Smoking is a hard-to-break habit due to the presence of a highly addictive chemical, nicotine. Smoking is hard to quit because your body and brain quickly get accustomed to the addictive chemical. Consequently, a person will need to smoke regularly to feel normal.

People start smoking for a variety of reasons, sometimes even due to peer pressure. A majority of smokers never expect the habit to become an addiction. Hence, it is advised to quit smoking. However, if you are someone who started smoking or is a regular smoker for years, it is time to quit.

How to quit smoking?
With determination and awareness, the process can be much simpler than you can imagine. Here are some simple yet effective ways to quit smoking for good.

Fix a quit day
No matter how hard it may seem, decide to quit smoking and set a specific date. Make sure the day is not too far away so that you do not change your mind. Set it, giving yourself enough time to prepare for a non-smoking phase. You can choose to:

• Quit immediately or continue smoking until the quit date.
• Quit gradually by smoking the number of cigarettes on a daily basis until your quit date and then stop.

Additionally, you can prepare yourself for the quit day by following these tips:

• Inform your family, friends, and colleagues about the quit date.
• Don’t keep cigarettes and ashtrays around you.
• Decide whether you will replace smoking with nicotine replacement therapy or other medicines. If you choose another option, make sure you are well informed about it.
• Plan to attend a stop-smoking group and register for it at the earliest.
• Keep oral substitutes handy. These include toothpicks, straws, hard candies, and sugarless gum.
• Take the help of a support system like someone you know who has successfully quit smoking.
• Distance yourself from those who smoke.
• Alter your daily habits that trigger smoking and replace them with other activities.

When your quit day has finally arrived, make sure to stick to these points. They are some effective ways to quit smoking for good.

• Don’t ever smoke
• Keep yourself busy
• In case you have chosen NRT, start using it
• Continue to attend the stop-smoking groups
• Drink water or juices often
• Stay away from smokers
• Stay away from situations that encourage you to smoke

The urge to smoke on your quit day will be strong. However, if you stick to these effective ways to quit smoking, this will certainly pass for good.

Take the following steps to combat the urge to smoke:

• Let the craving pass. The urge to smoke will go away within 5 minutes if you do not give in.
• Take deep breaths slowly. Inhale from your nose and exhale from your mouth. Visualize your lungs fill with fresh air throughout the process.
• Drink water sip by sip and do not gulp it. The craving will go away eventually.
• Try some recreational activities like running or swimming.