How to Stop Smoking Gradually

Most people know the statistics related to smoking well enough to know that they need to quit. Many have tried in one fashion or another to cut smoking from their lives, whether with patches, gum or just quitting cold turkey. Most who try to make a sudden change of that magnitude find that they're back in the same smoking habit just days or weeks later. Here is one way to stop smoking gradually.

Instructions

• 1

  Join with like-minded people. If you're comfortable joining a smoking-cessation class, do it. If not, you can find the same support system by going online and joining a forum discussion or simply communicating with people who are also trying to quit.

• 2

  Inform your family of your intentions. This will ensure that they don't offer you a cigarette when you're likely to have a hard time resisting. Ask them to try to resist smoking in the same room as you.

• 3

  Discard all ashtrays in your home but one. Resist the temptation to carry the ashtray to different rooms in the house, but designate one room your smoking area.

• 4

  Calculate how many cigarettes on average you currently smoke per day, and decrease that by two for the next week. If you smoke a pack a day, two may not seem like much, but now you're smoking less than a pack a day, which raises your confidence that you will be able to quit.

• 5

  Get involved in something new. If you're an outdoor person, spend time hiking or fishing (but leave the cigarettes at home). If you have always wanted to get into acting, enroll in an acting class. The key is to stay busy enough that you don't automatically think of smoking.

• 6

  Continue to decrease the number of cigarettes you smoke each day, being careful not to transition too quickly. Don't think that just because you go from smoking 20 cigarettes to 15 cigarettes in one week that you can drop down to 10 cigarettes the next week. Give yourself time to wean off of the nicotine just as you would wean off a doctor-prescribed medication.

• 7

  Celebrate. When you've reached a point where you're down to one or two cigarettes a day, invite some friends over for a "just about there" party. This is where you celebrate the positive changes you've made in your life. If you are ready to commit to going cigarette-free, this is the time to announce it. Otherwise, continue on your path until two cigarettes a day becomes one, and then half, and then none.