Natural Methods to Give Up Smoking

08 January 2022

Smoking poses a great danger to your health. It’s well-documented as one of the leading causes of certain cancers, heart disease and lung conditions. There are no known benefits and it’s habit forming.

Over the past decade, the health implications of smoking have been more publicised than ever before, leading to increased awareness of the detrimental nature of this habit. More than half of all smokers have tried to quit at least once, but like all habits, this is difficult to achieve.

While prescription drugs and other medical products have usually been the go-to treatments, in recent years, other less invasive techniques for stopping smoking have become more popular. If you’re thinking of making a life-changing move and kicking your smoking habit without turning to medication, these are some of the natural methods that may help you to achieve your goal.

Adopt Some Relaxation Techniques

It’s not uncommon for smokers to light up a cigarette as a way of relaxing when the going gets tough. If smoking is your coping mechanism, you’ll understand the sense of relief you feel with that first exhale. However, it’s more important to understand that there are better, healthier ways to handle stress that provide as much, if not more, of a sense of relief.

There are plenty of relaxation techniques you can use to manage stressful situations without jeopardising your health. These include the following:

• Deep breathing exercises
• Meditation
• Regular massages
• Yoga
• Listening to calming music

Practicing any one of these on a regular basis will undoubtedly reduce your stress levels and give you a more relaxed outlook, enabling you to handle tough situations without turning to cigarettes.

Start Exercising Regularly

You’ve heard it before, I’m sure, but exercise is good for you. Just ten minutes of aerobic exercise can enhance your mood and lower your stress level, thereby reducing your desire for a cigarette. Are you experiencing anger or frustration? Try a session with the punch bag rather than smoking. If you’re bored, go for a walk or a run. These healthier methods of managing your moods have much better long-term effects than those from smoking.

Exercise is also known to reduce the effects of nicotine withdrawal in people who have recently stopped smoking. It gives the body something else to focus on and, in so doing, eases the physiological symptoms that you experience from the lack of nicotine.

Try Hypnotherapy

During hypnotherapy, a therapist guides you into a deep state of relaxation in which you can connect with your deepest feelings and get to the root of your reliance or habit. During your sessions, you become open to suggestion and your therapist will use this opportunity to plant the seed to reduce your cravings, such as alternative coping mechanisms for stress or generally healthier lifestyle options.

Hypnotherapy should always be conducted by a professional. It can be a slow process, but provided you’re open to suggestions when under hypnosis, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be successful.

Change Your Diet

The healthier you are, the less attracted you’ll be to smoking, and if your diet needs a revamp, then now’s the time to do it. You’ll find that not only do you feel better for it, but your craving for cigarettes will become less. And if you have recently stopped smoking, a balanced diet will also help with the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Try making these small changes to your diet:

• Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables – By eating more fruit and veg, you replenish the Vitamin C and D that smoking drains from your body and enable your body to better absorb nutrients.

• Stay away from caffeine – Coffee often goes hand in hand with a cigarette and is known to enhance the taste of cigarettes. Reducing the amount of coffee you drink may have a knock-on effect on the amount you smoke.

• Have more dairy products – Milk and other dairy products can make cigarettes taste very bitter with a lingering aftertaste. If you build more dairy into your diet, you may reduce your craving for cigarettes.

• Drink more water – Always have a bottle of water on hand for when the cravings hit. It alleviates the urge to smoke and has the added benefit of keeping you hydrated.

Acupuncture and Acupressure

Acupuncture is the process of inserting very fine needles into the skin on certain areas of the body to balance energy flow. It is used very effectively to manage pain, specifically that which is caused by headaches and arthritis, and has also shown some effectiveness in managing substance dependence.

In acupuncture for smoking cessation, the therapist inserts hair-thin needles into certain areas of your ear. This is a pain-free procedure called auricular acupuncture. The needles remain in place for around 20 minutes, after which they’re removed.

Like hypnotherapy, you need several sessions for this treatment method to be effective, but in between sessions, you can use acupressure to alleviate nicotine cravings. This is simply applying pressure to specific pressure points, often on the ear, and assists in reducing your desire to smoke.

Tips to Help Yourself

Making the decision to stop smoking is the first step to a healthier you. It’s not easy and you’ll have moments where you’re on the cusp of giving it all up. Whichever natural remedy you try, these tips will help you reach the end goal.

• Get rid of the smell – It’s time to spring clean and get up to date with the laundry. It’s best not to constantly be surrounded by things that smell of cigarette smoke.
• Have a support system – Let your friends and family know that you’re trying to kick the habit. They may be less inclined to smoke around you, but will also be there for you when you need motivation.
• Avoid triggers – Don’t put yourself in situations where you may crave a cigarette. This includes managing your moods.
• Know why you want to stop – Is it for your health? Do you want to save money? Without a clearly defined reason, it’s easy to lose motivation and give up giving up.

Contact Cognition Hypnotherapy Clinic for a free no obligation chat to see how we can help you.

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