Quitting smoking is not easy for many people. A quit-smoking calendar can help you end a health-destroying habit.
The quitting calendar allows you to learn about all the upcoming changes in the body and prepare for them.
What is a quitting calendar
The quitting smoking calendar by months and days is a powerful support on the way to getting rid of nicotine addiction. It 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 possible difficulties.
Note!In addition to tracking changes in your body and psyche on a calendar, it is recommended to keep a diary, as it helps to better understand the reasons for your dependence on tobacco.
Often the desire to smoke another cigarette is not associated with the physiological need of the body for the next dose of nicotine, but with certain psychological triggers. For example, a morning cup of coffee or a break at work is strongly associated with smoking. Noticing the urge to smoke at such moments, you should switch to another, more useful routine. For example, you can make another entry in your diary or call your loved one.
What to expect from the body
The daily calendar of a smoker who quit smoking contains all the likely sensations and experiences that accompany the process of quitting cigarettes. Most often, people who quit smoking experience the following symptoms:
- Nicotine crash. This is a rather 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 various situations in his life. With the rejection of the usual ritualized actions, a lot of empty space appears, which the psyche often has nothing to fill with. Hence the often arising feeling of anxiety and anxiety in a person who has recently quit smoking, when suddenly there is nothing to occupy his hands and mouth in the usual circumstances.
- Exacerbation of chronic diseases, often hidden. It is the annual calendar of a heavy smoker who quit smoking abruptly that makes it possible to realize that unpleasant physiological symptoms in the first weeks and even months of quitting tobacco are signs of cleansing the body and restoring the normal functioning of 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 restores the ability to independently produce nicotinic acid in the right amount, and the physiological craving for smoking disappears. Much more difficult is the release from psychological dependence.
Emotions and thoughts
A person who has given up cigarettes can experience completely different emotions about this: from self-pity to pride in the shown willpower. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to get rid of the idea that giving up tobacco is a restriction, a severe asceticism that requires huge efforts and the most severe self-control.
Quitting smoking can be easy and fun. You just need to agree with your subconscious, convince your "inner child" that living without cigarettes is much more interesting, more pleasant and "cooler", that giving up tobacco can bring real pleasure.
For example, smokers lose their sense of smell and taste. However, this process is reversible. You just need to stop smoking, and the usual dishes will sparkle with new shades. Why not a reason, the most hedonistic one, to give up smoking?
It helps to tune in to the right wave of revision 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 someday. When there is a realization that the pleasure of a cigarette is nothing compared to the health and well-being of an unborn child, it is much easier to give up a bad habit.
Preliminary preparation
Quitting smoking without serious preliminary preparation is not recommended. After all, this means subjecting your body and psyche to a strong shake-up. It is better to give yourself a week, two, a month to mentally prepare for the upcoming events.
You should analyze in writing all the "pluses" and "minuses" of smoking and quitting it, and personally for yourself. If a loved one requires quitting smoking, you should not put a tick in front of the "health" item. Here we are already talking about the value of relationships 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 note what situations and emotions make you want to pull out 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 various breathing exercises, visualization techniques, drink herbal teas. Any of these activities can be turned into your hobby, a new, "healthy" addiction.
Throwing away all lighters, ashtrays and other things that remind of an old habit is not at all necessary. Sometimes a pack of cigarettes hidden "for a rainy day" helps to more calmly endure the process of weaning from nicotine. The absence of any emotions when looking at previously favorite smoking devices is a sign of the final release from nicotine addiction.
Quit smoking calendar by month
Having become acquainted with detailed information about the upcoming changes in the body for the year ahead, quitting smoking will not be taken by surprise by any of his reactions and will not lose his confidence in the correctness of the decision made.
First month without smoking
This is the most difficult period, characterized by unstable physical and psycho-emotional states. 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 exertion, 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 hunger, it is recommended to introduce more green vegetables and fruits rich in pectins (apples, oranges, apricots, plums) into the diet. Buckwheat, legumes, nuts will help to fill the lack of nicotinic acid. To reduce nervousness and improve sleep, you can use a decoction of motherwort.
The restoration of taste sensations leads to an increase in appetite, which can negatively affect body weight. Therefore, do not abuse sweets and high-calorie foods.
Second and third months
In the lungs, the stage of active recovery begins. Periodically, dry mouth, cough, and sputum may occur, especially with increased physical activity. But this is a good sign - it means that the body has resources for cleansing.
The cardiovascular system also undergoes changes. By the end of the third month, the vascular tone returns to normal, and the former smoker is no longer tormented by 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 return a person to the ranks of smokers.
Fourth to sixth months
The work of the gastrointestinal tract is restored, the stool is normalized. The ability to fully absorb all the necessary nutrients returns to the intestines, thereby improving the condition of the skin. Peeling, itching, which could bother a person at the initial stage of quitting smoking, no longer bother him.
Many ex-smokers notice that by 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 months
Coughing and sputum production at this stage are practically not disturbing. It is allowed to introduce running and strength exercises into your training program.
At this time, many have forgotten the difficulties of the first weeks of quitting, but the force of habit is still great. It is important not to allow the cigarette to be lit "on the machine", mechanically.
tenth to twelfth months
Physiological dependence on nicotine is completely overcome. However, the risk of returning to the old habit is still high, as many continue to feel psychological discomfort due to a change in their usual daily routine, the loss of some elements of communication. Until a person learns to fill these psychological "voids", the desire to smoke a cigarette, to keep oneself busy with "business", can 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 the most insignificant success with positive emotions: praise, sincere admiration for the shown willpower, a gift. Also, another milestone overcome on the way to getting rid of a bad habit can be celebrated by spending leisure time together completely according to the wishes of the quitter. Only positive emotions, manifestations of love from the closest people will give the cigarette addict 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 in the fight against nicotine addiction. Here you can throw out all your negative emotions and celebrate successes at each stage of the throw. Studying other people's public diaries and the positive experiences of quitting is inspiring like nothing else.