Quitting Smoking: Tips For The First Hard Days

The first week or so after you quit smoking is typically the most agonising part. Both your brain and body are being denied something they've become dependent on. While this can lead to unpleasant physical and psychological symptoms, there are things you can do to take the edge off a bit.

Nicotine Withdrawals: What Can I Expect?

Whether you quit smoking with the help of e-cig kits or go cold turkey, you’re going to feel a level of discomfort as a result of the nicotine withdrawal when you quit smoking. Physically, your body is reacting to the absence of not only nicotine, but the countless other substances present in tobacco that you've been habitually inhaling.

Symptoms akin to the flu are commonly reported during the first couple of weeks of abstinence from smoking. Additionally, you might experience irritability, anxiety, and increased appetite. The level of discomfort you'll suffer depends in part on how well you look after yourself during this period.

Minimizing The Effects Of Nicotine Withdrawal

Making the decision to give up cigarettes is the first -and often the most difficult - step in the process. While you can't avoid the physical and mental effects of withdrawal from nicotine altogether, you can work towards making them a bit easier to put up with.

Write down a list of reasons why you want to quit and read it on a daily basis. It will remind you why you're doing this in the first place when things get difficult. Also, why not implement some of the following strategies into your quitting routine?

Maintain A Healthy And Balanced Diet

Your body’s working in overdrive to extinguish harmful chemicals during the withdrawal period, using up huge amounts of your energy. This is why you’ll want to opt for foods that will provide you with the high-quality fuel you need—fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins—and avoid the useless calories of processed and fast food.

Not only this, but unhealthier foods are also said to enhance the taste of cigarettes. This might sound ridiculous but hear us out.

An American study (The effects of foods, beverages, and other factors on cigarette palatability) found that certain foods, like meat, make cigarettes taste better and even provide them with a more satisfying hit.

Healthier food options like fruit, vegetables are supposed to significantly hinder the taste of tobacco. So consider swapping your usual burger or bacon sarnie for an omelette, or your sausage roll for a vegan one.

Try To Eat At Least Three Meals A Day

Skipping any of the main three meals will most likely result in low blood sugar levels, triggering the desire for a cigarette. It also tends to result in frequent snacking. Try to have three large or five smaller meals per day.

Keep Active

Exercise can help distract you from tobacco cravings or slightly reduce their intensity at the very least. Even very short bouts of exercise can satiate a tobacco craving. Get some fresh air and sunshine, and go for a walk or brisk jog. If you're pent up inside at home or at work, see if squats, deep knee bends, pushups or running on the spot helps.

Stay Hydrated

Water aids in expelling residual toxins from smoking from your body at a faster rate. It also works well at curbing your tobacco cravings, filling you up so you won’t eat as much. As water is an essential part of your diet and daily life regardless of whether you smoke or not, keeping hydrated will help you feel better overall, which will make it easier to deal with nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

Caffeine and alcohol, on the other hand, may negatively affect your mood and are well-known triggers that will make you want to smoke.

Try And Relax

Smoking is a way many people cope with stressful situations and fighting the desire for a cigarette can be stressful in itself. Experiment with other ways of calming yourself down such as deep-breathing exercises, yoga, muscle relaxation or listening to mellow or ambient music.

Don’t panic when you feel like you need a cigarette. Just take some moments to concentrate on your breathing. Close your eyes, and inhale and exhale. Let the craving The craving will subside and you’ll feel great for having overcome it successfully.

Keep Your Mind Off It

Avoid letting urges to smoke run occupy your mind. Identify your triggers and take action to improve your mindset. Make a list of healthy and productive activities you can do when you start craving a cigarette, like household chores you’ve been putting off for a while or some of your favourite hobbies.

Make Sure You’re Getting Enough Sleep

Quitting smoking is a tiring process and both your mind and body are under a lot of stress. Try adjusting your sleep schedule and getting an earlier night to see if it helps your energy levels return to normal.

Seek Out Non-Smoking Areas

When a tobacco craving hits, try and go somewhere that you won’t be able to spark up a cigarette, if you can. Cinemas, libraries and shops are all places where you can’t smoke and generally do not offer designated smoking areas. The more distracting a place is, the easier it will be to ignore a tobacco craving.

Occupy Your Mouth With Something Else

A large part of a cigarette craving is having something to do with your mouth. When you feel an urge to smoke coming along, instead opt for some chewing gum, a healthy snack or if you’re really craving a smoke, a vape kit.

Mouth-to-lung (MTL) devices mimic the motion of smoking, offering a tighter draw akin to taking a drag on a cigarette. Most of these devices have refillable tanks/pods that you can fill with your favourite vape juice.

Take Notice Of The Rewards

List the positive changes that come from smoking cessation as and when you notice them. They can include saving money, your senses of smell and taste improving and having more energy. When a craving hits, go over your list as a reminder of how far you’ve come since quitting.

A final word from us

Quitting smoking can be very difficult and takes a lot of trial and error, some of the team at Ecigwizard know this better than anyone. This is why we do our best to make this process at least a little bit easier for you with our extensive range of vape kits, e-liquids, nicotine pouches and other tools to kickstart your journey to a smoke-free future.

For a bit of inspiration, have a read of this quitting success story from one of our team members and learn how he made use of vape kits and e-liquids to ditch cigarettes entirely.

To learn about everything there is to know about vaping, please read our vape guide.