How To Stop Smoking - 5 Different Approaches

I have been smoking for a long time now. Over forty years I have become thoughly addicted to cigarettes and I know I should give up but I also know that it will not be easy to stop smoking. So, I decided to read up on some of the different ways there are to stop smoking.

There used to be no alternatives and in the past if you wanted to stop smoking you just stopped and then tried to use your willpower to overcome the craving for smoking. Thousands of people have stopped this way and many still do it this way. You do need to be totally convinced that you want to be a non-smoker and if you are this may work and you will stop smoking cigarettes.

Some people can resist the craving their bodies have for nicotine but they miss the physical aspects of smoking. If you have smoked for years you have become used to having a cigarette between your fingers and something to put in your mouth. These are the physical habits of smoking and you can replace these with a dummy cigarette that you hold in your hand. It can make all the difference for some when they try to give up smoking.

Ashtrays stink. Even smokers know this so one old but simple idea is to smell an ashtray everytime you fancy a cigarette. There are few things as unpleasant as an ashtray and it also reinforces the idea of what cigarettes do to your lungs. Smelling an ashtray may well put you off smoking and doing that each time you want a cigarette could stop you smoking for good.

One of the more recent developments has been nicotine patches which you fix onto your skin. The patches release a certain amount of nicotine into your skin which helps prevent your body craving the chemical. With your body's habit satisfied you only need to get yourself over the idea of smoking and patches, perhaps, combined with one or other of the ideas mentioned here might do the trick for you.

Acupuncture has been used quite effectively for some people. My brother tried this and he went from being a heavy smoker to a non-smoker in one day. Unfortunately after a few years he started smoking again but maybe another treatment with acupuncture would have done the trick and stopped him from smoking again..

Willpower is the key to controlling any habit and if you can strenthen your resolve to stop smoking then that will help you enormously. This seems to be the idea with hypnosis so that your subconcious mind becomes more convinced that you do not want to smoke a cigarette at all. I have not tried this myself but it seems that some people have found this a very effective way of overcoming their desire for a cigarette.