The urges are usually sudden and intense. In many of my articles earlier, I have mentioned about the will power. The will power can be overwhelmed with these sudden urges. Remembering the reasons to quit and if they are really strong reasons for you, you can recognize them and the mind races towards control. The ICanCaRe Quit coach and ICanCaRe Certified Tobacco Cessation specialist by cognitive intervention enhance your will power to stay in the journey to be free of tobacco.
The intense urges lasts for 5 minutes, and these 5 minutes are very crucial, if you can train your mind to hold on and divert and focus on some other activities, you have done it.
This good 5 minutes you can do a lot:
stretching or pushups is a solid workout
sprints, cycling, jogging, jumping, skipping can unwind you
one good page of writing can be done
read the article you have been waiting for
meditation can reset your mind
cooking can set your taste buds right
gardening
music play, sketching, surfing internet, playing with kids, etc
any activity, interest or hobby of your like that gives you happiness and can divert your focus away from tobacco/smoke
Yes, you can think to do a lot, just a little focused action, can control your cravings! The mind is the biggest block, if we can train it we can achieve what we want. Controlling the triggers is also important, shall discuss this in subsequent blog.
ICanCaRe Tobacco Wellness Centres with their team of Specialist and coaches with insightful support augment your journey of quitting tobacco making it easy and pleasurable. Visit us on ICanCaRe or call 011-430-77695 to seek assistance to quit with the most scientific, medically validated and most successful online tobacco wellness program (92% success rate).
Deep Breathing Exercise for Stress Relief and Cravings Management
This is the one most important armamentarium to control the cravings along with the first D (Drink Plenty of Water). Whatever form of tobacco you have used – smoke or chew tobacco, Deep Breathing controls cravings and relaxes you.
Stress, tension associated with work or while quitting smoking, light-headedness, loss of concentration, fatigue, weakness- these are some of the withdrawals taken care by deep breathing exercise. DBE makes you relaxed, calms, peaceful, quiet and lively.
Deep Breathing Exercise- How Does it work – Oxygenation, Relaxation and toxin release
Deep breathing opens up the lungs the collapsed alveoli get activated. This increases oxygenation as more alveoli are recruited for gas exchange.
Fast breathing, takes away oxygen from the brain causing anxiety and light-headedness. With controlled breathing, ‘feel good’ chemicals endorphin is secreted from the brain.
Breathing helps clear away the gaseous toxins and also stimulates cough to release accumulated deposits in the lungs (Related reading – Smokers cough what to do)
Some techniques of Deep Breathing Exercise
Breathing is natural. Average breathing rate 10-16 per minute. It is simple and routine.
Smokers usually have the tendency to breath more deeply when they have smoke to get the maximum of the nicotine, this Deep inhalation partly explains the sense of relaxation associated with smoking!
However, when they first quit there is a tendency to shallow breath, just the opposite of what one should be doing to stay focused and calm. Once you deep breath you would be amazed at the quick and profound calming effect it produces on your mind. Initially you would have to do it consciously and once you have mastered it would come naturally.
Ayurveda – meditation and pranayam have described many methods and having attended many such camps I have learnt the basics of deep breathing. One must make it simple, part of their daily routine without assigning it to any particular Yogi! The basic needs to be understood and once mastered can adopt various versions.
BASICS of DEEP BREATHING Exercise –
Deep breath in (5 Seconds) – hold (5 Seconds) – Deep breath out (fully – 5 Seconds) – hold (5 Seconds) and continue the cycle
During the process keep your eyes closed, and fully concentrate on your breath. Have a smile on your face.
Deep breath in till your abdomen rises (abdominal/diaphragmatic breathing), this may take some practice.
The exhale time should be double the inhale time. Exhale should be complete.
While you inhalation feel the energy flowing into your body and spreading from the mind to every part till the little toe.
When you exhale relax your body. With each breath become stronger and relaxed
The cycle is to be repeated at least 10 times
As you go on and master the technique you would feel the change in your body, and it is important that you notice these changes – The drop of the shoulders, loosening of your face, and any other feelings you may have.
VERSIONS –
OHM Chanting – Take a deep breath in and while exhaling chant OHM.
Instead of OHM some of my patients just say ‘SHANTI’, ‘RELAX’, ‘I CAN WIN’ or any other words that makes them calm.
Role your tongue to touch the hard palate, breath in through your nose and breath out slowly through your mouth.
Breath in through your nose, pinch your lip and slowly in a controlled manner blow out through your mouth.
WHEN to do
First thing in the morning – before getting out of the bed. This relaxes you and takes care of the morning craving.
Before going to bed– while going to bed as a ritual do it, the relaxation gives you a sound sleep, takes care of the much-needed oxygenation during the night and you get up fresh in the morning.
During cravings – DBE has a magical effect. Consciously do 10 cycles of Deep Breathing following 2 glasses of Water (7 Ds of Cravings).
Most of tobacco users smoke or chew tobacco for relaxation, the fact is that smoking or chewing only fixes the nicotine level in the body, and in actuality it is a depressant and stress producer not a stress buster. The relaxation felt by a smoker can be attributed to some extent to the deep breathing associated with smoking. Tobacco is actually creating a negative vibe in the body.
