stop smoking

[Laura Loo]

What's the best way to quit smoking? Ive tried 3 times and failed miserably every time.

All ideas and suggestions appreciated.

I'm off outside for a fag :-)

[Ice.Maiden]

I used to smoke when I was a teenager & stopped by taking a tip from a nurse who worked in the respiratory unit at a local hospital. She said that the urge peaks after 20-30 seconds, so when the need arises, drink from a bottle of still water. Two minutes later, you might need to repeat it, but the gaps get longer. After a week, I wasn't bothered too much, and within a fortnight, I'd packed it. It really worked. Good luck.

[ronnieB]

Tape your gob shut.

[delboy3]

Do what I did:

Stop.

Full stop.

No weaning, no patches, no gum, no hynpotism, no substitutes, just good ol' fashioned will power.

Good luck!

[natalie_1982]

I quit without any support or anything but it was due to finding out I was pregnant so it kind of meant that the choice was taken away from me and I wasn't allowed to smoke! So, get pregnant! LOL

Seriously though, I have found in the past that I don't tell myself I have stopped smoking, only that I am not going to smoke today and that if I want one later then I can! I would give myself a time of say, 8pm, when I would allow myself a cigarette and then at 8 I would push myself to hang on for 15mins, then another 15, then another.... etc and before long it's bedtime and you have gone a whole day without one.

Don't get disheartened if you do snap, it's no biggy. Just start again. I also found it useful to keep reading over and over how and when my body was healing:
http://www.bupa.co.uk/health_information/asp/h ealthy_living/lifestyle/smoking/why/stop_text. asp

Good luck :-)

[slid_away]

I remember a poster when I was at School.
It was a picture of a man scrubbing his nicotine stained fingers with a scrubbing brush with the tag line
"You can't scrub your lungs clean"
It always stuck with me.

[Ethel]

After many failed attempts at stopping smoking, I finally did it in 1994 with patches.

I could not have done it without them.

I put the money I would have spent on cigarettes in to a jar every day, and into a savings account once a week - if I were smoking now it would be �11 a day, �77 per week. That was a huge incentive. I did that for two years and bought a very nice car.

[Laura Loo]

Thank you everyone. Such a range of tips I think I'll try and take something from them all.

I must say the financial incentive is a good one. I really need a new car!