Lifestyle Changes to Stop Smoking
When you give up smoking its a great chance to turn your life around and become
more healthy. In fact there are two great reasons for changing your lifestyle.
Firstly, its time to undo all the damage that your body has been subjected to during years of smoking. Its never too late to give up smoking - you will see the benefits of quitting no matter how old you are. So give your body a boost with healthy food, exercise and vitamins.
Secondly, improve your chances of stopping smoking by avoiding situations that will weaken your resolve. For the first month at least, these include late night parties, after work drinks or just hanging out with groups of smokers. After a month has passed, you can step up your social life again.
Get some exercise
Studies have shown that regular exercise can really reduce the risk of heart disease for ex-smokers. Going for a walk or run every day will expand your lung capacity and you'll probably even feel a little younger.
However, the importance of exercise goes beyond just your health. Its an important tool to stop smoking. Once you start to feel the benefits of an increased lung capacity and fitter body, it becomes a reason to stop smoking for good.
Take vitamins and improve your diet
One
of the first steps to restoring your body to health is with vitamins and
supplements. Prolonged smoking tends to create deficiencies in several
important vitamins, including vitamins B, E and the all-important C. Vitamin C
in particular is thought to restore lung function and repair much of the
cigarette damage.
Give your body what it needs, and once you feel appreciably better you'll wonder why you never noticed what smoking was doing to you! With the right vitamins you may also be at less risk of prostate and lung cancer.
The same goes for your diet in general. By drinking more water and eating more balanced food, you will find that you have more energy and a more positive outlook on life. Learn to associate your new lifestyle with the fact that you have stopped smoking.
Get yourself checked up
Remember that once you stop smoking the health risks do not end. When you realise what you've been subjecting your body to, you will want to go to the doctor for regular checkups.
Although stopping smoking can substantially reduce the risk of cancer and other smoking-related diseases, don't throw it all away by being complacent about the risks that remain.
Situations to avoid
Lets face it - very few of us have the willpower to give up smoking, sail through withdrawal and never look back. For a newly minted non-smoker, temptation lurks around every corner. That's why food and exercise can't be the only changes you make, you also need to stay away from certain situations.
Every smoker has their routines, habits and the places where they typically smoke. They might be the local pub, the place for after work drinks, the car or a certain spot in the garden. There are ways to combat the threat that each of these brings.
If you normally smoke in your car, remove all the smoking paraphernalia that you keep in it. That means the lighters (including the in-car lighter), the air freshener, the chewing gum and of course the cigarette packets.
If there's a certain spot where you smoke outside your home, there's a way around this too. Something simple like filling the space with a large potted plant will make you think twice about lighting up again. Unscrewing the light bulb on your porch will make it impractical, as will disabling the outdoor heater in the winter!
As for more social situations, you have to bite the bullet for a couple of months and reduce your commitments. Maintain friendships by meeting for brunch or coffee, but try to avoid going out late to bars or clubs. Drinking alcohol will reduce your willpower like nothing else.