Learning To Stop Smoking Harder Than Picking Up Habit
While many persons addicted to nicotine understand the health risks as well as having to fight an unpopular view of their habit, they still find it extremely difficult to stop smoking. For decades, lighting up was an acceptable way of life and was even glamorized in movies and on television, making it more of a socially acceptable way of life than a life-threatening habit and with more states banning it, more people are looking for better ways to stop smoking that will be successful for them.
Ending a habit that many have had for several years can be difficult at best and nearly impossible. Especially for those that show no current signs of breathing problems, the need to stop smoking may be lost. Too often, the peer pressure that got them hooked on the habit in the first place may not be enough to end their addiction. No longer recognized as a bad habit that can be eliminated with a little show of will power, being able to stop smoking is being recognized as difficult due to the addiction to nicotine.
The main drug in tobacco has been shown to be more addictive than many people initially thought, explaining why it can be difficult to give it up. For the most part, many of the therapies used to help people stop smoking use nicotine replacement therapies, and instead of being addicted to cigarettes, the smoker remains addicted to nicotine, but only from a different source.
Many Find Smoking Not A Matter Of Choice
Unfortunately, not everyone can simply decide to stop smoking and then never touch another cigarette. Their addiction to nicotine can be exceptionally strong and the withdrawal from nicotine can be likened to giving up other, more addictive drugs, depending on the number of cigarettes a person is accustomed to smoking and for long they have had the habit.
Experts and those who have been successful in a stop smoking program agree that the first three days are the toughest of any stop smoking plan. It takes about that long before the body adjusts to not having a regular injection of nicotine, but even once the need for the drug has diminished, the habit can still be difficult to break.
For most smokers, behavior modification is one of the best ways to stop smoking as they adjust their lifestyle to include activities during which smoking is not possible. Activities such as swimming and interpersonal relationships do not lend themselves to being a partner with cigarettes and to enable them to stop smoking they join in activities in which smoking is unacceptable.
