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How to Stop Smoking

How Will My Health Improve by Becoming a Non-smoker?

Quitting smoking helps your circulation, your stamina, your skin, and your general health. Your risk for coronary heart disease, the most common cause of death in the U.S., is cut in half after only a year without smoking. Quitting smoking also reduces the likelihood of having breathing problems and lung and other cancers. Studies have shown that smoking affects others as well as yourself. Children of parents who smoke around the house are more likely to get respiratory infections than children from nonsmoking homes. Smoking is an addictive habit. Quitting smoking isn't easy but it can be done. Most former smokers make several attempts to quit before they are finally successful. So, never say, "I can't." Just keep trying!

What Are the First Steps to Becoming a Non-smoker?

Set a quit date. Setting a quit date is one of the most important steps in being successful with your quit plan. Pick a date when you will stop smoking as soon as possible and mark it on your calendar Don't buy cigarettes to carry you beyond your last day. Throw away all your lighters, ashtrays and cigarettes. If you keep cigarettes around, sooner or later you'll break down and smoke one, then another, then another, and so on. Throw them away. Make it less easy to start again. Tell your family and friends you plan to quit, and ask for their support and encouragement. Ask them not to offer you cigarettes.

What Can I Expect When I Do Stop Smoking?

The first 10 days you may feel tired, irritable, and develop headaches or a cough. You may also have problems concentrating as your body goes through nicotine withdrawal. These symptoms usually only last one to two weeks.

How Can I Alleviate Withdrawal Symptoms?

To help alleviate withdrawal symptoms, drink plenty of water and eat at least three meals per day, exercise, avoid alcohol and get plenty of rest as nicotine goes out of your system. Try chewing gum, pretzel sticks, raw fruit or raw vegetables as a substitute for cigarettes. Take deep breaths, keep busy and reward yourself for not smoking. These techniques will help you handle cravings to smoke.

What Else Can I Do?

• Spend time with nonsmokers rather than with smokers. Think of yourself and identify yourself as a ex-smoker (for example, in restaurants). Stay away from "smoker's havens," such as bars. Avoid spending time with smokers, at least for the first few weeks of quitting. You can't tell others not to smoke, but you don't have to sit with them while they do. Old habits die hard and one of your old smoking buddies is sure to offer you a cigarette. Plan on walking away from cigarette smoke.
• Keep your hands busy. You may find you don't know what to do with your hands for a while. Pick up a book or a magazine. Try knitting, drawing, making a plastic model, or doing a jigsaw puzzle. Join special interest groups that keep you involved in your hobby.
• Take on new activities. Take on new activities that don't include smoking. Join an exercise group and work out regularly. Sign up for an evening class or join a study group at your church. Go on more outings with your family or friends. Go see a movie.
• Consider using nicotine gum, patches, spray or other pharmacologic therapies. Nicotine is the drug that is in tobacco. You can use nicotine patches or gum, available without a prescription at your local pharmacy, to quit smoking. It is a two-step process. First you learn to live without smoking, but not without nicotine. On your quit day, you discontinue smoking and start using the patches or gum. Continue using the patches or gum to gradually wean you off the nicotine, which usually takes about 6 - 8 weeks.
• Zyban, a prescription medication, can also be used to help you quit smoking. Zyban should be started about 7 - 10 days before your quit date. Ask your primary care physician about using this form of medication.

• Join a quit-smoking program. You may prefer to be involved in an organized quit-smoking program while you are using the patches, gum or Zyban. Neither the patches nor the gum nor Zyban is a miracle cure. You still need to learn to live without cigarettes in your daily life. Your personal decision to quit smoking combined with learning the skills to be smoke-free can help you be successful. Some people do better in a formal class with a set of instructions to follow. Group support is another reason to consider a formal quit smoking program. Others quitting at the same time provide support and encouragement for each other. Remember, the aim is to quit smoking. It doesn't matter how you do it. Quit smoking programs that are available include:

  • Kick the Habit: contact the UMHS Tobacco Consultation Service at (734) 936-5988
  • Michigan Department of Community Health: call (800) 537-5666

How Can I Prevent a Relapse?

If you are unable to resist the urge and give in to the temptation to smoke, follow these guidelines to keep this slip from turning into a relapse. Do not finish the cigarette. Put the cigarette out before you finish and throw the pack away. Keeping the pack means you are giving yourself permission to smoke again. Understand that a slip is different from a relapse. A slip is an error or mistake that anyone can make. The best strategy is to contain the damage and get on with your larger goals. Learn from the slip. Review the incident to decide what you can do differently should the same thing happen again. Realize that negative feelings you may have about the incident will pass if you let them. With a little self-awareness you can refocus and back on track. Have fun with the money you'll save by not smoking. Make a list of things you'd like to buy for yourself or someone lese. Estimate the cost in terms of packs of cigarettes and put the money aside to buy these presents.

For more information on this topic, contact the UMHS Health Education Resource Center at (734) 647-5645.

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See Also:

• Screening for lung cancer
• Breaking the Habits Beating Us

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This site is part of the U-M Health System. The information presented is not a tool for self diagnosis or a substitute for professional care. © 2008 U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center