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Tips to calm anxiety when quitting smoking

by Alivia Nyhan
Published: Last Updated on

Quitting smoking is like escaping from a jail where you have been imprisoned for a long time; to stop depending on nicotine is a fantastic feeling, even more so when it is also beneficial for your health. But getting out of there is not easy; it is a complicated process that requires a lot of willpower and desire to achieve.

4 out of 10 smokers who try to quit tobacco succeed or, viewed from another point of view, out of 10 people who try to quit smoking, six do not follow. This number of failures is given by the complications involved in leaving this addiction both physically and emotionally; anxiety is one of the highest obstacles to jump. Next, at FastlyHeal, we give you tips to calm your anxiety when quitting smoking.

Where does anxiety come from?

When someone quits tobacco, depending on the degree of addiction to nicotine, they usually experience withdrawal symptoms to a greater or lesser extent. These symptoms range from dizziness and vomiting to anxiety and irritability.

Withdrawal syndrome is the body’s reaction to a lack of nicotine. After so much time smoking and receiving its doses of nicotine, your body feels that these levels are going down, so it alerts you. This is the main obstacle faced by those who want to leave the tyranny of smoke, overcome the withdrawal phase and return to everyday life.

The positive part is that it is a transitory state; generally, depending on the degree of addiction, the withdrawal syndrome appears 1 or 2 days after having smoked the last cigarette and reaches its peak on the third or fourth day. From the first week on, it decreases, and with each passing day, the problem will be further away.

How do you prevent anxiety?

As we have seen previously, quitting tobacco implies getting rid of physical addiction. However, anxiety is also caused by psychological dependence, not to nicotine, but the act of smoking. What produces anxiety is dissatisfaction with a desire, not being able to smoke. If you keep your brain busy and keep it as far away from tobacco as possible, you can prevent or at least reduce that anxiety a bit. Here are some tips to avoid feeling that irrepressible urge to smoke that will later trigger anxiety.

  • Stop frequenting smoking places or places where you can get a chance to smoke again.
  • Prioritize outings with non-smoking friends; with them, it will be more challenging to fall back into temptation.
  • Temporarily avoid coffee, alcohol, or any other substance you associate with tobacco and encourage you to smoke.
  • Talk to family and friends, and tell them your goal. This way, they can help you and not tempt you.

How to calm anxiety?

If you are experiencing a terrible episode of needing to smoke, if you cannot get the image of a smoking cigarette out of your mind if you are about to succumb to temptation and anxiety has already taken hold of you, there are still different things you can do, and that will help you. The first thing you should do becomes aware that it is something temporary, a short time of suffering, to live a whole life of freedom; besides, you can follow these tips to alleviate your anxiety.

Practice physical exercise

Practicing a group sport or simply going for a run and doing physical exercise is one of the best ways to calm anxiety. When doing sports, you release endorphins, one of the hormones responsible for pleasure, which will make you feel well-being and you will not miss smoking a cigarette. In addition, you will be able to tire your body, which will allow you to rest at night if anxiety causes you insomnia.

Do Meditation

Another way to calm that anxiety is through Meditation, either in a specialized center or at home. Meditation is an introspective technique that seeks to calm the mind and disconnect the body from the outside world. In a comfortable and quiet environment, with little light and with slow and deep breaths, you will be able to tame your mind and overcome anxiety. In addition to calming your fear, Meditation will also bring you more benefits for your health.

Take relaxing infusions

Nature provides us with innumerable products that are of great help to us daily; there are many medicinal herbs that, taken by infusion, have calming and relaxing properties. Passionflower, valerian, linden, and chamomile stand out for their particular effect and popularity among these herbs. If you want to know what its properties and qualities are, at FastlyHealwe tell you all about the best medicinal plants to calm anxiety.

Nicotine substitutes

To quit smoking while avoiding so many physical effects of nicotine dependence, some people introduce nicotine into their bodies, but in a less unhealthy way. Treatments based on nicotine gum, inhalers, or patches can last for weeks or months, depending on the level of addiction, and it is highly recommended to consult a doctor before opting for that route. In this article, you will be able to learn all the tobacco substitutes to stop smoking

This article is merely informative, at FastlyHeal .com we do not have the power to prescribe medical treatments or make any type of diagnosis. We invite you to see a doctor in the case of presenting any type of condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to Tips to calm anxiety when quitting smoking , we recommend that you enter our category of Mental disorders .

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