Quitting smoking: Six ways to Resist Tobacco Cravings

Quitting smoking can be an exceedingly difficult undertaking. Many people will attempt to quit each year only to wind up smoking again. Here are some tips for resisting tobacco cravings while you’re trying to quit:

  • Nicotine replacement therapy: There are over the counter nicotine patches available to help with your tobacco cravings. They also come in gums and lozenges. Prescriptions also exist, such as Chantix and Zyban, that can greatly aid in curbing tobacco cravings.
  • Avoiding triggers: Many people like to smoke at specific times of the day and/or specific places, such as a lunch break at work or at parties. Trying to avoid situations where you smoked most frequently is important in avoiding relapse. While not always practical (after all, everyone has to take a lunch at some point during the day), knowing and avoiding your triggers is essential to reducing your cravings and avoiding a relapse.
  • Delay: Perhaps the best tool in your arsenal, if you feel a tobacco craving coming on, tell yourself you’re going to abstain from smoking for another ten minutes, then try to find something to distract yourself from the craving. This often helps with getting the craving to go away. Exercise can greatly aid in delaying your cravings.
  • Chew on something: Celery, carrots, or hard candy will give you something to do with both your hands and your mouth and can help alleviate your craving. Preferably something that crunches and is satisfying to bite into.
  • Don’t have “just one”: Telling yourself you’re going to have just one in order to alleviate your craving is ineffective. The tendency is to have “just one,” then decide to have another, and another, since you’ve already had the first one. Try one of the other methods before succumbing to having “just one.”
  • Physical activity: Even something as simple as going out for a walk around the block can help stave off cravings. Exercise is both a great distraction from cravings, and gives you both a natural high from increased brain activity and a sense of accomplishment from having exercised. It also helps delay the cravings, as mentioned above.