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Tips for The Day to Stop
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Throw away you cigarettes and ashtrays and lighters.
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Clean your clothes to rid them of cigarette smell.
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Stay away from smokers until your resolve gets stronger. (This is a temporary measure only).
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Clean your car inside and out. Keep a different air freshener in your car. Baking soda will absorb many odors from the car if left overnight and then vacuum up.
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Go to bed early.
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Keep yourself busy.
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Make a list of projects that you never had the time for. Save this for when you really need to keep your mind off cigarettes.
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Save the money that is budgeted for cigarettes in a jar and use this money for your rewards.
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Take quitting hour-by-hour, day-to-day. Thinking that you are never ever going to smoke again can be overwhelming to some.
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Take a walk or a mental break as often as possible.
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Refocus your thoughts often.
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Refuse to allow anything to change your mind.
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Smoking is no longer an option.
Tips for Coping with Relapse
Coping with Relapse
- Stop smoking immediately.
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Get rid of the cigarettes you may have.
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Write down three reasons to quit.
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Recognize that you had a slip, and it is not the end of the world.
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Don’t be too hard on yourself. One slip doesn’t mean you are a failure. Work on getting back on track immediately. You success will be better on the next try.
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Identify the trigger. What prompted you to smoke? Work on other responses instead of smoking.
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How will you cope when this happens again?
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Make a contract with yourself to remain a nonsmoker.
Note: In addition to the use of nicotine replacement, a newer medication may be helpful to stop smoking. Bupropion (ZybanÒ) is used in the attempts to reduce problems during smoking cessation attempts. You may wish to discuss this with your physician.
The Effects of Smoking on Lungs
Cigarette smoking is a toxin. In fact, it contains several different toxins, such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, nicotine, and toluene. There have been 4,000 toxic substances attributed to cigarette smoking.
As a hot, volatile gas, cigarette smoke is, at the very least, a harsh irritant to your airways. However, this is just the start of the detrimental effect of cigarette smoke.
Cigarette smoke destroys the normal function of your lungs by increasing the production of mucus, making it difficult to clear this mucus out of your lungs, and destroying your lung tissue.
Cigarette smoke is the leading cause of lung cancer and can contribute to various other cancers as well.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has listed environmental smoke (passive smoking) as a cancer-causing agent.
Environmental tobacco smoke may contribute to asthma and increased respiratory infections in children.
Some Harsh Statistics On Smoking
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In 2001, COPD was the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, resulting in more than 118,000 deaths.
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The average number of lung cancer deaths from 1995 to 1999 attributable to tobacco use was 124,0000. A total of 440,000 people died by smoking or other form of tobacco use- about 20% of all deaths in the U.S.
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Second hand smoke causes 3,000 cancer deaths and 300,000 sufferers from respiratory tract infections each year.
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Medical cost from tobacco use exceeds $75,000,000,000 per year.
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Productivity loss is greater than $80,000,000,000 per year.
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Smoking during pregnancy results in lower birth weight, which is associated with sudden infant death syndrome.
Sources:
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CDC Annual Smoking- Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and the Economic Cost- United States- 1995-1999. MMWR 2002; 51(14): 300-3.
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The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General- 2004- United States Public Health Service.
