Tag: smoking

Many people use tobacco to manage stress-and return to old habits in times of stress. If you currently use tobacco/nicotine products to manage stress, it is very likely your mind will go there in times of stress in the future. If you have quit, having a plan for when stress increases will help you from returning to tobacco/nicotine.

What is stress?

Stress is normal and can be a healthy, productive force in your life. Stress can have a good or bad effect on you depending on:

*  The type of stress

*  The amount of stress

*  How well you deal with stress

“Good” stress can help you pay attention, stay focused, feel challenged, stay interested, and complete tasks.

“Bad” stress or chronic stress is intense stress over a long period of time. You may not be able to manage this stress as you would like. You tend to stay tense and don’t or can’t relax after things are once again under control. In our modern world, there are many things that can “push your buttons” and stress can become a way of life.

When we have too much stress to manage, our bodies can be more prone to illness-heart disease, cancer, ulcers, asthma, and colitis.

The stress response is the way your body and mind react to change. Our bodies have an inborn “fight or flight” response to a stressor:

*  Heart rate and breathing speed up

*  Blood pressure rises

*  Blood moves away from the internal organs to the muscles

*  Muscles tense

*  Sweating occurs

*  Blood sugar (glucose) increase which gives the muscles and brain a lift

Create Your Stress Strategy

1. Explore what causes you stress and how you react to these stressors.

2. Identify stressors that can be reduced.

3. Learn tools to reduce the feeling of stress, even with the same trigger.

4. Learn ways to manage the stress that remains.

Know Your Stressors

Everyone reacts differently to stress. In order to manage stress, you need to find out the source of your stress and how you react to it.

1. Look at the list that follows and think about stressors in your life. Check off any that apply to you right now or that are common stressors for you. Knowing your stressors will help you better prepare for triggers.

2. In the space next to each, write how you react to these stressors. What do you do? How do you feel?

What you eat or drink and how you eat or drink can influence your urges for tobacco products. By working on quitting, you are taking an important step to manage what goes into your body.

*  Drink at least 8 glasses of low-sugar, natural liquids per day: water, herbal tea, sparkling water. This will make you feel less hungry and give your body the water it needs to function. Water is important for clearing toxins from the body.

*  Eat small, nutrient-dense meals and snacks throughout the day. This will help your blood sugar and energy stay steady and avoid feeling too tired during the day. You will also get the fuel your body needs.

*  Eat protein as part of all meals and most snacks: lean meats, fish, poultry, low-fat cheese, nut butters, nuts, and seeds. These foods are full of nutrients and help give you even energy throughout the day. They are also filling, so you will find you don’t reach for as many snacks.

*  Eat plenty of vegetables, fruits, and salads. These foods are filling, vitamin-rich, and low in calories.

*  Eat foods high in calcium, such as dairy or calcium-fortified juice. Smoking can add to your chances of having brittle bones, so extra calcium may be needed.

*  Avoid high sugar foods. Look at food labels to spot added sugars. “Sweets” are not the only culprit! Cutting out added sugar helps prevent your blood sugar from going too high or too low. Low blood sugar can trigger an urge.

*  Cut down on coffee, tea, colas, and other caffeinated drinks. These drinks are often tied to a smoking habit. Cutting out caffeine, even temporarily, while you are quitting, can help reduce urges.

*  Avoid alcohol. Alcohol causes blood sugar to rise. Your habit may also be linked to drinking habits. Alcohol can lessen your desire to quit in the moment.

*  After eating, brush your teeth and rinse with mouthwash. The minty fresh taste in your mouth won’t go well with tobacco. It also helps scramble your old routine, if you smoked after a meal.

All physical activity has benefits for the body and mind. View exercise as a break from your day. Use this time to focus on the present, instead of past or future problems and worries. What are your favorite ways to be physically active?

Physical activity can help you quit and stay quit. It can also improve your energy level, ability to learn, and focus.

Emotional Health

Exercise releases endorphins and increases levels of serotonin and dopamine in the brain. These brain chemicals help create feelings of happiness and euphoria. You may start to feel these benefits after just a few minutes of moderate exercise. This leads to a happiness buzz and overall mood boost!

Stress Management

Norepinephrine is a chemical that can moderate the brain’s response to stress. Exercise helps to increase that chemical. Exercise can decrease worry and tension. These may be triggers for you to smoke, dip, or vape. Exercise also enhances the mind’s ability to deal with daily stressors. Managing stressors can reduce urges to reach for your old habit. The calming effect of exercise can last at least four hours after the exercise is over.

