit smoking alone without pills?
To begin with, you need an appropriate mental attitude. If you're determined to give up on a bad habit, try following 5 basic guidelines:
- Do not listen to advice on how to quit smoking gradually. Reducing the number of cigarettes you smoke will not solve the problem. It is necessary to quit smoking immediately, right away, without stretching the decision indefinitely.
- Get rid of all the objects that remind you of an addiction: put the remaining cigarettes in the garbage can, remove the ashtray, the lighter, the matches. Wash clothes that smell of tobacco smoke.
- Reconsider your habits and be aware of the action associated with psychological addiction. If your morning cigarette was associated with a cup of coffee, replace it with tea. If a party with booze or friendly hangouts is unthinkable without traditional smoking breaks, give up for a while. Better yet, bet with your friends that you won't touch a cigarette for the next 10-15 years. Put something truly precious to you into play.
- Do not succumb to provocations and the opinion of "informed" people who claim that it is impossible to abruptly abandon an experienced smoker, because latent diseases will immediately appear. On the contrary, every day the internal organs and lungs will be gradually purified of nicotine and tobacco toxins, consequently the state of health will improve.
- Motivated to fight smoking, realize all the "drawbacks" of a bad habit, make sure the rejection of tobacco comes from within, this will help you get rid of nicotine addiction on a subconscious level.
The main stages of motivation are awareness of the harms of smoking and the degree of threat to one's health, which can be supported by a comprehensive medical examination and watching videos on the serious consequences of long-term tobacco use.
Popular methods of quitting smoking
So you've decided to quit smoking and are considering a number of options to help you get through a difficult relapse period. In this case, simple tricks will help that do not require a visit to a doctor, the purchase of medicines and the cost of special materials.
How to quit alone for a man at home?
There are several popular methods of developing smoking aversion, one of them is called:
Four stinking breaths
- It is necessary to increase and fix the maximum sensations from inhaling tobacco smoke. To do this, you need to inhale the tobacco smoke and hold it in your mouth for at least 30 seconds, while making chewing movements with your mouth closed.
- After half a minute, you can get the smoke into your lungs. In this case, there is a desire to cough. Don't resist it, cough.
- Using the same technique, take another 2 puffs by chewing the smoke and holding it in your mouth.
- For the fourth time, simply draw in the smoke-filled lungs and then cough it up slowly, contracting the abdominal muscles. Then, on the packaging, write the time when you took "stinky breaths" and no longer smoke.
If an unbearable desire to smoke arises, repeat the procedure with chewing smoke and try to increase the intervals between such sessions. Soon the body will react to the cigarette with disgust and the desire to smoke will vanish.
Milk cigarettes
This technique creates a strong aversion to tobacco. It is enough to soak the cigarettes in milk or fermented milk drinks and dry thoroughly. They taste disgusting, so it is impossible to smoke them for more than 5-7 days. During this period, a special reflex is developed, which causes the rejection of any tobacco product.
Replacement method
This is a much nicer way to replace cigarettes with different tasty substitutes. As soon as you feel the urge to smoke, immediately put candies, chewing gum, chocolate bars, or munch on seeds and nuts in your mouth. This method is more suitable for men, as it has an unacceptable side effect for women - weight gain. But in this case, you can avoid the appearance of extra pounds if you replace sweets with natural candied fruit (for example, from pineapple) or dried fruit.
Pain stimulation
A regular wrist strap can instantly bring an ex-smoker back to himself the moment there is an uncontrollable desire to smoke a cigarette. Just click on the rubber band on your hand and thoughts of smoking turn to painful sensations. With strong motivation, this is a fairly effective way to prevent relaxation.
How can a girl quit smoking alone?
Many psychologists note that the fair sex is much more motivated to quit smoking than men. And this is not surprising, because smoking affects the appearance in the most unfavorable way.
Yellow teeth due to plaque, bad complexion, hoarse and smoky voice, tobacco smell from clothes and hair do not add charm to a woman. Such a woman would rather alienate a man than get her attention. Additionally, nicotine has a very negative effect on reproductive function and can cause fetal defects if a pregnant woman smokes. Therefore, women are much more successful in overcoming the craving for a bad habit and returning to a healthy lifestyle. What methods help them in this?
Nicotine patch
You can buy such a patch at any pharmacy. It is glued to the forearm or to the outside of the thigh. Records change every day. The nicotine from the patch penetrates the skin and tricks the body, stifling the desire to smoke.
On average, the course of treatment lasts about a month; every week the nicotine concentration must be reduced. For the same purpose, you can switch to nicotine chewing gum, herbal cigars, and similar substitutes.
Electronic cigarettes
For many, it is vaporizers (electronic cigarettes) that have become a real salvation from nicotine addiction. It is even fashionable to be a vaper right now. Instead of tobacco, such devices contain a special liquid, which evaporates from the surface of the heating element and turns into a cloud of aromatic vapor that resembles tobacco smoke. This is a real discovery for a smoker with a strong psychological addiction, as all the signs of smoking remain, but without the harmful component of nicotine.
