There is always a question among those who are preparing to quit smoking, and this is the search for a replacement for smoking when you want to smoke? If you listen to different advocates of a healthy lifestyle, then you can decide that if a person asks these and similar questions, it may indicate that he is not ready to give up smoking, or that he needs it. , or about their own strength. . .
But at the same time, we must not forget that nicotine addiction in the form of cigarettes is more than a physical addiction, a mental addiction, an unhealthy passion.
Clearly, when something is taken away from a person who is firmly entrenched in his life and a reason to feel positive, he begins to experience expressed anxiety, which then becomes the need to replace what has been taken away.
In addition, nature hates empty spaces, it needs to be filled with something. What will replace smoking in your situation? What can replace the bad habit of smoking?
Pros and cons. . .
Today, smokers have no difficulty answering the question of how to replace cigarettes with cigarettes. Everyone can find something that suits them, someone prefers so-called safe cigarettes: electronic or nicotine-free; others prefer lollipops or sugar pills; For some, chewing gum or seeds is the way out.
Unfortunately, all these substitutes have their drawbacks: lollipops damage teeth and figures, chewing gum increases gastric secretion, and e-cigarettes and nicotine-free cigarettes are not always effective for smoking.
What is the value of replacing cigarettes and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each "substitute"?
Smoking will replace lollipops
Many smokers who do not know how to replace their cigarettes start consuming large amounts of lollipops, candy bars or pills. It helps to fight the urge to smoke quite well, lozenges affect the receptors in the oral cavity and respiratory organs, to some extent replace smoking.
Mint-flavored candies are especially effective - they reduce the urge to smoke, refresh the breath and contain less sugar. The popularity of sweets as a substitute for cigarettes is well-founded: they are not addictive and really help to cope with the desire to smoke.
But if you replace the desire to smoke with sweets, then the number of calories, as well as sugar will exceed all reasonable norms, and therefore there will be problems with excess weight and impaired carbohydrate metabolism.
Chewing gum against smoking
Chewing gum can be divided into 2 main groups: ordinary and special ones containing nicotine. The first "work" on the same principle with sweets: to replace ordinary cigarettes with another action - chewing.
But when choosing a chewing gum with menthol or cinnamon, keep in mind that constant chewing increases the secretion of gastric juice, which increases the risk of gastritis and peptic ulcer. Nicotine gum contains nicotine and although it relieves the symptoms of smoking, it does not cure the urge to smoke.
E-cigarettes replace ordinary cigarettes
E-cigarettes are considered one of the most effective ways to combat nicotine addiction today. By completely replicating the appearance and lighting ritual of smoking, it helps to combat psychological addiction and smoking habit, and minimizes damage to the body due to the entry of steam, not cigarette smoke.
Unfortunately, this tool is not a panacea for smoking, inhalation of vapors can not replace the feeling of smoking, and e-cigarettes themselves are a common tool. Today, doctors and scientists are debating the benefits and harms of e-cigarettes, but this has already been proven experimentally: e-cigarettes replace ordinary cigarettes for those who want to quit themselves.
Nicotine-free cigarettes - comfortable and safe?
Nicotine-free cigarettes look and act like regular cigarettes, but they do not contain nicotine. These cigarettes are a real alternative to the usual ones, but it is recommended to use them only during the period of smoking cessation. Indeed, when nicotine-free cigarette smoke is inhaled, carbon monoxide resins, benzopyrene, and other components that are no less harmful to health also enter the body.
Other "substitutes" for cigarettes
You can replace smoking with seeds, drinking straw, chewing wooden sticks, or snacking instead of a smoke break. However, each method, in addition to its advantages, has many disadvantages, and whether it is worth changing one problem to another, each smoker must decide for himself.
Is it worth changing one dependency to another?
When you quit smoking, you should not think about how to replace it, you should "inspect" your incentives to quit smoking. And if the correct answer to the question "Why do I want to quit smoking" shows that the reason is not in the hatred of smoking, but in something, even with cigarette substitutes, quitting smoking may not be effective.
If the smoker finds something to replace the cigarette, then you should be prepared that there are no safe substitutes, ie there may be problems with the replacement.
Caramel or snacks - overweight, chewing gum - are not harmless for digestive disorders, vegetables and fruits, and even in quantities comparable to the number of cigarettes smoked per day.
Chewing all kinds of sticks, from matches to tree branches, is not harmless. The matches are impregnated with a burning compound, which, to put it mildly, is not beneficial to humans, and tree branches can have side effects and simply be unpleasant to the taste.
In any case, it is important to understand that you should not chase two rabbits at once, and the loss of an extra candy and a kilogram of excess weight is greater than the harm of smoking for a day or two. You don't have to rely on sweets for years after quitting - a week, two, and so on.
It depends on you! What do you want to achieve, a healthy life, even with minor complications in the first place, or smoking for years?