Whether it’s the ever-increasing price of cigarettes, the benefits to your health or the desire to overcome an addiction, you may, like me, be participating in No Tobacco Month. A challenge that I have achieved today, but not without difficulty. To stop smoking for life, I asked advice from tobacco specialist Ketty Deléris, author of the book I really quit smoking, published by Marabout.
First advice when you manage to stop smoking for a full month, you congratulate yourself. Treat yourself with a gift, an outing or a new haircut, and why not use the savings made during the month of November? For my part, I treated myself to an electric toothbrush, to motivate myself even more. Second point to keep in mind, smoking cessation is not yet over after thirty days without cigarettes.
How to combat cigarette addiction?
Physical dependence lasts between two and three months, “this is the time it takes for nicotine receptors to return to normal levels” explains the addiction specialist. “We must therefore absolutely continue to use nicotine substitutes, whether patches or electronic cigarettes.” The objective is to gradually reduce the dose of nicotine to reach zero milligrams.
At the same time, we must continue our efforts regarding behavioral dependence, these are the habits we had with cigarettes, and psychological dependence, the emotions managed by smoking. This is “relapse prevention”, that is to say, anticipating risky situations and preparing solutions in advance. Tobacco specialist Ketty Deléris alerts us, among other things, to the end-of-year celebrations which are conducive to a recurrence.
To get all the advice from the tobacco specialist, watch the video at the top of this article. And if you too have stopped smoking, don’t hesitate to write to me in the comments to share your advice and tips.