For most cigarette and tobacco users, cravings and urges to smoke can be hard to quit. Most people begin smoking when they are in their teenage years and they are already addicted by the time they become adults.
According to Health Literacy, people smoke so as to get rid of stress and pressure due to certain problems like economic and personal problems. Some of them may not have jobs or they may be working but not generating enough income to support their families and themselves. Other people may be in bad relations with their spouse, which is coupled by physical or verbal abuse.
Peer pressure is one of the reasons why young people smoke. As per Health Literacy, teenagers want to look mature and to experiment. According to the publication, it is against the law for someone below 18 years old to smoke. This case pushes young people like teenagers to smoke, since there is a sense of excitement when it comes to experimenting with something that is not allowed.
While cigarette or tobacco smoking seems to help people cope with their daily stressors, they can be addictive. In fact, tobacco use remained the sole biggest preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As per the publication, cigarette smoking is one of the causes of death of more than 480,000 Americans annually, with exposure to secondhand smoke standing as the root cause of mortality of 41,000 Americans from the aforementioned figure. In 2013, the United States statistics revealed that men have 5.2 percent higher rate of deaths than women and people who are 25 to 44 years old have the highest death rates among other age groups.
Resisting tobacco craving leads an individual a step closer to quitting smoking permanently, according to Mayo Clinic, avoiding triggers is one of the ways to stop smoking. It is important to identify the trigger situations and have a ready plan to get through them without tobacco to fully avoid smoking. As per the publication, keeping oneself busy would help prevent a tobacco or cigarette from getting into his mouth. For instance, one may keep a paper and pen near a telephone landline to be occupied with doodling or writing, instead of smoking.
Nicotine replacement therapy can also aid a person quit smoking. According to American Cancer Society, nicotine replacement therapy can he a person who is trying to smoke to deal with the withdrawal symptoms of quitting smoking, as well as cravings that holds 70 percent to 90 percent of smokers back from dropping their cigarettes or tobaccos. The publication mentioned that while many smokers managed to end smoking without the use of nicotine replacement therapy, most of them were not successful on the first attempt. Some of them needed more than ten attempts to finally quit smoking for good. However, most quitters return to smoking within just 3 months from quitting.
Among other moves on quitting smoking, a plan to quit it rises as the best one. American Lung Association director of tobacco control programs told Fox News that having a plan to quit smoking would help one succeed. He added that since one had to learn how to smoke, he also had to learn how to quit; and creating a plan that worked was a great strategy. According to the publication, a person may consult his or her physician prior to getting started with a plan, so as to ascertain that the right steps were being taken, to consider a person’s history and medical status.
Quitting smoking can be hard and challenging; but with a tank of discipline, one will be able to get through it.
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