How to stop smoking?

[jab]

Hey guys,

hope you enjoyed the last few days with your friends and family.

So the question:

Are there any studies or scientific based techniques/methods how to quit smoking (cigarettes)?

I do smoke for about 20yrs and i quit a couple of times already (even for ~2yrs). I remember two times where i bet with a few ppl for 50€ each that i will not smoke for 3 month or so. Doing that with six or so ppl gave me enough motivation to actually go through with it. Obviously i (every smoker) knows that it is bad for us and reduces our livetime. Obviously we should have enough intrinsic motivation to just quit but obviously we are addicted to it. I dont know how much of the addiction is physical or psychological, but i know it's quite hard to stop .

So is there anything you could tell us that might actually help us smokers to quit?

Thank you very much for your time and everything you do in the context of BBM, it is much appreciated

[Austin Baraki]

That's awesome that you want to quit! It can be a challenging process, and most people have to try a few times before they ultimately succeed, so it's important not to beat yourself up if you're unable to succeed the first few times!

I direct most folks here to get started:

https://smokefree.gov

[Rent]

Popping in as someone who smokes for close to 10 years and has been smoke free for 2 years now . The biggest step for me was coming to terms while I smoked about why I smoked . It was the straight addiction in my case I gained no joy from it I just had to have it as much as my lungs would let me . From there I just maintained the attitude that I wanted to quit and I try a new quitting aid every week if it stuck I would keep with it . Finally after trying e cigs ( worked for 3 months) nicotine gum ( 2 days ) the nicotine patches worked on my 2nd time using them . I was able to use those for 12 weeks then stay away from cig cold turkey . Once I found my meathod of quitting I looked for obstacles that would challenge me to smoke again and try to overcome them early . My triggers were alcohol , cannabis and stress related to work . I quit both alcohol and cannabis and i learned new technique to manage my stress at work during the day and positive habits after work to get rid of the stress ( working out and getting 8 hours sleeps )

hope me this helps! Realise that smoking does not reduce stress it excites it and that they do not provide any benefit to your life other then shortening it .

[jmarshall1]

I also smoked for nearly 20 years and finally quit. I tried everything from cold-turkey to acupuncture and finally was able to stop using Chantix. It took me several attempts to finally stop and its been almost 5 years. You can do it!

[Fausted Flakes]

I smoked for 17 years (half my life) and managed to quit after experiencing a spontaneous hemopneumothorax. Not exactly the best way to go about quitting the habit, but it worked. (I also did every wrong thing one could do when suffering that particular ailment, but that's a boring story for another time / place.)

I had quit before, but life stress (read: the ladies + college) made me crack. This time feels permanent.

I am now going on 2 years without smoking, and I'm even able to spend the night at my parents' house -- and endure their chainsmoking habits -- without being tempted whatsoever. It feels trite, but 90% of it mentality, when you have a strong enough motivation it's very doable. Without a strong commitment, any little excuse because licence to take up the habit again. I quite cold turkey; I know people who used cessation drugs, others who tapered down by vaping. I would suggest trying anything and everything (within reason, of course). Just know that you can do it. It's challenging but the rewards are so very much worth it.

Best of luck, and don't quit quitting!

[jab]

Thank you guys sooo much.

I do know that i will not use any aid to help me. I do know that i can quit without any aid. I even thought of keeping cigarettes around because everyone says to get rid of anything that reminds you of smoking and i wanna show myself that i am strong enough haha.

Reducing stress and just getting hyped up to quit, maybe doing more cardio (reminds me that im not well conditioned ) and telling a few friends that i will quit will probably be the way i will quit

[Austin Baraki]

Thank you guys sooo much.

I do know that i will not use any aid to help me. I do know that i can quit without any aid. I even thought of keeping cigarettes around because everyone says to get rid of anything that reminds you of smoking and i wanna show myself that i am strong enough haha.

Reducing stress and just getting hyped up to quit, maybe doing more cardio (reminds me that im not well conditioned ) and telling a few friends that i will quit will probably be the way i will quit

That's all great for your first attempt. However, I would not stigmatize or intentionally avoid using any aids out of concern that it makes you "weak". Actually quitting is the most important thing, and it doesn't really matter how you get there.

[Michelle1]

Hi,
i used multiple methods at the same time. I got an app that helped me record all my cravings and the intensity showing me that the cravings pass over time. The app kind of “sat with me” through the process.
University banned smoking on campus, and in australia smoking is banned in pubs where food is served. Sydney even has a no smoking 4m from doorways in the city.
Then I freaked out about 6weeks in when I was coughing a lot and I coughed up all this black stuff. After that passed I saw an ad at uni to join a research project on why people start smoking and why people quit smoking. So it was a group research thing where about 8 women who recently quit smoking talked about what helped and what didn’t help. About 3 months later they contacted me again and asked if I would be in an advertising campaign to help others quit. So I did. Then I had to never relapse as my face is everywhere saying I’m a quitter.

I havent smoked since the campaign.

I used a lot of social methods to quit smoking rather than patches but I was planning to use medical aids it the social aids didn’t work. I also was lucky that there was a lot of community support for me, but a lot of other people don’t have that.

https://www.acon.org.au/who-we-are-h...ierce-project/

[Lockup]

That's all great for your first attempt. However, I would not stigmatize or intentionally avoid using any aids out of concern that it makes you "weak". Actually quitting is the most important thing, and it doesn't really matter how you get there.

I will second what Austin said. I tried cold turkey, I tried the gum and finally quit using Chantix. Find what works for you. Quitting will be one of the hardest things you will ever do in your life and it is not a couple of weeks or months endeavor. It literally took years before I finally lost the urge to smoke. Chantix helped with the initial cravings that usually drive people nuts and the longer I was off them the easier it got to stay away but there were still setbacks. However you quit it will take a massive amount of strength to do it. No one will ever think you are weak because you used an aid to quit and as Austin said it far more important that you quit then how you quit.

[jab]

Thank you very much for replying. Lets see whether i open a thread "i just quit, i feel so misserable" within the next days/weeks (have to be one day off though, before i open it )

[element-zero]

I was able to stop smoking when I realized that cigarettes didn't make me feel good, but that my addiction was making me feel bad and smoking a cigarette was bringing me back to a normal state for a while. I reached that insight through Allen Carr's book, but couldn't (didn't want to) stop immediately after finishing it. A few months later I decided on a Sunday night to quit right there ans then and haven't had a smoke for a few years now. You can do it!