The negative health effects of smoking are widely known, but that doesn’t mean that everyone finds it easy to just quit outright. Part of this is due to the addictive nature of the nicotine in cigarettes, but it’s also easy for them to become habitual in a way that makes removing them from your routine tricky.
Reading up on some techniques that can target these difficulties can alleviate this. While this advice can often come from people you know who have gone through the same thing, lacking that support network can make it difficult to know where to turn, generally making available advice your next port of call.
Swapping Cigarettes for Vaping
One route that many people take is to substitute cigarettes for vaping. This, as you might be aware, isn’t necessarily a route that’s going to result in no health consequences at all – this is a whole ongoing discussion around vaping – but it is thought to be dramatically less harmful to your health than smoking, with the available research generally supporting this. What might also help is to make sure you choose healthier vaping candidates – staying away from disposable vapes that might be worse for you and the environment and instead seeking out a rechargeable option through outlets like Smoko that can last you for as long as you need. These reusable options allow you greater control over what you’re actually vaping, which is always beneficial in a health context.
An Exercise Routine
This could be a prime opportunity to make a push in an entirely healthier direction. In order to combat some of the restlessness that might come with coming off of cigarettes, you could funnel your energy into exercise, going for runs and drinking more water. As mentioned previously, some of what you might struggle with when it comes to quitting could be the change in habit – the loss of the ability to pop outside for a quick smoke break. Well, make that an opportunity for a short run. If that’s too much effort, then lifting some weights at home or engaging in a ten-minute high-intensity workout might begin to function as an effective substitute. It likely won’t be as enjoyable, but it will have a healthier impact on your body.
Mindfulness Methods
It’s easy to look at mindfulness as a less effective form of treatment when you’re talking about this or even when you’re trying to target mental health concerns that you might have. You might also find it difficult to settle into mindfulness practice if you are feeling more restless, but if you can get into it, it might show you a whole new way of dealing with the thoughts and urges that pop up in relation to smoking.
If this isn’t something you’ve ever tried before, it’s easy to think of mindfulness and meditation as activities that require a particular mindset, but that might not be true. Finding a space to be quiet, still and aware of your breath is enough to get started – though you can look into meditation guides if you want some guidance. Having a myriad of methods can help you to develop a multi-pronged approach that stops you from relying too much on any one method, and it can make each effort showcase its own strengths – both in relation to helping you quit smoking and as an individual activity.