Home | Health | Stop Smoking
Have you tried quitting smoking cold-turkey, only to smoke again a day or even minutes later? Many health practitioners will tell you that cold-turkey is the only effective way to quit. But when cold-turkey does not let you quit, then what? You must pick a way to quit smoking that you like and can do successfully. Have you tried cutting back one cigarette at a time, over a period of a few weeks? Cutting back gradually allows you to acclimate your body to less nicotine. Plus you will take charge of your addiction by smoking with specific purpose. Here's how you can create a gradual quit smoking schedule for yourself: 1. Estimate the number of cigarettes you typically smoke per day. 2. Decide the number of cigarettes you can reduce from your daily allotment. I suggest the 2 per day. This number will be known as the Daily Reduction Number. 3. Divide your estimate from step 1 by your Daily Reduction Number from step 2. For example, if you smoke 40 cigarettes daily, divided by 2, you get the number 20. This is the number of days it will take you to completely stop smoking. 4. Take some paper and on the left-hand side write the number of days you just determined you need in step 3 above. For example, if your result was 30, write Day 30. Now below that write Day 29, Day 28, etc. until you reach Day 1. 5. Starting from the bottom of the list (Day 1) write your Daily Reduction Number from step 2 ("2" in our example). On Day 2, add the Daily Reduction Number to the number on Day 1. In this example, you would write 4 on Day 2. On Day 3 you add the Daily Reduction Number to the result on Day 2. Continue this process until you add up to the top of your list. You are only that many days away from quitting smoking! Once you make these calculations you are now ready to gradually reduce your cigarette consumption. Take your "reduction plan" with you wherever you go. You may want to put the plan inside your pack of cigarettes. Start by using the number of cigarettes on the first date of your plan. Every time you smoke a cigarette, put a check next to the day you are currently on. When the number of marks reaches the number of cigarettes specified for that day, you are done smoking until the following day. Pace your smoking accordingly! To dramatically improve the success of this plan, try the following. As with most anything worthwhile it takes some effort (but very little). Each day, count out the day's allotted cigarettes and put them in a pack or bag. Since you can see exactly how many cigarettes you will be smoking that day, you can better judge how to pace your smoking. One more thing: if you reach the end of the day with cigarettes left over, DO NOT tack them on to the next day’s allocation of cigarettes. Instead, pat yourself on the back for smoking less than you planned on. Use the following formula to calculate your smoking reduction plan: (Typical Number of Cigarettes Smoked Each Day) ____ / ____ (Daily Reduction Number) = ____ days (for example 22 cigarettes / 2 fewer cigarettes each day = 11 days) Print this countdown chart for your own quit smoking plan: Day 30 _____ Day 29 _____ Day 28 _____ Day 27 _____ Day 26 _____ Day 25 _____ Day 24 _____ Day 23 _____ Day 22 _____ Day 21 _____ Day 20 _____ Day 19 _____ Day 18 _____ Day 17 _____ Day 16 _____ Day 15 _____ Day 14 _____ Day 13 _____ Day 12 _____ Day 11 _____ Day 10 _____ Day 9 _____ Day 8 _____ Day 7 _____ Day 6 _____ Day 5 _____ Day 4 _____ Day 3 _____ Day 2 _____ Day 1 _____ The plan as outlined above is but one alternative of the weaning process. Adjust the plan to suit your own situation, if this exact process doesn't quite work. Gradually reducing your cigarette smoking can be a great way to destroy a smoking addiction. By weaning yourself from nicotine's addictive effects, and taking charge of your habit, you make quitting much more do-able. Begin your reduction plan today!
Article Source: http://www.writedot.com
Fred Kelley helps thousands of people to quit smoking each year at www.quitsmoking.com Smokers can find over 100 stop smoking articles, plus get quit smoking products, and get help at the quit smoking forum.
Not yet Rated
Sign up Now for inclusion in whendot.comarticle distribution service. submit your article automatically to over 150 Article sites
