IRON ONLINE STOP SMOKING ARCHIVE

To Smoke or Not to Smoke

For those of you interested in snuffing out this habit, here's a few quick tips:

1. Identify your reason for smoking:
Enjoy the smell and taste
Enjoy holding cigarettes
Gives me a boost of energy
Calms me down in stressful situations
It's a habit!

2. Now take that reason into a brainstorming session, alone or with others, and identify what can replace the role cigarettes now place in your life. For example, if smoking is a stress reliever, what other things can you do to cope better with stress - listen to music, exercise, get involved with a hobby, etc.

3. Your goal is to make smoking inconvenient. Don't carry them with you everywhere; put them somewhere remote so you have to get up and are "inconvenienced" to get a cigarette. For example, leave the cigarettes in the trunk of your car when driving. If you want one, you will have to pull over to get one instead of lighting up whenever you feel like it. Every time you reach for a cigarette, think about how you could have made that circumstance more inconvenient.

4. Quantify how much nicotine you are taking in. Cigarettes are classified into 6 groups ranging from little to lots of nicotine. Groups 1 and 2 are Ultralights, Groups 3 and 4 are Lights and Groups 5 and 6 those full fledged ones. Groups 1 and 2 range from 1-4 units of nicotine per cigarette. Groups 3 and 4 range from 5-9 units of nicotine per cigarette. Groups 5 and 6 range from 10-13 units of nicotine per cigarette.

Determine how much nicotine you are taking in by multiplying the range by the number of cigarettes smoked/day. This will be your starting point. Our goal at this point is to gradually decrease the nicotine content taken in.

There are two ways to do this:
1. Switch to a lighter brand of cigarette, and/or
2. Decrease the number of cigarettes smoked/day. You need to decide which method you think will work best for you. If you're not sure, try one.

5. By tracking the time of day of each cigarette for a few days, you will have a good idea where the most cigarettes are and where you may be able to decrease one or two. Don't try to eliminate those cigarettes that are very important (first in the morning, or maybe after meal time). Eliminate those which are the second of two in a row, or those which you don't really need or want.

Susan, PhD, CDE
Preventive Health Care Specialist

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