Does smoking encourage other addictive behaviors? Here’s the cold, hard truth: a large percentage of smokers engage in other unhealthy habits such as alcohol consumption, drinking too much coffee, overeating, and even gambling.

How many smokers do you know who absolutely must have a cup of java with their morning cigarette? What about that cloud of smoke hanging over the lounge or bar?

Think for a moment about your daily routine and the things you do while smoking. Do you have any other addictive or compulsive habits that seem to go hand in hand?

If you answered yes, don’t fret. By taking the first step towards stopping smoking, you’ll find it easier to eliminate other harmful habits.

One Addiction At A Time

The secret to success is to tackle your first goal of quitting smoking before attempting to work on any other addictive habits.

You’ll also want to avoid adopting any new bad habits or behaviors during the first few weeks you wage battle against nicotine. Many people find themselves unintentionally substituting food as a replacement for cigarettes as they try to quit smoking.

To make matters worse, the types of food or drink they usually crave the most are high calorie sweets and snack foods or sugary soft drinks. Unfortunately the end result is often a noticeable amount of weight gain within a few months. While they may have succeeded in quitting smoking, they now have to deal with excess weight and all the related health problems.

Beat The Physical And Psychological Addiction So You Can Stop Smoking

In order to quit smoking, you need to know what causes or contributes to your addictive behaviors. When smokers talk about their inability to stop smoking, they’ll often mention an overpowering nicotine craving.

Although there’s no doubt that smoking causes a physical addiction in the body, smokers experience a psychological dependence too. This mental dependence can be just as challenging to overcome.

Consider the following scenario:

A man who has smoked for twenty years finally decides to quit smoking. He experiences a great deal of frustration and anxiety for the first three weeks as he tries to stop smoking. But gradually, he succeeds in kicking his smoking addiction.

However, several months after this success he learns that his company is downsizing and he is under great pressure to complete additional new tasks while his job is hanging in the balance. As the stress begins to get unbearable, his urge to smoke returns stronger than ever.

Although the nicotine is gone from his bloodstream, his mind still remembers the pleasant, relaxing feeling associated with smoking. He mentally links smoking with relief from stress. Those two things, stress and smoking, are wired together in his emotional fusebox. In order to cope with this new stress, he resorts to old behaviors.

Why Quitting Smoking is Harder For Some People

If you’ve compared notes with other smokers, you know that some of them simply decided to quit smoking and did it. Cold turkey. No regrets. Then there are those who struggle for years, stopping smoking only to resume again. And again.

Why do some people have so much trouble and stress when trying to stop smoking while others seem to sail through it? Many scientists and physicians believe this is strongly related to the individual’s mental well-being and mindset.

People who have trouble trying to stop smoking often have personal beliefs that are self defeating. A person may have every intention of stopping smoking but if they don’t have the correct, positive mindset the task may seem nearly impossible and backsliding inevitable.

Negative Beliefs Make It Harder to Quit Smoking

The following list contains some self defeating thoughts and behaviors that can hinder your goal of stopping smoking. These negative attitudes can make it increasingly difficult to break any type of bad habit or addiction, whether it’s smoking, gambling, drinking, or some other unwanted habit.

So whatever it is you’re trying to give up, try to give up these attitudes first:

1. Misplaced blame. How many times have you heard someone say: “I could stop smoking if I didn’t have to deal with my boss, children, spouse, etc” In order to quit smoking or break any type of negative habit, you first need to accept responsibility for your actions.

2. Inability to cope. Many smokers feel they can’t deal with the pain, stress, or frustration of everyday life. Smoking is a crutch that enables them to function properly. By accepting and dealing with your emotional turmoil, you’ll greatly increase your chances of stopping smoking.

3. Overwhelmed by addiction. Some people may feel that stopping smoking is completely out of their control. Their addiction is such an important part of their life that they feel quitting smoking is unattainable.

4. Denial. Before you can stop smoking, first recognize and acknowledge there is a problem. You’ve probably heard some people say they can quit smoking any time they want to. While this may be true for a few individuals, most often it’s not the case. If you have been smoking for a long time, your body has developed an addiction and you may need help to beat it.

Prescriptions Medication To Help You Stop Smoking

After you’ve developed a positive attitude about quitting smoking, the next step is to choose a method with a high success rate.

Today there are many new drugs on the market that make the physical discomfort of stopping smoking more tolerable. The most notable is a prescription product called Chantix.

Chantix helps you stop smoking by lessening the effects of nicotine on the body and reducing both the cravings and unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. Smokers should start taking Chantix a full week before they actually intend to quit smoking. This enables the amount of the active ingredient in Chantix to build up in your system, which will make stopping smoking less stressful and physically less uncomfortable.

However, the commitment to quit has to be part of any program. On average, only 6% will be successful in quitting during their first attempt. Finding the willpower to make the decision a permanent thing is the key to success.

We all make small choices in any area of life. However, the big choices are rarely a matter of snapping the mental fingers and opting for a course of action. More thought and effort than that is needed. It is those twin helpers that are the link between willpower and achievement.

One of the major factors as to why people smoke is stress. And we all know that stress keeps on coming year after year. Something happens in our lives and we feel stress, therefore reaching for a cigarette to restore calm.

It is possible to interrupt that journey at several points along that moving train of events.

Begin slowly. Search for those times when reaching for a cigarette is just down to habit. The first thing you do in the morning is reach for a cigarette. If this is the case, then put them out of the way and exert willpower so as not to get them.

Delay your after dinner cigarette for a few minutes more to begin with and then longer and longer. It is these small victories that will reduce the quantity of cigarettes that you smoke every day and strengthen your willpower.

As your control over impulses is better gained, your self-confidence will grow. You will feel in control. This will reinforce the feeling of willpower, and you can direct events rather than them directing you.

The next thing to look at is the long term plan. Select a day to stop smoking. Estimate what date you will run out of cigarettes. Remind yourself of the high price of cigarettes, not only in dollars, but also health wise, and prevent yourself from buying anymore.

The first two weeks will be hard, which will make the largest demands on your willpower. The cravings will also be at their strongest during this time. The chemical changes that take place in your body will adjust to lower levels of dopamine, therefore flushing smoke ingredient-created compounds out of your body which will create an urge to resume.

Think of the long term consequences in order to help yourself. Keep photos of diseased lungs around the house and remember the times when you were short of breath when walking up a hill. Assist your willpower in every way possible.

Sticking to the plan for life is what follows next. This is the really hard part. Willpower not only selects an action today, but directs your life towards a better horizon.