Or:
You could just survive 24 hours without smoking, after which physical challenge is over. From there on it is just a fight against your brain, and also being aware of the root issue that made you pickup smoking.
- ex-smoker
You could just survive 24 hours without smoking, after which physical challenge is over. From there on it is just a fight against your brain, and also being aware of the root issue that made you pickup smoking.
- ex-smoker
I think ecigs and nicotine gum/lozenges should be encouraged if someone wants to quit. Many people have found them useful bridging the gap between smoking and cessation. Going even a few hours without anything is enough to cause some people give up. Having help might give them confidence to eventually follow through.
Trading addiction to cigarettes for addiction to vapes or gum is a step in the right direction, but I agree eventually you have to pay the piper.
* High lasts the shortest duration (a few seconds after the last inhale)
* High has a high physical factor (relaxation) but a low psychotropic factor (mood-altering effect like alcohol or mj), which is the opposite of something like psychedelics (which can be useful in curing addiction)
* High requires a physical adaptation (smoker's hack) to be felt most fully
* That physical adaptation is challenging to undo and takes at least 1 month (in my case 2) before cravings are replaced by disinterest or dislike
So the last 2 points were key for me. If anyone reading this is struggling, I highly recommend intermittent intense physical activity as a way to hack the physical adaptation process.
For me, squats work best. Go to the gym and try to get 15-20 reps of a weight you can manage, for at least 2 power sets. Something like: 95x10, 135x20, 135x15. I find if I do those at night and come home, my body rejects the thought of smoking because I'm already high on life. It also rejects alcohol to some degree which is nice for weight loss.
Once you've felt that lifter's high (not sure what to call it), you start feeling in control of your body's repair process. Then you notice it on the fun days too, like chest day. After 2-6 weeks, you'll likely find that cigarettes don't do much unless you smoke a couple in a row, but then they mostly make you sick, and you might find yourself going a day or two and forgetting to smoke.
Hope this helps someone.
I stopped smoking after a long pack a day habit with almost no difficulty. No serious physical withdrawal, no serious sustained cravings that persisted past a day or two.
I've had issues with other substances, so it wasn't my amazing willpower that made it easy
If you have spoken about quitting with other people who have quit or are still quitting, you would have found out that it is much harder for them than what you are proposing. That, or some vanishingly small chance was hit and you have only people around you who found quitting easy but somehow still smoked a lot before doing so.