Miscellaneous Approaches to Nicotine Addiction

Smoking cigarettes and nicotine addiction are such intimate parts of a person's life that using many different approaches at once can make for a successful time quitting smoking. These miscellaneous methods are not powerful by themselves, but can really help in conjunction with a complete program.

Nutrition: Nutrition can perform two powerful roles in quitting smoking, or nicotine addiction. Anti-oxidants help detoxify your blood, tissues, and organs. Reducing stimulating foods and beverages help by calming and not over stimulating a nervous system that is already edgy from withdrawing from a very powerful psychoactive drug.

Disassociation: Disassociation techniques can be very powerful in the difficult first few weeks of nicotine withdrawal. Disassociation is the thoughtful act of not putting yourself in situations that "remind" you to smoke. This includes places that you smoke, people that you smoke with, and smells and scenes that remind you to smoke cigarettes. Cleaning out the inside of your car is a great example of disassociation if you smoke in your car. Remember to wash the inside of your windows and clean out the ashtray well. After that, you will not get the same instant desire for a cigarette as soon as you get behind the wheel.

Deep Breathing Exercises: Many believe that smoking is in itself a deep breathing exercise. The act of breathing with willful thought of a goal in mind will help one to focus on the goal in a subtle but powerful way. A great example is eating with one's focus on a perfect body type/weight. This is a great tool in controlling ones weight, and deep breathing while focusing on the rewards of quitting smoking is a great adjunct to any quit smoking program.

Exercise: Starting an exercise program when one quits smoking is an excellent idea. Not only does it relieve stress and calm the nervous system, but also it burns calories and increases circulation and detoxification. Most people gain some weight when they quit smoking, and this is the ideal way to reverse that trend, and fill the time that you used to smoke with a productive, healthy activity.

Willful transference is a great technique to retrain the brain into more health activities. Most transference is accidental and can cause problems that have to be addressed later. The most common transferences are from smoking to chewing gum or some other sweet food. While this placates the mouth and the brain (with a serotonin release), it can cause weight gain, tooth decay and a whole host of problems related to hyperinsulinemia. The ironic thing about this is that most people do this quite by accident. A great intentional transference technique is to carry around a bottle of water in the first few weeks after you quit smoking. At every urge to smoke, take a small swig off the water bottle. This repetitive action “transfers” the urge to smoke into an urge to drink water!