Getting Ready to Quit
• Set a quit date when you will stop smoking
• Do not buy cigarettes beyond your quit date
• Tell your family and friends you plan to quit and ask for encouragement
• Notice when you smoke
• Determine what makes you want to smoke (for example, with morning coffee or after a meal)
• Change your smoking routines
• Smoke with your other hand
• Do not do anything else when you are smoking
• Smoke only in certain places, like outdoors
• When you want a cigarette, wait one minute
• Try to think of something to do instead of smoking (chew gum, drink a glass of water, eat carrot sticks, apple slices, sugar-free candy or mints)
• Buy one pack of cigarettes at a time
• Switch to a brand of cigarettes that you do not like
• Pay attention to smoking-related health symptoms you have developed
• Keep your hands busy.
On Your Quit Date
• Change your morning routine
• Stay busy
• Sit in a different place at the kitchen table
• Get rid of all your cigarettes (wet them down so you cannot retrieve them from the garbage)
• Put away your ashtrays
• When you get the urge to smoke, do something else instead
• Carry other things to put in your mouth (gum, hard candy, or a toothpick)
• At the end of the day, reward yourself for not smoking with a movie or a meal.
Staying Quit
• The irritability and short temper will pass
• Exercise (walk, swim, bicycle)
• When tense, breathe deeply
• Think about ways to solve the problem (realize smoking will not make it better)
• Eat regular meals; feeling hungry is sometimes mistaken for desire to smoke
• Start a money jar with money you save by not smoking
• Let others know you quit; most will support you
• If you slip and smoke, do not be discouraged; many former smokers tried to stop several times before success. Quit again.
source : Sisters of Mercy Health System
