Stop Smoking Today!
You can quit smoking, and there’s never been a better time to quit than now.
There is a wealth of information at your fingertips about how to stop smoking cigarettes, both locally and online. Advances have been made in medicines that can ease your transition into the non-smoking life, and other techniques, such as hypnosis to stop smoking, have been helpful to some smokers. There are thousands of self-help resources, as well as support groups and resources, both in your community and on the Internet, and many, if not most of them are available free of charge.
If you really want to quit, you should start gathering the information you’ll need to back up your decision with solid facts, emotional and physiological support, and the encouragement of other people—ex-smokers and concerned friends and family—who want to do everything they can to help you see how you can stop smoking cigarettes.
Chemical Methods
The Food and Drug Administration has approved at least three treatment methods for how to stop smoking cigarettes that involve pharmaceutical aids to help with the physiological symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.
These include bupropion (“Zyban”) and varenicline (“Chantix“), two drugs that don’t contain nicotine, but can help the body gradually reduce its dependence on nicotine. These drugs, and also nicotine patches, gums, and nasal sprays, can be used to gradually wean the body off its need for nicotine, which is how you can stop smoking cigarettes without undergoing the severe withdrawal symptoms that sometimes go along with the cold turkey method. Many smokers, searching for how to stop smoking cigarettes, have found that therapies such as those mentioned above can help them manage the physiological challenges of smoking cessation.
Non-Chemical Treatments
Some smokers seek professional counseling in their quest for how to stop smoking cigarettes. Indeed, psychological therapy, including support group sessions, can be very beneficial for providing the emotional support smokers need as they go through the process of becoming smoke-free. Regular sessions can give the smoker a way to discuss how the stop-smoking-cigarettes effort is going, receive suggestions from a qualified advisor, and receive the affirmation needed to stick with the program. The American Cancer Society recommends that sessions about how to stop smoking cigarettes or other tobacco products should last 20 to 30 minutes each, and that most smokers need four to seven sessions in total, covering a couple of weeks. It’s also important to know whether the leader of the sessions is trained in helping people learn how to stop smoking cigarettes.