Quitting Smoking Gradually

Quitting smoking "cold turkey" is something many people can't contemplate. They fear the thought of dealing with mental, physical, and emotional cravings, whilst at the same time endeavoring to overcome the addictive habit that smoking has become. They should not despair because there is a  means of quitting smoking gradually that works well for many people; that involves progressively cutting down the frequency of smoking before stopping altogether.

Techniques for Quitting Smoking Gradually

Sometimes, just being aware of the extent of your daily smoking, can help you to smoke less. That is because smoking is a "mindless habit," and you may not realize just how much you are indulging. There are a various ways to use this technique. Should your tendency be to smoke in only one place, such as at home, try emptying all of your ashtrays every morning before you light up for the first time. Before you retire for the evening, count how many butts have been deposited in the ashtrays and make a note. Every day as you smoke, bear in mind that you will have to count every fag end and make a note of it, and that on its own may encourage you to smoke less.

Another useful technique is to stick a small piece of paper to your cigarette pack. Then make a mark each time you smoke a cigarette. Once you have smoked the whole pack, just move the paper onto the new pack and keep on making marks each time you light up. At the day's end, add up your marks and copy the total into a notebook. The purpose behind this method is to progressively decrease the quantity of cigarettes you smoke each day, and when that is down to just a few, you will find it easier to quit smoking completely.

Set Yourself Limits

Try setting a firm limit to the amount of cigarettes you will allow yourself each day. If you usually smoke one pack per day, that will be your starting point. Your big day, or conversely your worst day, will be on day one, when you allow yourself a full pack of 20 cigarettes. On day two, remove one cigarette from a pack because you are only allowing yourself to smoke 19 today. On day three, you remove two cigarettes because you have agreed to allow yourself 18. If you progressively continue like this, removing one cigarette each day, you will quit smoking altogether in about three weeks. You will be rightly proud of yourself, because you will have achieved your objective to quit smoking without going down the 'cold turkey' route.

Don't be too hard on yourself. Remember that you can stop smoking because you want to stop smoking, and do it in your own time. For instance, if you think that reducing your intake by one cigarette per day will be too hard, create a personal schedule you can deal with. Perhaps you will decide to reduce your intake by one cigarette every two days, or even one cigarette per week. Be realistic and you will have every chance of success.  Quitting smoking gradually really does allow you to set your own timetable.

Activity Related Smoking

If you think about it there may be certain activities that are more associated with your smoking than others. Do you always smoke while you're watching television? What about when you are on the telephone or using a computer? If this is the case decide that you will no longer smoke whilst undertaking such activities. It may be somewhat uncomfortable initially, but you will soon get the hang of it, and be pleased with your progress. It may be that you always light up after a meal, and if that is the case, do something different after you finish eating to break the habit. You will slowly realize that you have been kidding yourself, and that you don't really need to smoke when pursuing particular activities. You will start to feel better in yourself and of yourself, and will soon be on your way to quitting smoking altogether.

If you want to stop smoking you can. In fact you can choose your own way of going about it. You know it makes sense and by choosing a method that is suited to you personally you are sure to meet your objective.