Prepare for your Quit Day
Here are some steps to help you get ready for your Quit Day
- Pick the date and mark it on your calendar.
- Tell friends and family about your Quit Day.
- Get rid of all the cigarettes and ashtrays in your home, car, and at work.
- Stock up on oral substitutes – sugarless gum, carrot sticks, hard candy, cinnamon sticks, coffee stirrers, straws, and/or toothpicks.
- Decide on a plan. Will you use NRT or other medicines? Will you attend a stop-smoking class? If so, sign up now.
- Practice saying, “No thank you, I don’t smoke.”
- Set up a support system. This could be a group program or a friend or family member who has successfully quit and is willing to help you.
- Ask family and friends who still smoke not to smoke around you, and not to leave cigarettes out where you can see them.
- If you are using bupropion or varenicline, take your dose each day leading up to your Quit Day.
- Think about your past attempts to quit. Try to figure out what worked and what didn’t.
Successful quitting is a matter of planning and commitment, not luck. Decide now on your own plan.
On your Quit Day
Over time, smoking becomes a strong habit. Daily events, like waking up in the morning, finishing a meal, drinking coffee, or taking a break at work, often trigger your urge to smoke. Breaking the link between the trigger and smoking will help you stop.
On your Quit Day go down this list:
- Do not smoke. This means not at all – not even one puff!
- Stay busy – try walking, short bursts of exercise, or other activities and hobbies.
- Drink lots of water and juices.
- Start using nicotine replacement if that’s your choice.
- Attend a stop-smoking class or follow your self-help plan.
- Avoid situations where the urge to smoke is strong.
- Avoid people who are smoking.
- Drink less alcohol or avoid it completely.
- Think about how you can change your routine. Use a different route to go to work. Drink tea instead of coffee. Eat breakfast in a different place or eat different foods.
Be prepared to feel the urge to smoke. It will pass whether you smoke or not. Use the 4 D’s to help fight the urge:
- Delay for 10 minutes. Repeat if needed.
- Deep breathe. Close your eyes, slowly breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Picture your lungs filling with fresh, clean air.
- Drink water slowly, sip by sip.
- Do something else. Some activities trigger cravings. Get up and move around.
Often this simple trick will allow you to move beyond the strong urge to smoke.
Source: American Cancer society: https://www.cancer.org/healthy/stay-away-from-toba...