Tips to Help Quit Smoking

Author: ONTARIO LUNG ASSOCIATION
Published: 2010/01/16 - Updated: 2011/05/26
Category Topic: Addiction and Substance Abuse - Academic Publications

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main

Synopsis: Success strategies and tips for you and others wanting to quit smoking for good.

Introduction

Main Content

You watch your cholesterol intake, hit the gym fairly regularly and try to get enough sleep each night. You look after yourself by maintaining healthy habits - well, except smoking. Ridding yourself of tobacco for good is your next healthy step and Number One on your 2010 Bucket List. Same as last year, right? Except this year you will make quit happen. The Ontario Lung Association applauds your goal and offers 4-D success strategies for you and others wanting to quit smoking for good.

"The tobacco industry has created a product with a powerful addiction that once in its grip, makes it extremely difficult for smokers to quit," says Joanne DiNardo, Tobacco Control Specialist with Ontario Lung Association. "But The Lung Association encourages everyone to stick with it because the health benefits far outweigh the challenges, many of which are realized as early as the same day."

The four "Ds" to help you quit smoking:

1. Drink Water

Drinking water - especially with crushed ice helps flush out the nicotine and other chemicals from your system faster. Water also satisfies the oral craving for a while. Try using a straw with the same diameter as a cigarette.

2. Deep Breathing

This is good for you, as most people do not use their full lung capacity. Take 10 deep breaths and hold the last one while lighting a match. Exhale slowly and blow out the match. Take a Deep Breath Break instead of a Smoke Break.

3. Delay

Each day, delay lighting your first cigarette by one hour. After the first cigarette, when you have your next craving to smoke, delay for another 15 minutes or half hour. Remember, as a smoker you were not in control of your behavior. You smoked when your body needed nicotine. Now, by controlled delay, you are calling the shots.

4. Do Something Different

Don't smoke when you first experience a craving. Wait several minutes and during this time, change your activity or talk to someone. Get out of the situation that makes you feel like you want to smoke. Instead, try walking after dinner, skipping afternoon coffee or hanging out with non-smoking friends at a party. Change your activities and you will see quit happen.

Ontario Lung Association's certified respiratory educators are able to counsel anyone interested in learning successful quitting strategies. Call 1-888-344-LUNG (5864) and ask for one of our smoking cessation resources, including the acclaimed Making Quit Happen. Learn more by visiting www.on.lung.ca.

About Ontario Lung Association

The Lung Association is one of Canada's oldest voluntary, not-for-profit health promotion organizations. For more than 30 years, The Lung Association has been a leader in tobacco control. The Lung Association is concerned with the prevention and control of asthma, chronic lung disease caused by smoking and with air quality and its effect on lung health. The Ontario Lung Association was incorporated in 1945, and has community offices across the province.