End of the year resolutions: back on the "quit smoking" list

We all start the new year with great enthusiasm to achieve certain challenges and many of these we drag year after year in the "to do" list, such as "Quit smoking".

It is a great goal to which we normally venture unprepared and we are often surprised by difficulties that make us decline in the attempt once again. This year do something different, plan and prepare well, know what you have to do.

• Related article: "The effects of tobacco on the brain"

Addressing the Challenge of Quitting

There is no single advice to quit smoking that is valid for everyone, but if there is planning steps and help that you can adapt to you, you just have to know them. We are going in 3 steps to plan, create, and put into practice your own method of quitting smoking.

Step 1: Motivation

Motivation is the starting motor and is generated by those reasons that each of us find to do something, our reasons.

Quitting smoking is a great effort that starts from a very personal decision, even if everyone encourages you or even pressures you, you

you have to be very clear about your reasons for quitting smoking. Make a list, and of course you can rely on many reasons that are popularly offered, get to know them better, dismantle myths, and take advantage of those that can be your motivators. Those that are most frequently taken into account, and their peculiarities are:

Health

The incidence of tobacco in cancer in general and more specifically in lung cancer is more than known and studied, but it is common to hear people say that "everything causes cancer". This is a false consolation, a mistake, because the truth is that if lung cancer were not smoked it would become very rare, little common, such as nose cancer, but the reality is that tobacco is currently responsible for 80% of nose cancers. lung.

But in addition to this serious problem, many other complications must be taken into account such as COPD, bronchitis... Y the damages produced in other organs, since tobacco affects all negatively, heart, liver, skin, etc.

With the list of health complications we could expand to write several articles and in occasions rather than motivating generates anxiety, which is often confused with the desire to smoke, what paradox! So if health is a great motivation for you, research and learn more, and if it is not, no completely ignore the importance in health because when you leave it, you will surely feel relieved.

Perhaps a health-focused formula that can be more positive is think about what is being gained as abstinence is maintained. Positive health effects can begin to be measured within 24 hours of quitting, blood monoxide levels drop to almost normal levels, and if you maintain yourself, the benefits increase: 3 days later the nicotine has been eliminated from the body, at 12 weeks the lungs regain their functionality a lot, at 9 months respiratory complications and cough disappear, after a year the risk is reduced by half heart disease, at 5 years many cancers significantly reduce their risk (mouth, larynx, etc.) and at 10 years lung cancer equals the risk of a non-smoker.

The money

The expense of money is considerable, we cannot ignore it and it can be a motivation. If, for example, we have an average consumption of a package per day for an average price of 4 euros, we have a total of € 1,460 per year, have you really thought about how many things you can buy?

Throughout this time without smoking, giving yourself some of those little whims that you usually save can be a good reinforcer, it will always be a much better investment than burning it.

Freedom

The lack of freedom when one has an addiction is very obvious. You feel it when you cannot leave the tobacco at home, when you go down at night to get tobacco because you have run out, when you enter a place or situation that limits consumption and automatically your head calculates time, possibilities of going out, leaving everything no matter how cold it is outside and going out.

On the contrary, the feeling of freedom when dependency is overcome is great, Feelings of pride are, too, and appreciating this freedom will often hold you firmly in your purpose.

• You may be interested in: "The 14 most important types of addictions"

Step 2: Time and date

We are going to choose a time and set a date. The truth is there is no ideal time to quit smoking, although there may be less ideal ones. If you are in a particularly unusual stage of your life in terms of stress or problems, it is better to postpone this decision until go back to your routine, but do not seek not to have work stress, or any problem as an ideal time because this is not a vision realistic.

The sooner you see yourself overcoming negative situations in which tobacco no longer mediates, the sooner you will gain confidence and you will recognize yourself as another person, one free from the false help of tobacco.

Another myth of the smoker is to think that tobacco helps you relax in the face of problems; not true at all. Nicotine is not a relaxing substance, it is a stimulant like caffeine, but the feeling of relaxation comes because the withdrawal syndrome disappears that reminds every smoker that the next dose is necessary.

So really Freeing yourself from your addiction is what will be most effective so that in general you will be calmer in the face of problem situations from day to dayThere will be no extra nerves (withdrawal) when problems occur, but it takes time and patience for your body to stop feeling that withdrawal.

It is important that you choose a day, put a slightly special date (for example the last day of the year) that will determine one of the most important moments you will remember for the rest of your life, and celebrate it. In addition, setting a day helps you to prepare mentally, to make up your mind, to plan these needs that you are evaluating and to conclude with a farewell.

Step 3: Let yourself be helped

The most important thing about your purpose is to achieve it, and for that you need to value the need for extra help. It can be in pharmacological form with nicotine substitutes that help you alleviate the physical effects, or with professional help that also gives you psychological and strategic support.

In pharmacies there are many substitutes that your pharmacist can evaluate with you, the most common are in the form of patches, gum, inhalers... that reduce the intensity of withdrawal.

This compensatory effect should not be idealized because they simply help regulate sensations. Before relying on drugs in an unrealistic way, you need to accept that overcoming an addiction entails certain negative effects are inevitable, the important thing is to know and trust that no negative effects are impossible to manage.

Along with drugs, other good aids to consider are the alternatives that you can give to the act of smoking in the form of: sport or physical activity light if you are not used to it, drink water, eat fruit, family supports, leisure activities that concentrate you a lot such as painting and cooking, etc. they are good battle companions.

Professional aids can come from specialized nurses or psychologistsThey can expand your action and resource plan by seeing with you what your needs, your difficulties are, and help you generate alternative solutions. I said, the important thing is not how you do it but to achieve it, cheer up with this 2021 without smoke.

Author: Laura Merino Gómez, General Health Psychologist and member of the TAP Center.