Friends, deep breathing is a wonderful tool to control cravings. One can do it anytime, standing, sitting or lying down, and no one would even notice you doing this.
Let us practice this and master it, initially it may take some efforts once you get a hang of it, you would do it as routine, with every reminders (triggers) and off-course there is rewards. (related reading – 3Rs of habit formation)
The ICanCaRe tobacco Cessation Specialists and ICanCaRe quit Coach works with you to make the quit journey easy, interesting and achievable.
Do visit the ICanCaRe Tobacco Wellness Centres or register online by visiting our page or call ICanCaRe quitline 011-430-77695.
Ready to Quit tobacco? Tobacco Cessation is a bumpy ride for the users who want to quit tobacco. One needs to be well equipped and prepare themselves for the withdrawal symptoms, which is manageable if you do it with full consciousness as it makes the journey easy and interesting.
Withdrawal symptoms can be present in various ways – it can vary from mild to intense. It may be in the form of physical discomfort, that may look like an illness or it can be just feeling of depression, sadness and continuous thoughts and urges of tobacco. Tobacco has been your companion and has taken over your life for many years and now you need to break apart from this habit. Managing the discomforts that comes early on can make you win over tobacco for a life time. It is better to manage with a tailored plan to keep yourself on track.
The 7Ds of Tobacco Cessation
Most of the urges can be controlled by this ICanCaRe Seven Ds which I am going to describe. You can find more details on other blogs.
Understand these seven Ds and memorize them and respond to your cravings or urges in a healthy way. Believe me these Seven Ds are the mantras of tobacco Cessation.
The Seven Ds are
Drink Water
Deep Breathing Exercise
Delay
Distract
Diet
Discuss
Drug
1.Drink Water
Proper hydration is most important during tobacco cessation. Dryness of the mouth is a fairly common for all as part of withdrawal symptoms. During cravings just take 2 glasses of water/juice etc, surprisingly enough the cravings disappear. You feel at ease both physically and mentally. It also helps flush toxins from your body.
2.Deep Breathing Exercise
This quickly takes care of the stress, irritability and sleeplessness that comes with tobacco cessation both smoking and chewing. Follow the instruction given below:
Close your eyes, keep your back straight, palms to the front and deep breath.
Long inhale slowly fill your lungs with air, hold for 2 seconds.
Exhale slowly and completely, hold for 2 seconds.
Repeat this for 10 times. Be mindful of your breath. You will feel the calmness and relaxation.
Managing stress is the most critical thing to do during the quit journey. Mostly people use tobacco to relieve stress and sometimes quitting itself creates stress of its own. Stress causes strong urges to smoke or chew tobacco. DBE helps to destress on the spot and is a simple doable way to attain that.
3.Delay
Delay till the urges pass away. Cravings are difficult, but they usually pass fairly quickly.
Most urges last only for 3-5 minutes!
When you first quit, it may seem the craving is unending lasting for the full day, but the truth is that the urges are really short in duration. They are more during the initial few days of stopping tobacco, but with practice to learn to deal with them rather than tobacco, they will fade away.
4.Distract
Distract yourself! Think of anything but tobacco. You can do many things during these 5 minutes. But remember to avoid triggers do something different than what you did before. You can do yoga, exercise, cook, solve a puzzle etc. Distraction breaks the continuous thought process which would pull you back into tobacco. Controlling the mind and action to keep the thoughts at bay is important move ahead.
5.Discuss
Discuss with your buddy or with your quit coach. This will relieve you. Self-appreciate your resolve to quit, discuss and surely you can tide over the urges.
6.DIET
Indian tobacco use consists of chewing or smoking. There is tendency to have something in the mouth or in between the lips and fingers. Further there may be increase in appetite when one quits tobacco. Be careful to choose healthy alternatives – salad, peanuts, sprouts and so many. But please avoid fat and carbs, which would lead to increase in weight. As an alternate to chewing, I usually suggest roasted chia seeds.
7.Drug
In India tobacco use is associated with many of our routine. One of the most common is bowel movements. Some use tobacco for dental pain, some smoke to suppress cough. These have to be addressed and taken care either by some home remedies, maintaining hydration or it may require certain medications. Addressing these issues with understanding and scientific approach with reasoning will help control a majority of craving and withdrawal symptoms.
A good quit plan addresses both the short-term challenge of stopping use of tobacco and the long-term challenge of preventing relapse.
Planning for what you expect while quitting and re-planning as you move ahead in your journey will make you achieve your goals. The ICanCaRe Tobacco Wellness specialists and Quit Coach hand hold you during your journey, intervene and guide as required. The program is available online and you can connect with us through our app (https://app.icancare.in) or contact 011-430-77695 or visit https://www.icancare.in/quittobacco.
The above seven Ds are the mantras for smoking cessation. They help in most cases but need to be complemented by specific medicine, nicotine receptor agonist meant to control the withdrawal and reward phenomenon of tobacco. The bottom-line is that it is possible to quit and specialized help is available – earlier you quit better for you.
