Since childhood, we have been told about the terrible dangers of smoking, confirming this with medical research and facts from the lives of smokers. But why do people smoke, not paying attention to the harm done to their own health?
Where does smoking addiction come from?
Prolonged stress
A long chain of stressful situations can disturb even the most calm and balanced person. At this point, instead of looking at the situation from a different angle or distracting from it with some activity, many start looking for a quick way to calm down and relax. And often it is smoking.
Having found a quick way to get moral satisfaction, every time during the next dispute with someone or just a serious conversation, a person lights another cigarette, believing that this will calm his nerves and be able to assess the situation correctly. The most interesting thing is that it really helped him. But not because smoking is allegedly "calming", but because he firmly instilled this idea in himself.
influence of fashion
As unfortunate as it sounds, fashion trends often make people make mistakes. So, for example, the publication of a photo shoot in a glossy magazine with the participation of a smoking model in the frame can be another surge in fashion for smoking. Moreover, such fashion trends spread quickly. Literally the next day after the publication of the magazine, it was possible to observe how many teenage girls and women who had never used tobacco smoke before, imitating famous fashion models.
The age of transition
The increase in the ranks of smokers at the expense of students and high school students may occur not only because of a new round of fashion. Among the common reasons why teenagers start smoking, the following are also popular:
- The need for recognition by peers and the desire to be like others. Teenagers' fear of being the scapegoat is sometimes so great that they are able to do many stupid things including smoking.
- The desire, on the other hand, to stand out from the crowd.
- Objection. Sometimes young people start smoking as a sign of protest, thereby opposing themselves to society and trying to show everyone their independence and independence. Think rockers from the 80s. They have a very distinctive pattern of behavior: they smoke cigarettes, make fun of society's vices in their songs, drink a lot of alcohol and behave, simply, defiantly.
Nicotine addiction
The dependence of smokers on cigarettes can be of 2 types: physical and psychological. At the heart of physical dependence is the body's addiction to nicotine. Psychological dependence is based on a person's clear belief that smoking relaxes, calms, helps to concentrate faster, etc. The difference between these types is that psychological addiction is often the reason why smokers start using tobacco, while physical addiction is the result - the main problem people smoke and cannot quit this bad habit.
How to stop smoking?
Once you know why people smoke, it's easier to start the process of quitting. However, you need to prepare yourself for such a step from the moral side. It is necessary to at least briefly familiarize yourself with medical literature and deeply understand the dangers that smoking poses to health, as well as calculate how much money is spent on cigarettes per year. After that, take all your will and stop smoking.
Stop once and for all
Most ex-smokers are advised not to "reinvent the wheel", but to quit smoking suddenly and at once - once and for all. Having chosen this path, one should never succumb to weakness and think that one cigarette (or more) a day will not change anything (justify yourself with the fact that it is still less than before). Once the decision is made, there is no going back!
Throw gradually
The same method is suitable for those who have a clear nicotine addiction. To quit smoking, they need to gradually reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke each day. For example, if someone smokes a pack of cigarettes a day, then you should try to reduce the number of cigarettes to at least one per day. When it comes to 2-3 cigarettes a day, you can stop smoking altogether.
Practice healthy lifestyle
Psychologists have found that smokers who start eating right and exercising eventually get rid of this negative habit on their own. How does this happen? The secret, again, lies in self-hypnosis. A person's psychology is such that when he starts eating healthy food and exercising, he inadvertently rejects unhealthy food and other obstacles that prevent him from living a new, healthier lifestyle.
In addition, when doing a lot of recreational exercise, smokers will notice shortness of breath. Swimming and running are illustrative examples of this. After unsuccessful attempts to combine smoking and exercise, a person may decide to quit smoking.
Also, the following recommendations can be very helpful in the fight against addiction:
- Listen to audio files and read books about the dangers of smoking.
- Drink enough water.
- Replacing regular cigarettes with electronic cigarettes, which then turns out to be easier for some people than regular cigarettes.
- Also, when you really want to smoke, you can try replacing cigarettes with something sweet or nutty. Or take a cigarette and, without smoking it, imitate the process of smoking for 10-15 minutes.
- Refusal to visit places where smoking is allowed (smoking areas and halls in nightclubs, restaurants, etc. ).
- Agreement with acquaintances that they do not smoke during communication.
- Placing a pledge on the wall of the house (words and pictures that carry the desired meaning) on the topic of a healthy lifestyle. For example, pictures of beautiful healthy people and pictures of smokers that cause disgust. This helps to establish in the subconscious mind the right type of behavior in the fight against smoking.