What To Consider If You Want To Quit Smoking For Good

Stopping smoking can be the hardest challenge of a smoker’s life. Temptation is everywhere and physical and mental triggers crop up at every turn.

Every year a third of the UK’s smokers attempt to kick the habit for good, wanting to free themsleves from the dependence of the next nicotine hit. New Year is often a time that smokers set their sights on quitting, but few see their resolution through. Is the pressure too much?

Belle About Town spoke to Susan Hepburn, a renowned hypnotherapist and psychotherapist, to find out what a smoker really needs to consider if they want to kick the hait for good. Here’s what Susan told us…

Quitting smoking, much like giving up any form of addiction, is a difficult task mentally and emotionally, requiring individuals to change a deep-rooted learned behaviour. As a result, the average smoker will attempt to quit between six and eleven times before they are successful.

Undoubtedly there is a plethora of advice out there, but when you are trying to beat an addiction which your body is telling you it needs, it can be hard to find the path that is right for you. 

Therefore, if you truly want to quit smoking for good and join the 1 million people who have successfully quit over the past four years, I always recommend people to consider the following approaches to help them along their journey.

Take a positive, mindfulness approach

It is important to take a positive, mindful approach when quitting smoking, replacing the old cycle of thinking driven by a dependency on nicotine with a new confident ‘can do’ attitude.

Being optimistic about overcoming your addiction and discovering some of the emotional triggers that cause you to reach for another cigarette can help you to build a lasting control over your habit.

For a mindfulness approach to work in the long run, it is crucial to become fully in tune with your true thoughts, emotions and physical feelings. This awareness will help to spark an internal revolution and enable you to take charge once again, transforming deep rooted behaviours to form new practices that stick.

Develop your support network

Quitting smoking is a difficult task, so it is important to never underestimate the importance of having a support network to encourage you along your journey.

Whether that is a strong family network, spending time with friends that don’t smoke so you are not constantly surrounded and tempted by cigarettes, or even a therapist, it is crucial to find the network that works best for you.

Emotional and social triggers can be the hardest to overcome and can be difficult to avoid so it’s important to have a system in place to help keep you on track. For instance, have a friend on standby for when you are feeling most vulnerable who can remind you why you are giving up smoking and talk to you until the craving passes.

Eat mindfully

When people quit smoking they often end up turning to food to fill the void, gaining an average of five to ten pounds in the subsequent months.

Not only does the nicotine in cigarettes speed up your metabolism, it also supresses your appetite, so when you quit smoking it is normal to suddenly feel hungrier.

Be aware and plan accordingly. For example, portion control, smart snacking and meal plans can help prevent you from overeating and gaining weight.

Additionally, research has suggested that your diet can play a crucial role in helping people to quit smoking for good. Some foods such as meat have been found to make cigarettes more satisfying whereas others such as cheese, fruit and vegetables make cigarettes taste far worse. Therefore, altering your diet can help to curb cravings and alter your associations with smoking.

Re-evaluate your exercise patterns

Exercise is a good way to distract from cravings and aerobic exercise also releases endorphins which act as mood enhancers, giving your body a natural high. Moreover, physical activity can warn off stress and frustration, both of which are key triggers for cigarette cravings.

Scientific studies have found that increasing your exercise patterns – whether that be taking a 30 minute walk each day or signing up to more gym classes – works to cut cravings.

Ultimately, it is about looking at your lifestyle holistically and adopting healthier practices which will have a knock-on effect to help you quit smoking for good.

Consider hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is one of the most powerful tools for personal development and positive change, working to short-circuit – or delete – negative patterns and reset your habits or behaviours.  

By helping you to reach into your past and delete subconscious memories, hypnosis will work to erase the emotional complexities that cause you to turn to smoking, completely overhauling your behaviour and treating your addiction at the core of the issue. Just like deleting files from a computer.

Ultimately, no one is born pre-destined to be a smoker; it becomes a learned behaviour. This is where treatments like hypnotherapy can come into play. By teaching you to lose the emotional hold smoking has on you, whilst re-wiring your mind to follow a healthier lifestyle, you can become free from a dependence on smoking and constantly thinking about when your next nicotine hit is coming.

Visualise your future

Picture yourself six months to a year down the line. How do you feel? What does your life look like…smoke free?

Visualising your future self can be a great motivational tool to continue with a healthier lifestyle and can remind you why you are making positive changes in your life and more importantly encourage you to stick with your new lifestyle. Having a goal to reach will help you to build lasting, healthy and sustainable control over life’s stresses and behaviours which can trigger that desire for a nicotine hit, putting you firmly back in control.