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Down Shift
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| Quitting Smoking |
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Smoking is a powerful addiction, but it can be beat.
Take it one gear at a time.
Smoking cigarettes tops the list of major risk factors for heart and blood vessel disease. Almost one-fifth of deaths from heart disease are caused by smoking. Smoking also harms thousands of nonsmokers who are exposed to cigarette smoke.
When you quit smoking, your risk of heart disease and stroke starts to drop. In time, your risk will be about the same as if you'd never smoked.
How Can I Quit Smoking?
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If quitting cold-turkey seems too hard,
Downshift Your Smoking. |
Try these four steps to giving up gradually:
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Step One
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 | List your reasons to quit and read them several times a day.
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| Wrap your cigarette pack with paper and rubber bands. Each time you smoke, write down the time of day, how you feel, and how important that cigarette is to you on a scale of 1 to 5.
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| Rewrap the pack.
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Step Two
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| Keep reading your list of reasons and add to it if you can.
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| Don't carry matches, and keep your cigarettes out of easy reach.
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| Each day, try to smoke fewer cigarettes, and try not to smoke the ones that aren't most important.
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Step Three
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| Continue with Step Two. Set a target date to quit.
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| Don't buy a new pack until you finish the one you're smoking.
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| Change brands twice during the week, each time for a brand lower in tar and nicotine.
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| Try to stop for 48 hours at one time.
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Step Four
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| Quit smoking completely. Throw out all cigarettes and matches. Hide lighters and ashtrays.
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| Stay busy! When you are home: exercise, take long walks, go bike riding. When you are on the road, find healthy substitutes for smoking. Carry sugarless gum or artificially sweetened mints. Munch carrots or celery sticks.
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| Avoid situations and "triggers" you relate with smoking.
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| Do deep breathing exercises when you get the urge to smoke. |
What happens if I smoke again?
It's hard to stay a nonsmoker once you've had a cigarette, so do everything you can to avoid that "one." The urge to smoke will pass. The first 2 to 5 minutes resisting this urge will be the toughest. If you do smoke again after quitting:
| This doesn't mean you're a smoker again—do something now to get back on track.
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| Don't punish or blame yourself—tell yourself you're still a nonsmoker.
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| Think about why you smoked and decide what to do the next time it comes up.
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| Sign a contract to stay a nonsmoker. |
Source: American Heart Association
If you have diabetes and smoke...
Three considerations for diabetics trying to quit smoking:
| 1. | Blood sugar control: Since nicotine interferes with the function of insulin in the body, blood sugar control is more difficult while smoking. You may be able to reduce your doses of insulin or other medications once you quit. Therefore, closer monitoring of sugars during the early weeks after quitting is very important.
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| 2. | Weight gain: Many people are concerned about weight gain when quitting smoking. For the diabetic patient, weight gain is a particularly important concern especially if his/her blood sugars are not in good control to begin with. But over the long run, modest weight gain carries many fewer health risks than continued smoking for a diabetic patient.
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| 3. | Depression: Diabetics are three to four times more likely to experience depression than non-diabetics, and depression can greatly interfere with attempts to quit smoking. |
Your doctor can provide more information about programs
to quit smoking.
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