Smoking is one of the most challenging habits to end. Psychology Today outlines how nearly seven in ten smokers want to stop using cigarettes. Unfortunately, many smokers struggle to push through because of the physical and mental withdrawal symptoms they experience days or weeks after attempting to quit.
Fortunately, many strategies can help people successfully quit smoking. In fact, Psychology Today highlights that mindfulness is an effective approach that can help people manage their withdrawal symptoms and reduce their usage of cigarettes. So if you’re interested in smoking cessation methods, here’s how you can quit the habit through mindfulness exercises like meditation:
How Meditation Can Encourage You to Quit Smoking
Meditation can boost your motivation to quit smoking in many ways. Our article entitled ‘Why Meditation is Important’ explains that a mindfulness practice teaches you to acknowledge your smoking urges and observe the sensation to be able to let go of it. During your meditation session, you’ll realize that you are in control of your thoughts as well as your cravings. As such, you’ll have stronger willpower and self-control against smoking urges with regular meditation practice.
Furthermore, the iQuit Mindfully program showed that meditation could help people quit smoking, especially when combined with other smoking cessation strategies like nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). The program taught people how to reduce their cigarette dependence through sitting meditation, body scan meditation, walking meditation, and other personal mindfulness practices. The participants noted that they smoked less after the program because meditation enhanced their ability to cope with stress. As a result, about half of the program participants were also able to abstain from smoking after practicing mindfulness for nine weeks.
How to Create a Holistic Smoking Cessation Strategy
You can boost the effects of meditation by combining the practice with other quit-smoking methods. You can even create a more holistic approach to smoking cessation by managing physical withdrawal symptoms through NRTs and addressing triggers with meditation.
With an NRT, you’ll use products with low doses of nicotine to ease withdrawal symptoms and reduce your cravings for cigarettes. One of the products that you can use for NRT is nicotine gums. Unlike regular chewing gums, the nicotine gums from Nicorette are chewed for a bit and then parked around the mouth so that they can release controlled doses of nicotine as well as fun flavors like Fruit Chill. However, studies have shown that the product can be less efficacious in nicotine delivery than pouches and lozenges. Nicotine pouches work by placing the pouch between the lip and gum for a slow release. While the sale of menthol cigarettes is limited in 10 states (Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, and Washington), many smokers still smoke menthol cigarettes. This is a big issue as research from Lung.org shows that menthol flavoring contributes to greater nicotine dependence. The ZYN wintergreen nicotine pouches sold at Prilla replicate the refreshing notes of menthol with a subtle hint of sweetness. This pouch was also manufactured exclusively for the American market in order to provide a more satisfying nicotine delivery experience for people transitioning to a tobacco-free lifestyle. By using these NRT products, it will be easier for you to keep your cravings under control.
Despite using NRT products, you may still feel compelled to smoke whenever you encounter certain triggers. You can keep your stress levels under control and avoid reaching for cigarettes by using meditation as a stress reliever. A previous post on ‘The 2 Main Reasons Why I Started Meditating’ found that you can start with five-minute meditation sessions. These short sessions are quite powerful because they can make you feel relaxed after a stressful situation. Once you start meditating regularly, you can strengthen your mind’s ability to cope with demanding situations. As a result, there’s less need to use cigarettes for stress relief.
Meditation is a method that can enhance your smoking cessation efforts. Through regular practice, you can become more mindful of your cigarette use and increase your ability to regulate your stress levels.
