Figuring Out the Quit Smoking Symptoms
Every time a person attempts to quit smoking, they experience a variety of quit smoking symptoms that make their lives a bit more difficult. Sometimes, it’s not always the addiction that makes quitting complicated, but the physical, psychological and emotional symptoms associated with it.
These symptoms often affect the success of giving up smoking. They are irresistible that smokers end up lighting another cigarette once again. And as a solution, quitters should be able to understand how these symptoms occur and the possible ways to overcome it.
What are the common quit smoking symptoms and how to overcome it?
1. Cravings – Nicotine has been part of your body for a long time. You’ve become dependent and addicted to the taste of nicotine, thus a few hours or days after you started stopping smoking you can feel an irresistible cravings for cigarettes. You can feel the urge to smoke once again. If you can’t fight it off, there’s a greater possibility that you’ll start smoking again.
Distract yourself to overcome your cravings. Make yourself busy at work or do some household chores. You can also chew gums instead of smoking. The cravings will only last for a few minutes, and they’ll become fewer and farther as time goes by.
2. Occurrence of upper respiratory infections – This is a common episode after quitting smoking. Chest infections such as cough, colds and sore throat occur as the lungs start cleaning themselves naturally. When smoking, the lungs cannot work normally as it should be. Thus, to remove the mucus stuck up in your lungs for many years, your body tries to cleanse itself by removing stored mucus. This is perfectly normal as a response to the preceding irritation, and they will subside after a few months quitting.
Increase your oral fluid intake to enhance the removal of mucus and relieve the symptoms of sore throat. Eat a healthy diet such as fruits and vegetables to hasten the healing process.
3. Changes in behavior – As a stimulant, nicotine increases how your brain works. However, as soon as you quit, you get to experience the opposite effects of nicotine. You can experience intense irritability, anger, anxiety, and depression. You can become quirky and unpleasant company. However, these can subside in one to two months.
Herbal teas are great in providing a relaxed and calm mind. They work best in fighting off anxiety. You can also try engaging in relaxing activities, it can be meditation or listening to a soothing music. Play along your friends and families.
4. Increased appetite – Extreme hunger can be associated to lack of nicotine. Nicotine raises your blood sugar level than any other foods or drinks do.
To relieve this, you can drink a lot of juices while you quit smoking. Low-calorie vegetables and other healthy and nutritious snacks are recommended. Don’t eat foods rich in fats and calories such as sweets as these can greatly increase your weight.
These are the common symptoms that you can experience while quitting smoking. It does not necessarily mean that you will experience all of this at one time. You can experience only one or two of these when quitting. Don’t make these symptoms discourage you as there are many ways to overcome it. If you are willing to give up smoking, you must also prepare yourself to experience difficult symptoms along the way.