Cutting Down Smoking to Quit

Addiction to smoking is, initially, a psychological one. None of us are born smokers. It is a habit that is alien to us, which is only acquired under varying situations. Every addict will give you reasons for lighting a smoke along with tales of failed attempts of quitting the habit. The reason why they fail, is because, over a period of time, they have come to believe it to be support for their existence. Little do they do to confront the reason why they feel the urge to pick up a smoke. However, if you are keen on breaking the habit, then cutting down smoking to quit is the right way of doing it. It is indeed a difficult thing to do, but it most definitely isn't an impossible one and can be accomplished through will power and a few diligent steps.

Note Your Schedule
Every smoker, whether a novice or a seasoned one, has a schedule for smoking. Some begin their day with a smoke, while some smoke at the fag end of the day. A few light up a smoke after lunch and some find it absolutely necessary to smoke after dinner. Thus, knowingly or unknowingly, if you have been following a schedule of smoking, make a note of it, as it will help you to deal with the urges to smoke.

Treating an Urge
Following your habits, you will be tempted to smoke at your regular intervals. The urge will strike when the iron is hot, which means, you will find extremely difficult to not smoke when you are really tempted to. However, as you are trying to cut down cigarettes, in the first week you can treat one urge a day. So, if you are used to smoking in the morning, smoke only in the morning. Entirely quitting on smoking overnight, will catch up with you in two days. Only few can do it and let's leave it to them.

Alternative to Smoking
Several smokers have reasons such as hunger, boredom, tiredness, irritation, frustration, professional pressure and peer pressure to smoke. So, in the next week, when you reached the point of smoking only one cigarette, fight that too. Alternative to smoking, such as eating when hungry, talking to someone when angry, diverting your mind from the thought of smoking by walking, jogging, not meeting your friends for a while, will encourage you to quit smoking. Every urge will scream something different than smoking. Satisfy that urge, it is most definitely a much healthier one.

Behavioral Changes
It's true that quitting smoking has a lot to do with will power, but it can also be helped with certain behavioral changes. For instance, drinking a lot of water, deep breathing exercises, keeping your hands occupied, being a part of physical activities such as sports during the time you feel the urge, are some more ways in which you can quit smoking and avoid the dangers of smoking.

The aforementioned tips will surely help you to bring down your cigarettes, but the trick to stop them completely is as follows. Play a penalty for a cigarette game with a friend of yours who is also trying to quit. Every time you feel like smoking and give in to temptation you will have to give your friend $20 and vice versa. Keep the penalty amount high, as guilty of losing it always weighs higher than giving into temptation. So, if you smoke five cigarettes a day, you've got to pay $100. I am sure, you'd pick the non-smoking this way!

Quitting cigarettes does not happen overnight. It is a deliberate process and a conscious effort. You may feel cold turkey in the initial weeks. But if you can survive your resolve for 21 days, the urges will reduce, which makes going back seem worthless.