Things to Do to Take Your Mind Off Smoking Cigarettes

Having been a smoker for years, I know one of the hardest things you could ever do is attempting to quit smoking. Patches don't work, gum doesn't work and fake cigarettes are a replacement, not an aid. The fact is nothing you can do will take away those urges. The best you can hope for is to replace them. I find it funny when people say to suck on hard candy, because I've never seen this work for anyone or heard a smoker/ex smoker suggest it.

Ever noticed that when you're busy working you don't smoke? Hard to hold a cigarette and work with both hands at the same time isn't it? Keeping busy is important. Staying away from other smokers is key. Avoiding routines that would ordinarily make you reach for a cigarette can also help. The fact is it's not so much the addiction that gets you, it's the habit. Every time you get in the car, just like you are programmed to put your seat belt on, you are also programmed to grab a cigarette.

For me it's when I'm bored and doing nothing I want to go smoke every 5 minutes, just because I have nothing to do. So writing articles constantly extends the periods between smoking. Video games if they are addictive enough "for you" depending on the game are a good means of taking your mind off smoking. You may feel the urge to smoke but it subsides after 5 minutes and you forget all about it. You could get so interested in a game that you forget you wanted one.

Anything you can do to delay it is a good thing and will work you closer to that ultimate goal, if that is your ultimate goal of quitting smoking completely. Smoking is such a major habit it may be harder to control then drug use at times. Being widely accepted in some regions as a social protocol it's hard to stay away from.

Sometimes I think they should have a detox tank for smokers... Unfortunately they don't but there are places where smoking isn't allowed. Staying in those areas will help as well. If it's as habitual for you to follow the laws as smoking this is a good way to quit.

Most airports don't allow smoking in the terminals so if your going on a trip you may check in extremely early and detox inside the terminal, visiting shops and walking around. Another thing that works however is not suggested unless you have a really strong metabolism. Is to eat instead of smoking.

When you feel that urge to smoke consciously, replace it with another urge. Maybe sucking on a hard candy will work for you, it never did for me. Over time, this has the capacity to reprogram your brain to do this new habit every time something comes up. It has been said that within 24 hours the nicotine has completely left your system. You continue smoking afterwords on habit alone.

I've seen many people enter a jail house for 2-3 days no smoking. When they get out the guy who picks them up lights a cigarette and just like that he's back on. This is why it's so key to avoid other smokers. I've even seen people who have been in jail for years and not allowed to have a cigarette come out and immediately bum one once they see it.

What makes avoiding other smokers so hard is smoking seems to be a social networking act. Many people who smoke are grouped together and bonded by the very act that is killing them.

Coworkers take smoke breaks and talk outside. People in restaurants sometimes meet new people when they go out to smoke. The fact that you need a cigarette may even be enough encouragement to walk up to some one you don't even know and start up a conversation. Bumming a smoke is just the ice breaker and ordinarily, you may not ever walk up to a total stranger and start conversing. The fact that he/she, like you, is a smoker tells you right away subconsciously, "Hey this guy/gal gets me," and the next thing you know, you hit it off.

Smoking can also be a social taboo for those who don't smoke. Making it that much harder to meet non-smokers to hang out with while you detox. many non- smokers don't appreciate the smell of your smoke-ridden clothes. Your yellow teeth certainly don't attract them either. Then there's the fact that your always running off to get a smoke and leaving them behind, certainly you didn't expect them to come out and watch you smoke?

In order to quit smoking and make all these changes you can try going to non- smoking places and hanging out there. Try staying in the bar and if you talk to someone and suddenly have that urge to go out and smoke, instead order a drink or ask them to play a game of pool. Once you've met some one you can network with and through who is a nonsmoker going out to smoke could be detrimental to that relationship as well as your goal to stop smoking.

Yard work can keep you occupied but it must be intense yard work. If it's casual, you will likely find your hand that isn't busy trying to grab a cigarette before you know it. long walks are great but if they are outside walks where smoking is allowed, you run the risk of running into a smoker and starting the social thing. At the same time you may be losing momentum in your quitting. Eating can be good, but if you replace your habit of smoking after eating. You may find yourself perpetually eating!

Hope this helps and good luck with breaking that habit (it's not an addiction, it's a habit).