Quitting smoking is not easy for many people. A smoking cessation calendar can help you break a habit that destroys your health.
The smoking cessation calendar lets you learn about all the upcoming changes in your body and prepare for them.
What is an abandonment calendar
The smoking cessation calendar by months and days is a powerful support on the road to getting rid of nicotine addiction. This allows you to understand how the body will react to nicotine withdrawal at different periods of time, and psychologically as well as physically prepare for potential difficulties.
Note!In addition to keeping track of changes in your body and psyche on a calendar, it is recommended that you keep a journal, as it helps to better understand the reasons for your smoking addiction.
Often the desire to smoke another cigarette is not associated with the body's physiological need for the next dose of nicotine, but with some psychological triggers. For example, a cup of coffee in the morning or a break from work is strongly associated with smoking. Noticing the urge to smoke in such moments, you need to move on to another, more rewarding routine. For example, you could make another note in your journal or call your boyfriend.
What to expect from the body
A smoker's daily calendar contains all the possible sensations and experiences that accompany the smoking cessation process. Most often, people who quit smoking experience the following symptoms:
- Nicotine crash. This is a very painful condition, especially annoying a person in the first days of quitting smoking.
- Psychological breakdown. The main reason why people continue to smoke is not physiological but psychological. Smoking a cigarette is perceived by a smoker as a certain ritual, with the help of which he reacts, responds to different situations in his life. By rejecting the usual ritualized actions, a lot of empty space appears, which the psyche often has nothing to fill. Hence, the feeling of anxiety and distress that often arises in a person who has recently quit smoking, when suddenly there is nothing to occupy their hands and mouth under normal circumstances.
- Worsening of chronic diseases, often hidden. It is the annual calendar of a heavy smoker who quits smoking suddenly, the one that makes it possible to understand that unpleasant physiological symptoms in the weeks and even the first months of quitting are signs of cleansing the body and restoring normal functioningof its systems and organs.
Additional information.The intensity and duration of withdrawal symptoms are different for everyone. However, in most cases, after a few weeks, the body regains the ability to independently produce nicotinic acid in the right amount, and the physiological desire for smoking disappears. Much more difficult is liberation from psychological addiction.
Emotions and thoughts
A person who has given up smoking can experience completely different emotions about it: from self-pity to pride in the will shown. To achieve this goal, we must get rid of the idea that smoking cessation is a constraint, a stern asceticism that requires great effort and stricter self-control.
Quitting smoking can be easy and fun. You just have to agree with your subconscious, to convince your "inner child" that living without cigarettes is much more interesting, more enjoyable and "cooler", that quitting smoking can bring real pleasure.
For example, smokers lose their sense of smell and taste. However, this process is reversible. You just have to stop smoking and the popular dishes will shine with new nuances. Why not a reason, she hedonistic, to quit smoking?
Helps to adapt to the right wave of review of global life goals. It is necessary to understand why all these changes in the usual way of life. For example, a rare woman does not dream of becoming a mother one day. When you realize that the pleasure of a cigarette is nothing compared to the health and well-being of the unborn child, it is much easier to give up a bad habit.
Preliminary preparation
Quitting smoking without serious preparation is not recommended. After all, it means exposing your body and psyche to a strong shock. It is better to give yourself a week, two, a month to mentally prepare for the upcoming events.
You need to analyze in writing all the "pros" and "cons" of smoking and quitting, and for yourself. If a loved one wants to quit smoking, you should not put a tick in front of the "health" item. Here we are already talking about the value of the relationship and the comfort of a partner. Only finding real and positive motives will facilitate the process of changing your lifestyle.
Next, you need to observe yourself and notice what situations and emotions make you want to quit a cigarette and smoke. Then you need to come up with compensatory activities. For example, many smoke to calm down. For the same purposes, you can use different breathing exercises, visualization techniques, drink herbal teas. Each of these activities can turn into your hobby, a new, "healthy" addiction.
Throwing away all lighters, ashtrays and other things reminiscent of an old custom is not at all necessary. Sometimes a pack of hidden cigarettes "for a rainy day" helps to more easily cope with the nicotine withdrawal process. The absence of any emotion when looking at previously preferred smoking devices is a sign of final relief from nicotine addiction.
Calendar for quitting smoking by months
By getting acquainted with detailed information about the next changes in the body for the next year, quitting smoking will not be surprised by any of his reactions and will not lose his confidence in the correctness of the decision taken.
The first month without smoking
This is the most difficult period, characterized by unstable physical and psycho-emotional state. Therefore, it is desirable that the first days and weeks without cigarettes coincide with weekends or holidays. With a decrease in the number of physical exercises, stressful situations and an increase in the number of new positive impressions, it is much easier to survive the withdrawal syndrome.
To minimize the unpleasant consequences of nicotine starvation, it is recommended to include in the diet more pectin-rich green vegetables and fruits (apples, oranges, apricots, plums). Buckwheat, legumes, nuts will help to supplement the lack of nicotinic acid. To reduce nervousness and improve sleep, you can use a decoction of mother's seed.
Restoring taste sensations leads to an increase in appetite, which can negatively affect body weight. Therefore, do not abuse high-calorie sweets and foods.
Second and third month
In the lungs the phase of active recovery begins. Periodically, dry mouth, coughing and saliva production may occur, especially with increasing physical activity. But this is a good sign - it means that the body has resources for cleansing.
The cardiovascular system also undergoes changes. At the end of the third month, the vascular tone returns to normal and the former smoker ceases to suffer from dizziness and migraines.
Important!The end of the three-month cessation period is a critical period when many return to smoking. Therefore, at this time it is necessary to stay away from temptations. Any attempt to smoke, "remember" the taste of a cigarette can turn a person into a smoker.
Fourth to sixth month
The work of the gastrointestinal tract is restored, the stool is normalized. The ability to fully absorb all the necessary nutrients is returned to the gut, which improves the condition of the skin. Peeling, itching, which can bother a person in the initial stage of quitting smoking, no longer bother him.
Many ex-smokers notice that in the fifth or sixth month it becomes easier to breathe, as if their lungs have expanded. This is a sign of restoration of the broncho-pulmonary system. From this moment it is recommended to start playing sports.
Cycling, swimming are the best options for physical activity for a still weakened body.
seventh to ninth month
Coughing and saliva production at this stage are practically no longer a concern. It is permissible to incorporate running and strength training into your training program.
At this time, many have forgotten the hardships of the first few weeks of quitting smoking, but the strength of the habit is still great. It is important not to allow the cigarette to be lit "on the machine" mechanically.
tenth to twelfth month
Physiological dependence on nicotine is completely overcome. However, the risk of returning to the old habit is still high, as many of them continue to feel psychological distress due to changing their usual daily routine, losing some elements of communication. Until a person learns to fill these psychological "gaps", the desire to smoke a cigarette, to keep himself busy with "business", may continue to torment him from time to time.
Tips for people who are quitting smoking
An ex-smoker should not be criticized for any relapse. It is better to consolidate each of his even more insignificant successes with positive emotions: praise, sincere admiration for the will shown, a gift. Also, another milestone overcome on the way to get rid of a bad habit can be celebrated by spending free time together completely according to the wishes of the one leaving. Only positive emotions, manifestations of love from the closest people will give smokers the necessary mental strength for change.
Does a diary help?
As practice shows, the diary turns out to be a very effective tool for many people in the fight against nicotine addiction. Here you can throw out all your negative emotions and celebrate successes at every stage of the cast. Studying other people's public journals and positive smoking cessation experiences is as inspiring as anything else.