How Can I Quit Smoking?

This question is one of the most frequently asked questions by urban smokers on Google and forums like Quora. Google answers back with lot of rich experiences from ex-smokers; products that can help quit or websites that help you plan your quit journey. In this blog I’m going to narrate a practical experience from a friend who quit successfully by self. This is my gift to all the tobacco users on this World’s No Tobacco Day to start practicing the tips below with immediate effect.

Last week I met an old friend of mine, named Raj (name changed), a chain smoker for 11 years, and I was astounded to see him not smoking! I could see the transformation in him when he decided to quit and adapt a healthy living for himself. He had experienced a stroke, anxiety and breathlessness because of smoking. He had grown obese and lazy and was failing badly at his work and family life.

It was good for him to realize in time and take steps towards becoming healthy. I’m writing his story because he practiced the 4D strategy (Delay, Drink Water, Distract and Deep Breathe) of quitting and stopped smoking within a year without even realizing that he was practicing the 4D technique! He did not undergo any intervention or seek physician’s help. It was his strong willpower and self-determination to become healthy which led to his transformation. This blog describes his effort in detail and I hope you can find some tips to quitting by self.

4D Strategy - Drink Water, Delay, Deep Breathe and Distract

Change Brand and Flavour

Switch to new brand and flavour every time you buy a cigarette. Raj used to buy a different flavour of different brand every time he went for a smoke. He said that his sense of taste and smell for his favourite was fading over a period of time and his cravings to smoke were reducing. This happened in about 3-4 months of his quitting smoking. His urge reduced by 80%.

Take a Small Puff

Raj used to throw his cigarette after taking a couple of puffs. Similar process was practiced by late CM Shri Biju Pattnaik of Odisha. He used to smoke a puff and cut off the cigarette from the butt. This satiates the cravings and helps to manage the withdrawal symptoms. This way the “need to smoke” is satisfied and the body is not harmed too much. Slowly the urges become manageable and are easy to control. Let me also mention that after the puff was thrown away, Raj used to take a walk to DISTRACT himself from the thought of smoking the full cigarette.

Delaying the Urge and Drinking Water

Raj used to smoke as soon as he used to wake up. So, he changed his habit to having 4 glasses of water every morning after waking up. He then used to walk down to a distant kirana store for a cigarette. He used to climb down the stairs from the 3rd floor of his apartment and walked on foot to buy a different brand for smoking.

For the first few days, it was very tough for him to drink water. He wanted to smoke first. He also bought cigarette from the nearest kirana store. However, over a few months, he started having 2-3 glasses of water daily with practice and was finding it tedious and difficult to go to a kirana store to buy cigarette every time. This made him procrastinate buying cigarette every morning and a major factor that changed his habit of smoking in the morning forever.

This is a wonderful way of delaying the urge and getting into the habit of procrastinating smoking by making it very tiresome and tedious.

Buy Less

Buying 1-2 sticks instead of a pack will have a very strong impact and help you quit faster. When you have limited sticks you tend to smoke either when desperately required or you make the process of smoking tedious, tiresome and time consuming– first buying cigarette every time when you want to smoke and then smoking! With the latter, you delay the urge to smoke and that’s how the tendency to smoke lessens. If you have a pack, you tend to smoke whenever you please and it will not help in quitting.

So the crux is that you keep changing brands and flavours till you lose the sense of smell and taste for smoking your favourite brand; buy only 1-2 sticks; delay urge by buying cigarette every time; you cut off the butt after 2 puffs; drink water and deep breathe to relax. Distract yourself from thoughts like completing the full cigarette by either walking or making your environment tough so that you start procrastinating buying a cigarette to smoke.

Raj started exercising and running regularly. This way he turned himself into a fit, handsome and active man. It has been 5-years now that Raj is a successful ex-smoker. He has not experienced any relapse and I’m sure he will not give into smoking anymore.

All these will practically help you to quit over a period of 6-10 months. However, to be successful in quitting, you must ensure that you need to have self-confidence and determination to quit!

