How to Quit Smoking: 8 Powerful Smoking Cessation Strategies to Overcome Cravings and Improve Lung Health

What is Smoking Cessation?

Smoking cessation usually called quitting or stopping smoking, is the process of discontinuing tobacco smoking. Once you quit smoking, this significantly reduces the risk of lung cancer as well as other smoking-related diseases. As a result of the nicotine contained in tobacco smoke, it can cause dependence and addiction. Because of this, quitting nicotine is often difficult. There are various smoking cessation programs and strategies that help in smoking cessation. Some of these approaches include abruptly quitting without assistance, cutting down then quitting, behavioral counseling, and medications such as bupropion, cytisine, nicotine replacement therapy, or varenicline.

Smoking Cessation Program and Strategies

The smoking cessation program includes the initiated steps by the government of India, medical council, healthcare industry, and other relevant stakeholders to help an individual in quitting smoking. It involves providing all kinds of help and support to the person who wants to quit smoking. It may also include individual or group counseling sessions to help you in quitting smoking. 

Various smoking cessation methods are effective when you are considering smoking cessation. Some of the important methods are:

1. Do it all by yourself:  Almost 90 % of people try to stop smoking like this only without the support of any medications or therapy. Although, it is the most common method but not the most effective one. Only 5 - 7 % of people can quit smoking. You need very strong willpower to do so. 

2. Behavioral therapy: This focuses on working with a counselor to identify alternatives to smoking. You'll work together to identify your triggers (such as emotions or circumstances that make you want to smoke) and devise a plan to overcome the cravings. You can use it as your primary approach or as a supplement. Brief sessions, even as short as three minutes, have been demonstrated to be beneficial. 

3. Nicotine replacement therapy: These solutions gradually break your addiction with regulated nicotine levels that become lower and lower as you use them, so you get acclimated to little or no nicotine before stopping completely. They allow you to control your urges while also providing some respite from withdrawal symptoms. If you utilize one of these products, you may have a 70% better chance of stopping. There are several nicotine alternatives which include:

• Nicotine gums: Nicotine gum can be chewed. The quantity is determined by how much you smoke. Stop when you feel a tingling in your mouth and place it on your cheek. When the sensation subsides, resume chewing. Repeat this process until the sensation is gone, which normally takes around 30 minutes. You'll chew one piece every 1 or 2 hours for the first 6 weeks. The treatment should last around 12 weeks. 

• Nicotine Lozenges: These are capsules available at your nearest pharmacy. It usually takes 12 weeks for complete treatment. You are asked to take a capsule based on the frequency of smoking after meals. 

• Nicotine spray: Nicotine is delivered by the nose or mouth through sprays. Some are available without a prescription, while others require a visit to your doctor. You should use it for 12 weeks like any other nicotine product. Inhalers allow you to inhale nicotine. You can only acquire one with a prescription and use it for roughly 12 weeks.

• Nicotine patch: Patches are placed directly on your skin to deliver a little quantity of nicotine timely into your body.

4. Prescription medications: These medications are only available with a doctor's prescription. To allow it time to build up in your system, you'd need to start either medicine before your stop date. Varenicline and bupropion are two of the most often utilized smoking cessation medications. Varenicline reduces your enjoyment of smoking by working with the part of your brain that reacts to nicotine. Bupropion is a kind of antidepressant that reduces the desire to smoke.

5. Hypnosis: A qualified hypnotherapist will induce a trance-like condition in you. They will next provide ideas to assist you to overcome your desire to smoke. Doctors are still unsure how successful or whether this procedure works at all. Some studies claim that it is more effective than utilizing nicotine products, while others claim that there is no advantage.

6. Acupuncture: If you've had negative side effects from previous methods of quitting, this may help. A professional practitioner stimulates pressure spots on your body with tiny metal needles. Spots on your ears, in particular, appear to increase brain chemicals that assist reduce your desire to smoke. 

7. Laser therapy: Laser stimulation imitate the relaxing effects of nicotine on the body, which helps to lessen the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms that many people experience while quitting smoking.  

8. Mix & match: Often a single therapy might not be enough or suitable for a patient. At times a combination of different methods can be used to aid in smoking cessation.

Conclusion

Giving up smoking is among the most beneficial things you can do for your well-being. When you quit, your lungs have a chance to mend and you will be able to breathe more easily. There are several more advantages, and they begin very immediately. There is no good time or best time to stop smoking. The right time is now. 

Reference

• https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/quit-smoking/

• https://www.cancer.org/healthy/stay-away-from-tobacco/guide-quitting-smoking.html

• Nicotine & Tobacco Research. Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. 13 (6): 426–430. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntr019. LCCN 00244999. PMC 3103717. PMID 21367813. S2CID 29891495.

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482442/

• https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/tobacco-health-benefits-of-smoking-cessation