<
p>Stop smoking side effects can feel very debilitating in the short term. If you stop smoking you might feel anxious, irritable, depressed and short tempered for a couple of days. These are due to withdrawal symptoms that you will experience from your addiction to nicotine.
But in the long term - what are the side effects of stopping smoking? Very little! In fact, the side effects of stopping smoking in long term are:
1. Better health and living longer
2. Sweeter smelling breath
3. Being fitter
4. Having more money!
The benefits of stopping smoking is what should be kept most in mind when you want to stop smoking. Think of the long term benefits and try and deal with the short term side effects accordingly. In other words, in the short term you will be irritable and anxious and you will crave cigarettes. Try and make provision for dealing with these symptoms and plan your stop smoking effort accordingly.
2. Alternative therapies such as Tai Chi, Yoga or other exercises will relieve stress and give you a new focus in your live. It therefore assists both physically as well as on a mental level since you will automatically feel more healthy, energised and motivated if you exercise during this period. Exercise also releases endorphins in your brain and this helps you attain a natural high that will help with reducing the craving (admittedly, this is the theory. A smoker who starts doing exercise for the first time after smoking heavily for a while should probably not start with heavy aerobics but rather with exercises that won't place such a strain on the respiration system (such as Yoga or Tai Chi).
4. You can also try other medical treatments such as Zyban, but be careful! Zyban is seen as some miracle drug since it severely reduces the craving for cigarettes. But Zyban itself, even though it has been approved by the FDA as an anti-depressant has about as many side effects as the effects of stopping smoking cold turkey. If you are prone to fits, or suffer from epilepsy you should warn your doctor about this when discussing whether to take Zyban. The other side effects are very much like the side effects of nicotine withdrawal symptoms in any case - irritation, insomnia, depression, dry mouth, so using Zyban might not help with the actual side effects.
In the end you should consider the long term beneficial 'side effects' of stopping smoking against the short term pain.
Your first priority therefore must be to give up smoking. You will feel better, healthier and more energetic.
3. Laser treatment is the latest thing in stop smoking therapies. It also releases endorphins (without having to go through the pain of exercising first!) to give the body a natural feel-good feeling that will help with reducing the craving for cigarettes.
What can you do to help get over this period?
1. Putting on weight. Most smokers who stop smoking DO put on some extra weight. To prevent this you should watch what you eat and not replace your smoking addiction with a chocolate addiction! Drink lots of water and exercise. You health is much more at risk by you smoking than by you putting on a couple of pounds.
1. You can use medical treatments, such as Nicotine Replacement Therapy. This can help with the physical cravings since your body will still be able to get a small dosage of nicotine that is slowly released into your body. But note - using NRT aids on their own (for example nicotine gum, nicotine inhalers or nicotine patches) will not let you stop smoking. You still need to have the willpower and to be able to see the long term benefits. Beware of smoking while you are using the patches or the gum! This is probably one of the most common pitfalls of using these aids since there is almost the expectation that these aids will automatically stop your smoking for you. Not so - your own willpower still plays a role.
Most smokers who quit usually put on 5 to 8 pounds of weight. This should not be considered a dangerous side effect. You should remember that smoking is much more injurious to health than gaining weight. You can always reduce weight through exercise, dieting or Yoga. But you can't undo the damage caused by smoking to your health.
2. Not being able to socialize with the same circle of friends, especially if those friends smoke. This is a difficult one. It is almost inevitable that smokers have other smokers for friends. This is where you need to try and gain their support for your efforts. If they do not support your efforts you should consider asking yourself if they are really your friends!
Lastly, the two most feared side effects of stopping smoking are the following:
Stop smoking side effects can feel very debilitating in the short term. If you stop smoking you might feel anxious, irritable, depressed and short tempered for a couple of days. These are due to withdrawal symptoms that you will experience from your addiction to nicotine.
Previous article: 11 February 2007
|
Home
