Stopping Smoking as the UK Ban Bites
How Someone Can Beat the Smoking Addiction in a Few Weeks
May 27, 2007
On 1 July 2007, England and Wales followed the lead given by Scotland and Ireland by banning smoking in workplaces and enclosed public spaces including bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants. The hope is that this ban will encourage many people to stop smoking and give up the fatal addiction that cigarettes represent.
At first sight, it seems absurd that people continue to smoke now that we know without doubt that smoking is a direct cause of emphysema, cancer, strokes and heart attacks. Vitrually nobody denies that their health would improve if the were to stop smoking. However, there are two aspects of tobacco that make it difficult for people to quit smoking:
- the physical addiction to nicotine; and,
- the psychological addiction to the act of smoking in certain situations.
The Physical Addiction
Are you addicted? Think about how you behave if you haven’t got a cigarette.
- Have you ever taken a cigarette from someone else’s packet without asking them? You wouldn’t do that with anything else, would you?
- Have you ever re-lit the butts you’ve previously stubbed out? You can’t imagine going to the bin to get old food can you?
- Do you tell your doctor the truth about how many you smoke each day? You tell them the truth about everything else, don’t you?
Let’s face it, you’re addicted to nicotine. You’re a drug addict!
The Psychological Addiction
Are you addicted? Think about when you smoke.
- Do you have to have one with every cup of coffee you drink? There’s nothing else you feel that about, is there?
- Do you have to smoke whenever you go out for a drink? There’s nothing else you ‘have to have’ while you’re there, is there?
- Do you have to have one after a meal? There’s nothing else you ‘have to have’, is there?
Let’s face it, you’re psychologically addicted to smoking. You’re a drug addict!
The Cure: Stop Smoking
The physical addiction is the easiest to beat. It only takes a matter of 3-4 days for the nicotine to leave your system. You can use patches, but it’s probably better just to go ‘cold turkey’ for a few days. That’s just 3-4 to 4 days of being miserable in exchange for a probable 15-20 years of extra life. Not a bad deal is it?
The psychological addiction is the one that’s harder to beat, and also the one that will most likely pull you back into smoking, if you’re not careful. In the early stages of quitting:
- avoid situations where you usually smoke. (If you like bars and eating out, only go to non-smoking places with friends who don’t smoke.)
- substitute something non-addictive and non-fattening for the cigarettes you used to smoke at specific times (after meals etc). Try a glass of water, a stick of celery or a banana.
- try exercising. It’ll make you feel better and you’ll be able to measure the improvement in your health. That is a good reward in itself!
- enjoy counting how much you’re saving and plan what you’ll do with the extra cash.
The Weeks after Week 2
Be particularly careful once you’ve actually beaten both parts of the addiction. It’s easy to think you’ve beaten it and be tempted to try the ‘odd one’. Remember, that is how you started in the first place – just a quick one with friends in the pub or round the back of the school bike sheds! You can ever so easily slip back into, first, the habit of smoking and, then, the physical addiction.
After a couple of months, you’re probably safe. You’ll still want one now and again. Just remember that you used to be addicted, no longer are, and don’t want to be again. It’s a great motivation!
A Personal Note
Just is case you think this is written by the ‘health-fascist police’, I write this as someone who gave up after 20 years of up to 60 cigarettes a day. I always enjoyed smoking, freely admit it, and would enjoy it again if I were to take it up. If I could give up, so can you. I also have no doubt that, if I hadn’t given it up, I’d be dead! The choice is actually very simple. Think about it. Stopping smoking makes sense.
