What
makes you want to smoke? For most people, smoking becomes a routine
part of daily life. Certain people, places, feelings, events, and even
moods, called “triggers,”
are linked with smoking. For instance, a trigger can be drinking a cup
of coffee, talking on the phone, or seeing a friend who smokes.

Smoking routines become smoking triggers
Do you smoke a cigarette because you have a cup of coffee? Or do you have a cup of coffee so you can smoke a cigarette?

For most people, it’s hard to know. That’s why a smoking routine may become a smoking trigger.

Smoking routines may be automatic

Everything you do creates pathways or connections in the brain. Let’s
say you routinely smoke in the kitchen. You’re actually training your
brain to know that the kitchen is a place to smoke. Eventually, if you
walk into the kitchen, your brain will have an automatic response - light up.

Unlearn old behavior

Because both nicotine addiction and your smoking routine have a
physical effect on your body, it can feel beyond your control to change
your behavior. That’s why it’s important to be aware. It helps to talk
to your doctor about your smoking triggers. And see if treatments and
quit smoking support plans can help you get cigarettes out of your life.

Watch Out!!!

The first step in changing your smoking routines is to know your own personal triggers. Below is a list of common triggers.

Identify
which ones make you feel the urge to smoke. You can print out a list of
your smoking triggers along with some tips on how to manage those
situations.

• When you drink coffee
• When you drink wine or beer
• After lunch or dinner
• When you talk on the phone
• When you are driving
• When you are with other smokers
• When you are watching TV
• When you are waiting for a bus or train
• After an argument
• When you feel anxious or stressed

If
you’ve tried quitting before, you may have felt irritable when you
didn’t have a cigarette. Why has quitting smoking always been so hard?
The answer has a lot to do with nicotine.

Nicotine addiction cycle

• For most
  people, smoking is more than a habit. It’s a nicotine addiction.
  Nicotine withdrawal is why you probably feel irritable or anxious when
  you don’t have a cigarette.
• When you smoke, nicotine goes to the brain in seconds.
• When nicotine
  is in the brain, it causes the release of a chemical called dopamine,
  which gives the feeling of pleasure and calm.
• Your body doesn’t want that feeling to stop. But when you’re between cigarettes, the level of dopamine drops.
• Even if you want to quit, the body craves nicotine. This makes you keep smoking.

The more you smoke, the more nicotine you need

Over time, each cigarette you smoke may become less and less effective.
That’s because, as the brain gets used to nicotine, you may need to
smoke more to have the same feeling of pleasure and calm. Of course,
the more you smoke, the more you inhale toxins in cigarettes that are
linked to smoking-related illnesses.

How does it feel to quit?

On top of feeling the urge to smoke, you may also feel some of these common physical nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

• Dizziness (at first)
• Trouble sleeping
• Tiredness
• Trouble concentrating
• Restlessness
• Headache
• Increased appetite
• Coughing and dry throat
• Constipation
• Slower heart rate

These effects will lessen over time.

Next, better health

Smoking-related health risks are actually caused by the other
ingredients found in your cigarettes. For example, tobacco smoke has
more than 60 ingredients known to cause cancer in humans. Luckily, once you quit, your risk of getting a smoking-related illness can start to drop—almost immediately.

How your doctor can help

Quitting smoking is hard, but possible. Your doctor can talk to you
about nicotine addiction and tell you about treatment options and
behavior support that may be right for you.

Tips to stop smoking

Get ready to quit

Ready to start planning your quit? Here are some ways you can get ready to say good-bye to cigarettes.

1. Make a personal commitment to yourself
2. Are you
   worried about your health? Or do you want to quit for your kids or
   family? Think about what will make you want to give up smoking. Write
   those reasons down.
3. Start building a support network to help you quit smoking
4. Tell your friends and family that you need their support. Talk about your reasons for quitting with them, too.
5. Make an appointment with your doctor
6. Talk to your doctor about wanting to quit. Ask about treatment options and support. Then decide on a quit date.
7. Set a quit date
8. Pick a date within the next 2 weeks. That’s enough time to get ready, but not so long that you’ll lose your will to quit.
9. Mark your calendar. You may be more likely to go through with your quit if you see your quit day in writing.
10. Enroll in a support program to help you quit smoking
11. Look for a program that helps with your urge to smoke and helps you break your smoking routine.
12. Clean up your living spaces
13. Get rid of
    anything that reminds you of smoking. Don’t forget to throw out
    lighters, ashtrays, and cigarettes the night before.
14. Anticipate withdrawal symptoms
15. Withdrawal symptoms are part of quitting smoking. Start to plan what you will do when you feel a symptom.
16. Know your smoking triggers
17. Be aware of your triggers so you can understand why you get the urge to smoke.

Things to do on the day of quit