This No Smoking Day, Gift Yourself a Good Habit – Quit Smoking!

Every second Wednesday of March marks the significance of No Smoking Day.

People are scared of the pandemic Coronavirus that lead to thousands of deaths this year, but there are many more dangerous things around us which we take for granted.

Do you know?

Tobacco kills more than 80,000,000 people each year. More than 7,000,000 of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke, according to the World Health Organization.

India is home to nearly 12% of world smokers and nearly 1 crore people die each year due to direct intake of tobacco.  34.6 adults in India are smokers, reports a study by India Today out of which 47.9% are males and 20.3% are female smokers.

Gift yourself a new start – Quit Smoking!

Nearly 70% of smokers are willing to quit but they are looking for medication or assistance to do so. Here are simple ways you can start with:

Among multiple methods of quitting, we recommend you to choose a method that goes best with you. A forceful quitting decision has ended abruptly and has not given the desired results.

Here are some tips suggested by the experts that can help you quit smoking!

Begin with telling your family, friends, colleagues and co-workers about your plan of action:

• Throw away all your stock cigarettes and ashtrays.
• Make arrangements of oral substitutes, such as toothpicks, hard candy, sugarless gum, carrot sticks or straws. You can also explore options of nicotine that helps you quit.
• Decide whether you are going to use nicotine replacement therapy, other medicines, or go “cold turkey”.
• Sign up for a stop-smoking community or group that can give you all the emotional and moral support.
• Take the support of a family member or a friend that has successfully quit and is happy to help you.
• It is best to avoid being around people when they are smoking.

Daily routine activities – such as waking up in the morning, completing a meal, and taking a tea or a coffee break can often trigger your urge to smoke.  If you have tried to quit before, think about what worked and what did not.

Some tips for your quit day:

• Stay busy.
• Attend a quit-smoking group/ community or follow a self-help plan.
• Drink less or no alcohol.
• Drink more water and juice.
• Avoid individuals, friends, colleagues who are smoking.
• Avoid situations that can create an urge to smoke.

Hacks!- The following actions may help you to battle the urge to smoke:

A study suggested four Ds that can help you formulate the process of your new journey more productively!

• Delay, Avoid, Procrastinate until the craving passes. The urge to smoke often comes and goes within 3 to 5 minutes.
• Deep breathe. Breathe-in and Exhale-out slowly through your nose on a count of three.
• Drink water or anything that hydrates you sip by sip to beat the craving.
• Just distract yourself to avoid craving – a walk, dance and everything that can distract you or do whatever you love!

This year, do not wait for the Tobacco Day to quit smoking, this is the right time to gift yourself a habit that may change your life and people around you – a habit of living a better, smoke-free, and a tobacco-free lifestyle!