Both self-help groups and clinics offer the quit smoking support programs. Most of these programs are run by professionals and can be customized to meet your needs. You can either attend an intensive quit smoking support program that runs for a week to fifteen days or enroll yourself for weekly sessions.
The popularity of the quit smoking support programs is mainly due to the extensive counseling that they provide to smokers. They teach you to deal with withdrawal symptoms. Meditation can help.
They also provide you support and guidance at every step by understanding your problems. You can talk with the counselors even after you have finished the program. This can help prevent a relapse.
Besides counseling, most quit smoking support programs also prescribe nicotine replacement therapy or NRT. Some also suggest medication like Zyban. Meditation is that experience where one’s consciousness becomes engrossed and merged with the object of meditation.
You can also choose from alternative treatments like hypnosis procedures, acupressure and meditation though these are often not very successful. Do what works best to help you to stop smoking, that is what is so very important.
Zyban creates a false feeling of pleasure in the person, a feeling that is similar to the one experienced while smoking. This drug should be taken strictly under medical supervision. It has a few side effects associated with it, and should be avoided by people suffering from heart disease, epilepsy and pregnant women.Beginning with the toes on your left foot, tense the muscles in those toes for a count of three, then slowly release the tension in the toes, and feel a calm return to the toe area. You need support during this difficult time so please talk with someone about it who can provide you with that help.
Do the same with the toes on the right foot.
Since the chances of a relapse are very high, most quit smoking support programs have a 24-hour help line service where counselors listen to queries and provide solutions. At the end of a program the smokers are given listening and reading material to reinforce their resolve to quit smoking.
Quit smoking support can also be extended by friends and family members. They can play a big role in keeping their friend or relative occupied. They can also help in preventing relapse by urging the smokers to return to the quit smoking support program if the need arises.
The advantage with NRT is that it reduces your craving for nicotine. You can use NRT in the form of gums, patches, sprays and inhalers. Though gums and patches are available over the counter other forms of NRT can be taken only under medical supervision. They reduce your nicotine dependency by releasing a small quantity of nicotine into the body. The dosage can be regulated to control the withdrawal symptoms, and stopped completely once your urge to smoke disappears.
Meditation can help.Good luck on your way to a new fresh non smoking world, you are really going to love it.