Raj not only quit smoking but also helped his various friends to quit smoking by the same method. I hope help you too. If you fail to quit by yourself, do not take medications by self. Ensure that you consult a doctor before you use any kind of Nicotine Replacement Therapy.

Post your experiences and stories of quitting in the comment box below. I would love to learn more from your experiences.

Relapse is just not Will Power, but Environment As well

LEWINS EQUATION TO MAKE YOU A TOBACCO WINNER!

Kurt Lewin in 1936 gave a very simple formula an equation which said behaviour is a function of the person in the environment. What it means is – the habit or behaviour of a person is just not dependent on a person’s character but it also depends on the environment one is exposed to.

This is very much true with tobacco also whether it is smoking or chewing.

Both your personality and environment determines the good habits you would build, bad habits you would break and the way you would progress in life.

A person who is into the action phase of quit cycle, relapses not just because he is born with low will power but mostly because of the environment.

Tobacco addiction has three important components – PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL.

Determining the level of Physical addiction and controlling it with medication when necessary is the first step. But a major component is also the Psychological and Social environment. Psychological or mental strength is a must but at the same time you need to be surrounded with a healthy environment and motivational materials to keep you strong and constantly remind you and strengthen your will power.

Your social environment is one major determinant of your long journey of tobacco cessation – your friend circle, the party time, office colleagues, the pan shop etc. may trigger you to try once again. One slip will take you back to the bottom of the stairs you have climbed so far in your quit cycle. Keep track of your triggers, it is important. I will talk about triggers in subsequent blogs.

Anyone who is into a wrong habit we should help before the early signs of tobacco harm sets in. The advance harms are really dangerous.

The book WIN OVER TOBACCO MADE EASY would be of help.

A word of caution – the teachers, school counsellors, parents should be aware how to deal with such situation. I will talk about it in my subsequent blogs.

Your Environment Influences Your Tobacco Habit

Kurt Lewin in 1936 gave a very simple formula an equation which said behaviour is a function of the person in the environment. What it means is the habit or behaviour of a person is just not dependent on a person’s character but it also depends on the environment one is exposed to.

This is very much true with tobacco also whether it is smoking or chewing.

Let us see an example – the beginning of tobacco depends very much on the person but also the environment he or she is exposed to at home or at the school or college. If someone at home takes tobacco whether chewing or smoking (a very common at home in north India is hukkah), one is likely to start tobacco.

During my medical study, the hostel was divided into multiple wings. I would talk about two wings the one in which I stayed. Another wing left to our wing. In the other wing stayed a boy, Sidhu (name changed) who was addicted to tobacco from school itself. Sidhu was a very social person and from a well to do family. He would often organise parties and go for movies and each time he would take someone along with him. By the end of 3 months, almost 50% of his friends were chewing tobacco. By the end of our MBBS almost everyone in the wing where into smoking and chewing tobacco.

But in the hostel wing I stayed, our seniors never promoted and were strict about tobacco consumption. No one in this wing ever took to this habit thankfully.

All of us have come through the entrance examination, studied hard have become doctors and into various speciality, but due to the environment, took to various habits. We cannot say that all of them had a weak will power. Environment affected them too!

It is for us as parents, seniors, teachers to guide our next generation in the right direction, we should be aware of the environment – the friend circle. I specifically tell children not to be associated with anyone who takes tobacco. However strong the child would be, their will power would get overwhelmed at some point in time only because of the environment with which they are associated with. Young minds are very easy to entice and lured to what is not good for them.

The other thing that I want to convey is that if anyone of your friends or colleagues is into tobacco, let us be good influencers on them. Help them get rid of the disease. We should not fall prey to this habit but let them adopt our good habit. If we hide or lie we cannot help them. They are into a wrong habit and we should help before the early signs of tobacco harm sets in. The advance harms are really dangerous and fatal.

The book WIN OVER TOBACCO MADE EASY would be of help. Visit the tobacco wellness centres.

A word of caution – the teachers, school counsellors, parents should be aware how to deal with such situation. I will talk about it in my subsequent blogs.