Since childhood, we are told about the terrible dangers of smoking, which is confirmed by medical research and facts from the life of smokers. But why do people smoke without paying attention to the damage to their own health?
Where does tobacco addiction come from?
Prolonged stress
A long chain of stressful situations can upset even the calmest and most balanced person. At this point, instead of looking at the situation from a different angle or distracting themselves from it with an activity, many start looking for a quick way to calm down and relax. And very often it is smoking.
Having found such a quick way to moral satisfaction, every time in the next quarrel with someone or just a serious conversation, a person lights another cigarette, believing that this will calm his nerves and be able to assess correctlythe situation. The most interesting thing is that it really helps him. But not because smoking cigarettes supposedly "quiet", but because he was firmly inspired by this idea.
fashion influence
As unfortunate as it may seem, fashion trends often lead people to make mistakes. So, for example, publishing a photo shoot in the glossy magazine with the participation of a model smoking in the frame can become another fashion push for smoking. Moreover, these fashion trends spread very quickly. Literally the day after the release of the magazine, it will be possible to observe how many teenage girls and girls who have never smoked tobacco, imitating the famous model.
transitional age
The replenishment of the ranks of smokers at the expense of high school and college students can occur not only because of a new fashion cycle. Among the common reasons teens start smoking, the following are also popular:
- The need for peer recognition and the desire to be like everyone else. Teenagers' fear of becoming a black sheep is sometimes so great that they are capable of a lot of nonsense, including smoking.
- The desire, on the contrary, to stand out.
- Demonstration. Sometimes young people start smoking as a sign of protest, thus opposing society and trying to show everyone their independence and independence. Think of the rockers of the 80s. They had a very characteristic behavior: they smoked cigarettes, ridiculed the vices of society in their songs, drank a lot of alcohol and behaved, to say the least, defiantly.
Nicotine addiction
The addiction of smokers to cigarettes can be of 2 types: physical and psychological. At the heart of physical addiction is the body's addiction to nicotine. Psychological dependence is based on a person's clear belief that smoking relaxes, calms, helps to concentrate faster, etc. The difference between these types is that psychological dependence is often the reason smokers start smoking, while physical dependence becomes the consequence - the main problem that people smoke and cannot give up this bad habit.
How to quit smoking?
Once you understand why people smoke, it's much easier to start the process of quitting the habit. However, you need to be prepared for such a step from the moral side. It is necessary to at least briefly get acquainted with the medical literature and thoroughly understand the harmful effects of smoking on health, as well as calculate how much money is spent on cigarettes per year. After that, take all your willpower in a fist and quit smoking.
Quit once and for all
Most ex-smokers are advised not to "reinvent the wheel", but to quit smoking abruptly and immediately - once and for all. Having chosen this path, in no case should you succumb to weakness and think that one cigarette (or more) a day will not change anything (justifying yourself by the fact that it is even less than before). Once the decision is made, there is no going back!
Launch progressively
A similar method is suitable for those who have a clear addiction to nicotine. To quit smoking, they must gradually reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke per day. For example, if a person smokes a pack of cigarettes a day, you should try to reduce the number of cigarettes by at least one piece a day. When it comes to 2-3 cigarettes a day, you can quit smoking abruptly.
lead a healthy life
Psychologists have found that smokers who start eating well and exercising eventually kick the bad habit themselves. How can this happen? The secret, again, lies in self-hypnosis. A person's psychology is such that when he begins to eat healthy foods and exercise, he involuntarily refuses unhealthy foods and other obstacles that prevent him from leading a new, healthier life.
In addition, during many recreational exercises, the smoker will notice shortness of breath. Swimming and running are particularly illustrative examples in this regard. After unsuccessful attempts to combine smoking and exercise, a person is likely to make the decision to quit smoking.
Also, the following recommendations can be of great help in the fight against addiction:
- Listen to audio files and read books about the dangers of smoking.
- Drink enough water.
- Replacing regular cigarettes with e-cigarettes, which later turns out to be much easier for some than regular cigarettes.
- Also, when you really want to smoke, you can try replacing cigarettes with something sweet or seedy. Or take a cigarette and, without smoking it, imitate the process of smoking for 10-15 minutes.
- Refusal to frequent places where smoking is permitted (smoking areas and halls in discos, restaurants, etc. ).
- An agreement with acquaintances that they do not smoke during communication.
- Post affirmations on the walls of the house (words and pictures that carry the meaning of desire) on the topic of a healthy lifestyle. For example, photos of beautiful, healthy people and photos of smokers that cause disgust. This helps fix in the subconscious the right kind of behavior in the fight against smoking.