Physical Health

Exercise helps strengthen your muscles and bones. This helps you have good posture and keeps your joints and body more aligned. Exercise strengthens your heart muscle so your heart is more efficient. This also helps reduce your risk of having a heart attack or blood clot. Exercise can also help lower your blood pressure. Your ability to breathe also improves, especially as you reduce and eliminate smoking. Exercise improves the circulation of immune cells in your blood that fight off viruses and bacteria. Exercise also helps combat damage done to cells, tissues, and organs.

Recommendation: Be physically active for at least 2 ½ hours (150 minutes) per week. You can do this for 10, 15, 20, or 30 minutes at a time. Consult your doctor before beginning an exercise routine if you:

*  Have a chronic health problem, such as heart disease or diabetes.

*  Have high blood pressure.

*  Feel faint or dizzy when you try to exercise.

*  Have an injury or bone or joint problems, such as arthritis, that have been or could become aggravated by exercise.

Reduce Sit-Time

Find ways to move more throughout the day.

*  Set an alarm on your watch or phone to get up every hour, if sitting.

*  Stretch and walk for a few minutes to get more oxygen flowing through your body.

*  Drink water regularly so you need to use the bathroom every few hours.

*  Get up during commercial breaks on TV to tidy up a room or dust.

*  Walk outside for a few minutes. Take a deep breath of fresh air.

*  Walk to get lunch.

Move in Different Ways

All exercise and movement help give you the benefits. Finding activities you like doing and that you will keep doing is important for long-term success.

Cardiovascular (cardio) training uses large movements that involve multiple muscle groups, such as your legs, buttocks, and abdominals, all at once. Popular aerobic activities are brisk walking, running, cycling, swimming, and dancing.

Resistance training uses body weight or weights to build muscle. Move slowly through exercises, breathing regularly. Squats, lunges, push-ups, calf raises, and bicep curls are basic resistance movements.

Stretching helps your body be more flexible. This helps you prevent injury during exercise and everyday activities. Stretching can also help you relax.

Secondhand smoke is the smoke that occurs when a cigarette, pipe, or cigar is lit. The secondhand smoke going into the room from the end of a burning cigarette is not filtered. People breathing in secondhand smoke are breathing in this smoke, as well as what the smoker blows into the room. Secondhand smoke puts non-smoking bystanders (maybe your loved ones) at risk for the same health problems as the smoker.

Some of the toxins found in secondhand smoke are tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen dioxide, cadmium, benzpyrene, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, acetone, pyridine, and formaldehyde. Although secondhand smoke becomes mixed with the air, there are safety risks for both the smoker and non-smokers, as well as pets who breathe these vapors in.

Infants & Children

Children of smokers are at a higher risk for respiratory infections, tonsillitis, pharyngitis, and middle ear infections. Asthma can become more severe. Children of smokers are also much more likely to start smoking.

Pets

Your beloved fur ball can develop serious health problems, including nose and lung cancers, from secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke can also cause respiratory illness in cats and dogs and make skin conditions worse. Thirdhand smoke, or the smoke residue that settles on surfaces, can be especially damaging to cats. When cats lick their fur to clean themselves, they lick the toxins from smoke. This makes cats more than twice as likely to develop malignant lymphoma, a type of cancer.

Protect Your Loved Ones

To protect others from secondhand smoke, avoid smoking in enclosed spaces that you share with others, like your house or car. If you are going to smoke, go outside and make sure windows are closed to the house near the area you are smoking. Avoid using a “smoking room” in the house or smoking in an attached garage-smoke will still get into the rest of the house.

Over the next few weeks, as you move through the QuitWell™ program, you might notice yourself moving back and forth between the stages as different factors affect your thinking. For example, a stressful day at work can make you feel like you’ve taken a step backward. Don’t let that stop you! This guide will give you tools to work through challenges and be better prepared for future ones.

You can try out nearly all the activities in this guide, though pay special attention to the activities highlighted for your stage of change. Look for the tips throughout the guide that help you fit an activity to your stage of change. This will help you feel good about where you are at and help you feel more confident about the future. When you feel yourself moving forward in the stages of change, you can go back to these activities and do them again, using the tips for your new stage of change.

In a few words, describe how you are feeling right now about quitting. What brought you here? What stage of change do you feel fits you best right now?