From the moment you stop smoking, you will begin a new stage. In this chapter we present a series of strategies that will help you along that path.
One of the most useful strategies is to avoid high-risk situations. For this reason, we suggest some risk factors that may predispose you to smoke, so that you can decide whether you want to avoid them:
Risk factors
- Times of day when you used to smoke: after meals, when leaving work, during breaks, etc.
- Places: bars, terraces, etc.
- Types of food: heavy meals, alcohol, coffee, etc.
- People who smoke.
- Difficult experiences: problems, boredom, stress, crises.
As for positive strategies, we also suggest a list:
Useful strategies to fight the urge to smoke
- Sport.
- Mindful and balanced breathing.
- Talk to someone, avoiding making tobacco the topic of conversation.
- Distraction: going for a walk, playing music at a high volume to take centre stage in your attention, reading, etc.
- Wetting your hands, your mouth, or your whole body with cold water (or hot water if you feel anxious).
Be careful with strategies that are useful, but not positive! For example, eating lots of sugar, switching to another drug, or engaging in risky behaviours (driving fast, practising extreme sports, etc.) may help you think less about smoking, but these activities can cause other problems.
There is no magic formula. There are different tips and strategies that can be useful, but there are no miracle cures. You have to keep assessing which ones work for you.
In that sense, we ask you: What is your ideal way of quitting smoking? How do you think you should quit smoking? It is possible that you have constructed, more or less consciously, that there is a certain or correct way to quit smoking. For example: without help, or without making changes to your routine, or without giving up contexts where there is smoke.
All processes are valid, whether more resources are needed or not. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, and there is nothing wrong with looking for a way to make withdrawal as easy and comfortable as possible.
Accepting help is an indicator of strength because it involves opening up and acknowledging your own difficulties. Having external resources makes you stronger.
We also briefly explain what types of medicines exist for the treatment of nicotine addiction:
Medication
- Nicotine replacement, in the form of patches, gum or lozenges: no prescription is needed. They are less effective than other medicines. In fact, it should be borne in mind that they consist of taking nicotine through routes other than smoke. This avoids the harmful effects on the respiratory tract, and psychologically the process of breaking the habit of the act of smoking continues, but the dependence on the drug is still being fed. If you do not feel a very strong urge to smoke, it is better to avoid it. In no case are vapes or electronic cigarettes recommended, since they either contain nicotine, or if they do not, they can cause respiratory illnesses due to combustion and the smoke that is inhaled.
- Partial agonists of nicotinic receptors. These are medicines that stimulate the receptors that usually receive nicotine from tobacco, but they do so more weakly than tobacco. They reduce the urge to smoke and ease withdrawal symptoms:
- Varenicline: a prescription is required. The active ingredient of the medicine has this name, although the brand name of the drug may be different.
- Cytisine or cytisinicline: a prescription is required. The active ingredient of the medicine has this name, although the brand name of the drug may be different. It was already used in Eastern Europe in the 1960s. Now it is being used more and more and is replacing varenicline, since it has similar efficacy but fewer side effects. It is a nicotine-like molecule that comes from the plant called broom. During the Second World War soldiers chewed it and realised that it calmed their urge to smoke.
- The antagonist of nicotinic receptors, called bupropion: a prescription is required. This medicine blocks nicotine receptors by binding to them, but without generating any biological effect of its own. It is also used as an antidepressant and is therefore contraindicated with other psychotropic medicines.
Any medicine can have different effects depending on the person, and all medicines can have side effects.
Medicines cannot replace personal motivation and the decision to change. A medicine taken without truly wanting to stop smoking will probably fail. In fact, in many public health systems the requirement to prescribe these medicines is that the person wants to stop smoking; if not, it should not be prescribed.
It is a supplement, and it can help you feel fewer cravings to smoke, but it cannot create the necessary motivation in you. At this point we remind you of the first section in which we explained that, in order to move forward, it is necessary to see yourself as an active part of change and not as a merely passive patient who takes medicines.
Because it is a supplement, we say that treatments should be comprehensive. This means that they must address all spheres of the phenomenon: psychological, biological and social.