Tablets and drops
The craving for nicotine can be relieved with medication. To do this, take Tabex or Nicorette tablets. The dosage of the medicines and the duration of the administration cycle should be determined by the doctor. These drugs gradually reduce the urge to smoke and form an aversion to nicotine.
Another drug, Tabamex, has recently appeared on the pharmaceutical market. This innovative nicotine addiction drug is available in the form of drops and gels. For many smokers, the drug has become a lifesaver that discourages the desire to smoke without the accompanying side effects: weight gain or mental instability.
The preparation contains a complex of vitamins and extracts of medicinal plants, whose action is aimed at reducing the need for nicotine. Users note that taking drops almost immediately discourages the urge to smoke, and the gel removes the yellow plaque on the teeth and eliminates the smell of tobacco. One course of therapy is sufficient to achieve the desired effect. So far it is possible to order the drug only on the manufacturer's website, it is not sold in pharmacies.
Acupuncture
Psychological dependence on nicotine is formed at the level of the reflex, fixed in the cerebral cortex. During the acupuncture procedure, the reflexologist acts on certain points that break the chain of impulses going to the brain and thus suppress the desire to smoke. After a few sessions, a person stops feeling hungry for nicotine and can soon do without the addiction.
Neurolinguistic programming method
Judging by the reviews, this is one of the most effective methods, but only if the person has decided to quit smoking and the procedure is carried out by a professional who practices this method. In fact, this is ordinary hypnosis that reprograms consciousness. As a result, negative attitudes change to positive ones and a person gives up a habit that is harmful to health.
Of course, all the above techniques are suitable not only for women, but also for men. In addition to these options, a variety of folk remedies can be used to relieve the craving for nicotine.
Folk recipes
To reduce tobacco addiction, herbalists suggest using the following recipes:
Oats
The old fashioned way of combining tobacco with dried oats, ground into powder, helps well with tobacco addiction. 
But nobody smokes hand-rolled cigarettes today and pouring tobacco out of a cigarette, mixing it with the desired ingredient and then filling the shells is a long and grim process. Therefore, it is better to use a decoction of oats. To prepare it, grind the oat grains and add 1 tbsp. L. powder in a glass with fresh boiled water. Leave the composition to infuse overnight, boil in the morning, strain and drink instead of tea.
Anti-tobacco rubber
Peel, chop and mix the fresh horseradish root with an equal amount of chopped plantain leaves. Then pour this mixture into your mouth and chew. The released juice must be swallowed and the dry residue must be spat out. This way, you can stifle the urge to smoke and avoid relapses. For the same purpose, you can use cherry, currant, ginger root or calamus branches.
Rinses
The mouthwash with soda or saline solution is recommended to fight the craving for nicotine in the first days when you stop. As soon as there is an irresistible desire to smoke, you should rinse your mouth with a solution prepared at the rate of 1 tbsp. soda or salt in 200 ml of warm boiled water.
The pros of life without cigarettes
When you quit smoking, the first week is the hardest thing to do and then it will be a lot easier. Together with cigarette smoking, ailments will disappear, health, mood will improve and you will soon notice the following positive results:
- shortness of breath and dry cough of a smoker will disappear;
- free breathing will return, the lungs will be cleared of toxic substances;
- the risk of cardiovascular and oncological diseases will be significantly reduced;
- chronic pathologies of the upper respiratory tract will disappear;
- the functions of the immune system are normalized, the body's defenses are restored;
- the mood will rise, the nervous system will be strengthened;
- complexion, skin and hair condition will improve;
- teeth will be cleared of yellow tobacco plaque;
- mental efficiency and activity will increase, as the brain will not suffer from hypoxia;
- the unpleasant tobacco smell of clothes will disappear;
- and, finally, a significant saving of the family budget will be a pleasant bonus.
For the sake of this list of benefits, it is worth considering quitting smoking. In addition, a healthy lifestyle, candid smiles, a fresh complexion and other evidence of excellent health are in vogue now, which is totally incompatible with smoking.
Reviews on smoking cessation methods
Review n. 1
lei He smoked for over 20 years, smoked his first cigarette as a teenager. At that time, the cigarette was for me a symbol of independence, it gave me authority in the eyes of others. Over the years, health problems began, the youth went away, but the habit remained. When the doctors warned that there were blood vessel problems and that everything could end in a stroke, I seriously thought about quitting smoking.
I have tried many remedies, from nicotine patches and pills to e-cigarettes, but have consistently failed. In the end, Cytisine smoking remedy helped me. Since it was discontinued. Now even the smell of cigarettes sucks.
Revision n. 2
You quit smoking two years ago. At the time, my wife and I were expecting our first child and she simply couldn't stand the smell of tobacco. Even though I used the toothpaste right away, my clothes and hair were still soaked in smoke. I myself have long thought about how to say goodbye to a bad habit.
In the end, I limited myself to giving myself a series of instructions, but I did not stop abruptly, but gradually reduced the number of cigarettes smoked. When I got to 2 a day, I noticed that I almost didn't feel like smoking. And there was no time for smoking breaks: work, part-time work, family, small child. As a result, I just forgot about cigarettes and am now absolutely indifferent to smoking.