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The term “quitting smoking” can be confusing because you usually “quit” once, which is good: something you let go of it just disappears. Meanwhile, smoking rehab is more like playing with yo-yo – let it out of your hand and it comes back. The trick is to let out the string, not the toy. It’s just that it’s not that simple.
Up to eight times a piece
Smoking as a lifestyle exists only in the archival film, where Marlena Dietrich lights a cigarette and inhales the smoke. Apart from this inseparable but exceptional case, cigarettes stink and kill, with life making the former more unpleasant.
Research shows that 50% of smokers in Poland would like to quit smoking. In the world – 70% -80%. You may wonder why there is such a gap between us and the rest of the world, but it is nevertheless optimistic news: half of the smokers think about quitting. However, since, as we have established, the word “quit” is unfortunate, it would be closer to the truth to say that they want to be cured. For while we have already come to terms with the fact that alcoholism is an illness, we still consider smoking a whim and a silly whim. Meanwhile, tobacco addiction is a disease recognized by the World Health Organization as chronic and relapsing. Therefore, smoking cessation is almost never a one-time act, but a process in which you go through various phases, says Magdalena Cedzyńska, psychologist and head of the Smoker Aid Clinic at the Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Prevention of the Oncology Center in Warsaw.
– It is assumed that a statistical Polish smoker needs about 8 tries to quit smoking finally. Theoretically, it should be easier for him with each attempt, but it depends on how he looks at his way through the addiction. If he treats subsequent attempts as failures and proves that quitting addiction is pointless, because it is hopeless and will definitely fail, nothing good will come of it. But I am always happy when a patient comes to me with a history of trials, because then we have something to talk about. We can analyze his struggles, point out the moment when a cigarette turned out to be necessary and try to develop an alternative method of getting out of a critical situation. So the more attempts, the greater the chance that we’ll eliminate weak spots and finally succeed!
The armaments plan
It is worth noting that when talking about a smoker, the psychologist uses the word “patient”. This view of the addiction can help you to adjust yourself to the fight against it. After all, no one with high blood pressure or diabetes states one day: I want to heal myself and I will start tomorrow by stopping my medications!
Addiction to nicotine has two faces: strictly biological and psycho-social. When giving up cigarettes overnight, the smoker must take into account that the drug-free body will strongly protest, but also that the current, tame and ritualized daily schedule will be disturbed. A man who smoked 80 cigarettes a day for several dozen years practically did not experience a moment during the day in which he would not have a cigarette in his mouth. Radically depriving him of a stimulant would be as shocking to him as a ban on using his right hand for a non-smoker.
Magdalena Cedzyńska therefore emphasizes:
– The most important thing is strategy. And the easiest way to develop it is with the person best associated with treating disease: a doctor or an addiction therapist. The mere possibility of discussing certain matters with another person is a huge help. Together, you can consider which cigarettes are indispensable and which will be easier to give up, in what situations we feel compelled to smoke and why we smoke properly, because many smokers have never devoted any time to this issue. And in order to fight an enemy effectively, you must first get to know him and then arm yourself well against him.
Not a step without a plan
Let us carefully choose this cigarette to be our last one. Let’s not aim at nervous, busy and tense days, because at our own request we will reduce our chances of success. After extinguishing the last “pet”, it is best to throw yourself into the whirlwind of activity and being, preferably in places where smoking is not allowed: in museums, theaters, cinemas, at the swimming pool or anywhere but in the company of small children. Let’s try to manage every free moment and organize our time in such a way that smoking a cigarette will be associated with some difficulty.
You also need to prepare for a situation in which the desire to smoke will take over the desire to recover from the addiction, because, unfortunately, sooner or later it will happen.
– And that’s what the plan is for. It is a protection against the rush of emotions and the conviction that if I do not smoke right away, I will die of nerves. You have to have him, no matter how stupid he is, because when we bother with something and take care of the implementation of any task, the whole situation will become rational, and it is much easier to control thoughts than emotions – says Magdalena Cedzyńska.
That is why, in various leaflets encouraging to quit smoking, there are slogans that sometimes irritate smokers: nibble a carrot, play sports, breathe fresh air, cook dietary meals. It is known that none of these activities will replace smoking and cure a person just because they will make a healthy salad, but that is not their purpose. The idea is to show you a way to control your panicky urge to smoke a cigarette.
– Let it be even this mythical carrot – Magdalena Cedzyńska waves her hand – let it be approaching the window and take ten breaths, no matter what the ground, it is to occupy your thoughts and feel more confident knowing that I know what to do and I have tools. Then even the stupid carrot will turn into a sword.
Want!
The right mental attitude is very important. It even manifests itself in the words we use to express our attitude towards quitting smoking. Magdalena Cedzyńska warns that, for example, when everyone at work goes to smoke, do not stay behind the desk as Marysia’s orphan and feel remorse, and not complain to yourself that “they have gone and I am not going, poor, unhappy, because I’m not allowed, because I have to stay here ”. These words breed a natural rebellion against one’s own resolution, and this is the easiest way to break it. How much will the situation change when we say to ourselves instead:
– They went for a pipe, so be it, but I want to stay here because smoking is bad for me and I prefer to clean up my e-mail.
A great way to get past the moments of crisis is to create a list (which may never end…) of things to do that usually don’t have time for, and ticking off more points when you feel overwhelmed by the urge to smoke. It can be a phone call to a friend, cleaning up a drawer, overdue transfers, deleting text messages that clog the phone memory … These are all our carrots that protect us, preventing us from feeling that we have no choice but to smoke.
– For even the first month, it is better to avoid situations in which we will be confined to the company of smokers. It is much easier not to smoke when there is no cigarette nearby. It is just as difficult to eat chips when they are not at home. – explains Magdalena Cedzyńska.
Not once and for all
And you must also acknowledge that a smoker is like an alcoholic: the fact that someone has not smoked in twenty years or even does not mean that he has gotten rid of the problem once and for all. That is why we should not be tempted to check “if I have already passed it” and to light even one thin cigarette, even after many years of not smoking. A psychologist from the Smoker Aid Clinic warns:
– The last moment when we are the masters of the situation is the moment of making the decision to light up or put down a cigarette. After the first inhalation, the physiology comes to the fore and the addiction mechanism begins to work: nicotinic receptors that have been dormant for years, wake up, dopamine reaches the brain and the fun starts all over again …
It turns out, then, that it is enough to loosen the fist a little for the yo-yo, immobilized for years, to return to the game. And yet it makes no sense to work for the same cancer a second time. Cigarette addiction is a disease that can be cured if a treatment is developed, worthy of a serious disease. After all, we ourselves are holding the yo-yo string. Nobody will let him go for us.
For more information:
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Telephone Support Center for Smokers: 0 801-108-108 (Monday – Friday from 11 to 19, Saturday from 11 to 15)
Text: Julia Wolin
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