How to replace cigarettes when you quit smoking

smoking cessation and how to replace cigarettes

Smoking is a deadly habit. And not even a habit, but a permanent addiction, formed on a mental and physical level.

Many lovers of smoke and eventually earned health problems decide to separate themselves from such a hobby. And they think about what to replace cigarettes with when you stop smoking.

Doctors advise you to change cigarettes when you stop smoking, to interfere and recover.

Mark Twain said: "It's easiest to quit smoking, I don't know, I've quit a thousand times! ".

For many this becomes a serious addiction, only 5% are able to get rid of it on their own.

How to replace the desire for "education"

There are many "folk" ways to get rid of unpleasant habits.

How to replace a cigarette when you quit smoking:

  1. Focus on the job. Get a job: a favorite hobby or immerse yourself in your work routine. Tactics will drive away obsessive thoughts, and if the thing is interesting, get carried away, forgetting about tobacco. If the urge is strong, use a nicotine spray or patch to reduce cravings.
  2. Fall in love! Re-emerging relationships renew a person. When a girl (or wife) does not smoke, then this will serve as an example (with strong feelings). Try switching to an electronic cigarette.
  3. I wanted to smoke, do physical exercises (push-ups, running in place, whatever you want). In case of fatigue or increased lung ventilation, the body is cleansed, and you definitely do not want to smoke, we wish you one thing - to relax!

Plenty of combat methods. Some will be helped by one (for example, chewing gum), and others will have to use several, but must move towards the main goal of improving the quality of life.

Save the figure by tying tobacco

During the conducted studies, European scientists saw that, after quitting addiction, "non-smokers" gain up to 4 kg a year. Nicotine has a bad effect on human organs, speeds up metabolism in the body (due to the excitation of the nervous system).

As soon as nicotine stops coming in, you immediately feel hungry for nicotine. The body's systems function abnormally during such a shock: the pressure jumps, the metabolism is disrupted, and insulin levels and carbohydrate metabolism change.

These reasons cause many people to "eat under stress" (overeat). To quit a harmful lifestyle, engage in productive activities to drive away obsessive thoughts about tobacco drugs.

Tips for getting rid of bad habits, for improving the figure:

  1. Throw away if possible during the holidays. Changing the environment, where most of the environment is made up of smokers, is a wonderful way out of this situation. Great if you go to the sea or live in the countryside for a short time.
  2. Fresh air, hiking, swimming will give energy, positive emotions, will help you understand that cigarettes are not your friend.
  3. Sport is the best medicine. Nordic walking, swimming, running! Yes, it will be difficult to run at first, but when you get involved, you will be filled with energy, liveliness and a great mood.
  4. Replace cigarettes with "suction" candies. There is an opinion: lollipops or "chupa-chups" are useful in a difficult "fight". Get carried away with less sweets (chocolate or sucking), sweets will have a bad effect on your figure!
  5. Use "sucking" sweets as an aid to smoking cessation, along with other means. The chewing reflex will reduce cravings: chewing gum has helped someone, and one man has been helped by the habit of chewing matches.
  6. There is no need to worry too much if an overeating attack occurs. These are temporary phenomena, be patient a little, and then live productively, happily, healthily. You can continue smoking to die earlier than your peers.
  7. With a strong hunger, it is more useful to eat vegetables, fruits, exclude salty and spicy foods, eat more fiber, dairy products.
  8. Go ahead, change your diet. Then you do not have to use an artificial substitute, and the desire to smoke will weaken, and your precious life will take on new bright colors!

How smoking affects a person's weight

How does smoking affect a person's weight? Nicotine, which causes cigarette addiction, is a stimulant of the central nervous system. A powerful drug that speeds up metabolism, narrows blood vessels and speeds up the heart.

The consequences of smoking habits include weight gain. After smoking cessation, nicotine deficiency slows down metabolism.

This means that if you eat the same amount of food as before, you can get better. For each person, these processes take place individually.

Influence of cigarette smoking on metabolism

Nicotine directly boosts metabolism, increases calories that the body burns - at rest, with direct exposure.

Most people have a heart rate of up to 20 beats per minute immediately after smoking.

The body received a stimulating effect, which leads to heart disease, high blood pressure, heart attack.

With the cessation of smoking, the processes quickly return to normal activity. This problem occurs when smokers continue to eat a lot of food, as before, while smoking.

Metabolism returns to normal, can not cope with the number of calories - weight gain, which is why they complain about quitting smoking and gain weight.

The risk of gaining weight is nothing compared to losing a bad habit. On average, a person gains 3-4 kg after quitting smoking.

Some need more. Most return to normal weight after one year.

It is impossible to say how many pounds each smoker will eventually gain. It depends on gender, age, activity levels, diet and genetic predisposition.

Most people will lose extra pounds as the body adjusts to a nicotine-free life. Others will take effort. For some, weight gain is a permanent phenomenon.

Is it possible to gain weight and why do you gain weight?

When a person stops smoking, the taste buds change, the food seems to have become tastier. The desire to eat is more common.

Smoking, smoking a box of cigarettes a day, took 200 calories, which is equivalent to a sandwich or a glass of soda.

Many are better off because they are used to smoking cigarettes after meals. Now cigarettes have been replaced by increasing the amount of food.

You need to maintain your weight, not try to lose weight. There is a "withdrawal syndrome". Earlier, under stress, cigarettes were smoked, now the brain wants the cigarette to be replaced with something else - food.

The hunger for nicotine is similar to natural hunger, a person, not realizing it, eats everything that comes to his mind. Treats will be a substitute for cigarettes.

Anger, frustration, depression and stress are other symptoms of withdrawal. That's why people eat more than usual.

What are the symptoms of psychological addiction to smoking

The following symptoms occur during smoking cessation or long-term abstinence:

  1. Desire to smoke. The desire to smoke occurs with strong stress, family troubles, troubles at work. Cigarette is perceived as a synonym for the word "relaxation". When you quit smoking, the physical addiction disappears in the first month, but the desire to smoke at any blow of fate haunts you for a long time, on average up to 3 years, and sometimes for the rest of your life.
  2. Mood swings. The smoker is not able to control his feelings and emotions in the absence of nicotine. He can smile sincerely, and then cry the next minute. Symptoms are noticeable with prolonged abstinence or smoking cessation.
  3. Suicidal thoughts. Absence of cigarettes causes depression, until the appearance of suicidal thoughts. It is most pronounced in women because of their psychotype. Tears, neurasthenia, despair, turning into a desire to die - all these symptoms are characteristic of former smokers who are going through the phase of smoking cessation.
  4. Insomnia and sleep disorders. Insomnia occurs when the inner feeling of anxiety and nervous tension constantly appears. The absence of cigarettes does not allow you to completely relax, you feel safe, you are "at home", so nervous tension accumulates, and anxiety grows, which is especially visible at night when a person tries to relax. The dream does not go because of sad or disturbing thoughts, nightmares are dreamed at night, the smoker is constantly waking up.