5 Tips to Help You Quit Smoking For Good

(NC) Whether it’s a night out with friends, a stressful work day, or even a morning coffee, every smoker and current quitter experiences trigger moments that can make it very difficult to quit. A recent survey shows the most common scenarios that usually trigger cravings for Canadians are after having a meal, being with friends who smoke, consuming alcohol, and drinking coffee. The most common stressors are family-related.

Fortunately, there are simple ways you can deal with your triggers to fight your cravings. Here are five easy tips that’ll help you quit smoking for good.

1. For food and drink triggers. First identify which foods and drinks are your triggers. Then try to replace your bad habit with a good (or better) one. For example, if your daily coffee makes you want to smoke, instead try combining it with a walk around the block or a call to catch up with a friend.

2. For stress-related triggers. Even if stress isn’t one of your triggers, you’ll probably experience some when you first try to quit. So plan for this and explore other ways to relax, such as exercise, meditation, a massage, picking up a new hobby, or connecting with friends.

3. For family-related triggers. Try talking with your family to brainstorm ways to help reduce the stressor and the way it affects you. If you can’t do this, find better ways of coping. Speaking to a counsellor, getting more exercise, sleeping enough, and eating well are all great ways of reducing stress when you can’t change what’s bothering you.

4. For fun night out triggers. Enlist the help of your friends and family — let them know you’re quitting smoking and would love their support. Ask that any smokers refrain from inviting you to join them on smoke breaks, and get advice from loved ones who have successfully quit.

5. For all triggers. “For best results, try Combination Therapy, a new solution authorized by Health Canada to provide smokers the support they need to help them quit for good,” recommends family physician Dr. Richard Tytus. “Quitters can now use the Nicoderm patch for ongoing nicotine withdrawal and take immediate action in situations where cravings become difficult to control by using a fast-acting Nicorette oral product like QuickMist or gum.”

“Combination Therapy is almost 50 per cent more effective than using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) on its own and almost three times more effective than cold turkey,” says Dr. Tytus.