Quitting smoking is not easy for many people. A quit smoking calendar can help you end a habit that is harming your health.
The Surrender Calendar lets you know about all the upcoming changes in the body and prepare for them.
What is a Shutdown Schedule
Quit smoking calendar by month and day is a powerful support to get rid of nicotine addiction. It allows you to understand how the body will react to nicotine withdrawal at different periods of time, and psychologically, as well as physically prepare for possible difficulties.
To note!Along with tracking changes in your body and psyche on a calendar, keeping a diary is recommended as it helps to better understand the reasons for your tobacco addiction.
Often the desire to smoke another cigarette is not associated with the physiological need of the body for the next dose of nicotine, but with certain psychological triggers. For example, a cup of coffee in the morning or a break from work is strongly associated with smoking. Noticing the urge to smoke at such times, you should switch to another more useful routine. For example, you can make another entry in your calendar or call your loved one.
What to expect from the body
The daily calendar of a quitting smoker contains all of the likely sensations and experiences that accompany the process of quitting smoking. Most often, people who quit smoking experience the following symptoms:
- Nicotine crash. This is a rather painful condition, especially troublesome for a person in the first days of quitting smoking.
- Psychological break. The main reason why people continue to smoke is not physiological, but psychological. Smoking a cigarette is perceived by a smoker as a certain ritual, with the help of which he reacts, responds to various situations in his life. With the rejection of habitual ritualized actions, a lot of empty space appears, which the psyche often has nothing to fill. Hence the feeling of anxiety and anxiety that often arises in someone who has recently quit smoking, when suddenly there is nothing left to occupy their hands and mouth under the usual circumstances.
- Exacerbation of chronic diseases, often hidden. It is the annual calendar of a heavy smoker who suddenly quits smoking that makes it possible to realize that the unpleasant physiological symptoms of the first weeks or even months of quitting smoking are signs of cleansing of the organism and restorationthe normal functioning of its systems and organs.
Additional information.The intensity and duration of withdrawal symptoms are different for everyone. However, in most cases, after a few weeks the body restores the ability to independently produce nicotinic acid in sufficient quantities, and the physiological urge to smoke disappears. Much more difficult is the release from psychological dependence.
Emotions and thoughts
A person who has quit smoking can experience completely different emotions about it: from self-pity to pride in the will shown. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to get rid of the idea that quitting smoking is a restriction, a severe asceticism that requires colossal efforts and the most severe self-control.
Quitting smoking can be easy and fun. All you have to do is agree with your subconscious, convince your "inner child" that living without cigarettes is much more interesting, more pleasant and "cooler", that quitting smoking can bring real pleasure.
For example, smokers lose their sense of smell and taste. However, this process is reversible. You just need to quit smoking, and familiar dishes will shine with new shades. Why not a reason, the most hedonistic, to quit smoking?
It helps to tune in to the good wave of revision of the world life goals. It is necessary to understand why all these changes in the usual way of life. For example, a rare woman does not dream of becoming a mother one day. When you realize that the pleasure of a cigarette is nothing compared to the health and well-being of the unborn child, it is much easier to give up a bad habit.
Preliminary preparation
Quitting smoking without serious preparation is not recommended. After all, it means exposing your body and psyche to a strong jolt. Better to give yourself a week, two, a month to mentally prepare for the events to come.
You should analyze in writing all the "pluses" and "minuses" of smoking and quitting smoking, and personally for yourself. If a loved one needs to quit smoking, you should not check the "health" box. Here we are already talking about the value of relationships and the comfort of a partner. Only the search for real and positive motives will facilitate the process of changing your way of life.
Next, you need to observe yourself and notice what situations and emotions make you want to pull out a cigarette and smoke. Next, you need to come up with compensatory activities. For example, many smoke to calm down. For the same purposes, you can use various breathing exercises, visualization techniques, drink herbal teas. Each of these activities can be turned into a hobby, a new "healthy" addiction.
Throwing away all lighters, ashtrays and other items that remind of an old habit is not necessary at all. Sometimes, a hidden pack of cigarettes "for a rainy day" can support the process of nicotine withdrawal more serenely. The absence of emotions when looking at previously favorite smoking devices is a sign of the final release from nicotine addiction.
Calendar to quit smoking by month
Having learned about detailed information about the upcoming changes in the body for the coming year, quitting smoking will not be surprised by any of his reactions and will not lose confidence in the correctness of the decision made.
First month without smoking
This is the most difficult period, characterized by unstable physical and psycho-emotional states. Therefore, it is desirable that the first days and weeks without cigarettes coincide with weekends or holidays. With a decrease in the number of physical exertion, stressful situations and an increase in the number of new positive impressions, it is much easier to survive the withdrawal syndrome.
To minimize the unpleasant consequences of nicotine hunger, it is recommended to introduce more green vegetables and fruits rich in pectins (apples, oranges, apricots, plums) into the diet. Buckwheat, legumes, nuts will help fill the lack of nicotinic acid. To reduce nervousness and improve sleep, you can use a decoction of motherwort.
Restoration of taste sensations leads to increased appetite, which can negatively affect body weight. Therefore, do not abuse sweets and high-calorie foods.
Second and third month
In the lungs, the active recovery phase begins. Periodically, dry mouth, coughing, and sputum production may occur, especially with increased physical activity. But it's a good sign - it means the body has resources to cleanse itself.
The cardiovascular system also undergoes changes. At the end of the third month, the vascular tone returns to normal and the former smoker ceases to suffer from dizziness and migraines.
Important!The end of the three-month quitting period is a critical time when many start smoking again. Therefore, at this time it is necessary to stay away from temptations. Any attempt to smoke, "remembering" the taste of a cigarette can bring a person back into the ranks of smokers.
Fourth to sixth month
The work of the gastrointestinal tract is restored, the stool is normalized. The ability to fully absorb all the necessary nutrients returns to the intestines, which improves the condition of the skin. Peeling, itching, which could bother a person at the initial stage of quitting smoking, no longer bothers him.
Many ex-smokers notice that by the fifth or sixth month, it becomes easier to breathe, as if their lungs have expanded. This is a sign of restoration of the bronchopulmonary system. From this moment it is recommended to start doing sports.
Cycling and swimming are the best physical activity options for a still weak body.
seventh to ninth month
Coughing and sputum production at this stage are practically no longer a problem. It is permissible to introduce running and strength exercises into your training program.
At that time, many have forgotten the difficulties of the first weeks of quitting, but the force of habit is still great. It is important not to let the cigarette light up "on the machine", mechanically.
tenth to twelfth month
The physiological addiction to nicotine is completely overcome. However, the risk of returning to the old habit is still high, since many continue to experience psychological discomfort due to a change in their usual daily routine, the loss of certain elements of communication. Until a person learns to fill these psychological "voids", the desire to smoke a cigarette, to mind his "business", may continue to torment him from time to time.
Tips for people quitting smoking
An ex-smoker should not be criticized for any relapse. It is better to consolidate each of its successes, even the most insignificant, with positive emotions: praise, sincere admiration for the manifested will, a gift. Also, another step taken on the path to kicking a bad habit can be celebrated by spending free time together completely according to the quitter's wishes. Only positive emotions, manifestations of love from the closest people will give the cigarette smoker the mental strength necessary for change.
Is a diary useful?
As practice shows, the diary turns out to be a very effective tool for many in the fight against nicotine addiction. Here you can cast off all your negative emotions and celebrate successes at every stage of the throw. Studying other people's diaries and positive experiences of quitting smoking is inspiring like nothing else.