Finally stop smoking – the plan is standing. But it usually doesn’t work on the first attempt. If you know typical pitfalls, you can learn from it. There are six tips here.
At the beginning of the hard reality check: Most people who-for example at the turn of the year-fail the intent “Now I stop smoking”. Of 100 people who have the so-called “New Year’s Method”, 95 percent smoke again after one year, says addiction doctor Tobias Rüther from the LMU Klinikum Munich.
Now pop up in your head the thought “Then I don’t need to try it”? Don’t be discouraged. “The average smoker needs six attempts to stop in life to complete smoke freedom. So every attempt counts,” says Tobias Rüther.
And it is worthwhile to tackle the smoking stop. Around 131,000 people died of health consequences in smoking in 2023. This corresponds to about every seventh death (13.7 percent), according to the new tobaccoat las of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ).
And you can do a lot yourself to increase the chances that it will work with the smoke stop next time.
1. Define your stop day-and tell everyone about it
This can be the first day of the year or the new month, but also every other day of the year. “All studies say: The day the patients choose is the right day,” says Tobias Rüther. It is only important that you set it – and that you can handle cigarettes and everything that reminds you of smoking. On day X it should not fail because a half -full box is seductively on the kitchen table.
Another trick: “tell as many people as possible that you want to stop. So that it is really embarrassing if you don’t go through it,” says Tobias Rüther.
2. Think in days and weeks – and not “forever”
I will never smoke again! Those who put their goal so large build up all the greater pressure – under which you throw the plan faster. Addiction doctor Rüther advises to think in small steps, in weeks and days. “This is how you can say: I want to be smoke -free for a day and when that is done, I reward myself.”
3. Rewards are a must – treat yourself to something
By the way, rewarding yourself is essential. After all, the cigarette for the brain of smokers is also nothing more than that, a reward. The nicotine that floods into the brain triggers pleasant feelings like relaxation. If you no longer smoke, you have to get this feeling of well -being in a different way – just through other rewards, as Tobias Rüther explains.
How they can look is very individual. Perhaps you treat yourself to a sauna visit or a dinner in the restaurant after the first smoke-free week. And after half a year a special vacation in a hotel that you would otherwise not have treated yourself to. “Because you save money by stopping the smoke, you suddenly have it for it,” said Rüther.
In any case, it is worth focusing on what you win through the smoke stop – not on what you supposedly lose. “For example, you win that you don’t have to cough freely in the morning,” says Ursula Sellerberg from the Federal Chamber of Pharmacists.
And also time: If you have plugged in a tilt 20 times a day, you can easily have an hour more a day. It is best to think of how you can make it really nice.
4. Understand your smoke behavior – and find alternatives
For coffee, while waiting when everything is stressful and a lot: smokers: inside connect very certain situations with a cigarette. “If you go to the bus stop and have to wait ten minutes there, the brain wants to smoke. Even if you just had a cigarette,” says Tobias Rüther.
If you want to break the cigarette successfully, you have to deal with exactly this key stimuli – and consider alternatives to smoking in advance. “This preparation is extremely important,” says the specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
There are many options: Briefly listen to an exciting audio book or turn on your favorite song loudly. For the other, movement works, once the stairs run and briefly on the fresh air, “which you can really find fresh when you no longer smoke,” says Tobias Rüther.
Breathing exercises and relaxation exercises can also help. “Or if you want to put yourself in your mouth instead of the cigarette, you can prepare vegetable sticks,” says Rüther. “Or you take a piece of ginger and bite on it, that is also a charm.”
Either way, it is worth defusing dangerous situations in advance. If you always smoke at the meeting with friends, for example to ask: “Please no longer offer me cigarettes in the future.”
5. Let me help – for example by nicotine replacement products
Particularly strong smokers: Inside, who have already started attempts to stop, know that not only is the head that misses the cigarette and the rituals around it. It is also the body that lacks nicotine.
How strong the physical dependency is can be found with the so-called Fagerström test. Among other things, it is asked when you smoke the first cigarette in the morning, how much you smoke at all, whether you do it when you are sick in bed.
People with strong dependency in particular can help drug support – in the form of nicotine replacement products or medication. However, the helpers from the pharmacy do not regulate the matter with the smoke exit: “You really have to want to stop,” says Ursula Sellerberg.
-
Medicines: There are three medication that can support a smoke stop in accordance with the medical guidelines. They are all subject to prescription, so you have to obtain medical advice beforehand whether they can be useful.
-
Nicotine replacement products: Nicotine substitute products replace the nicotine of the non -smoked cigarettes and thus springs physical withdrawal symptoms. And without the body with the many pollutants that arise when the tobacco is burned, as Ursula Sellerberg explains.
They are available as chewing gums, plasters or oral sprays in the pharmacy. Paving creates a continuous nicotine level, while chewing gum and sprays are suitable to cushion acute hiepers. It is best to drive with a combination, says Tobias Rüther.
However, the addiction doctor observes that many people make a mistake when it comes to nicotine replacement products. “They say, ‘I’m proud, I haven’t smoked for a week – now I’m going to put my nicotine off.’ Then they get cravings again. ” According to him, the products should be dosed so high that you can no longer experience withdrawal symptoms. And you should take them for two months – this is the period of time it takes for behavioral changes to actually establish themselves.
Find ways to stay motivated – alone or with others
As with any change of behavior, they are also available at the smoke stop – the moments when it is difficult to remain motivated. So you can counteract them:
-
Progress making visible: “Some of our patients get the seven euros that a box costs cigarettes when cash and thus fill a glass every day,” says Tobias Rüther. That makes success visible.
-
Complete with others: for example in weaning courses, where you can exchange ideas with others and build up each other. If the course offer is certified by the Central Testing Center Prevention, the statutory health insurance companies participate in the costs.
Read more on utopia.de:
- Country in Europe is becoming smoke -free: How it did
- Mindfulness in everyday life: With these 4 tips you can reduce stress
- Doing: This is how you find the right sport
** marked with ** or orange underlined Links to sources of supply are partially partner links: If you buy here, you will actively support Techzle\.com, because we will then receive a small part of the sales proceeds. More information.