April 29, 2020
Tips
Boredom and quitting smoking: Kwit's tips to quit without getting bored
Boredom is one of the main causes of relapse. So before you decide to quit smoking, read our tips to prepare yourself. Avoid relapses and quit smoking without getting bored. 💪
Where do the withdrawal symptoms come from? They come from tobacco addiction. In order to succeed in quitting smoking, you need to understand these processes and implement strategies to avoid needing these cigarettes.
There are three forms of addiction:
Physical addiction: the nicotine addiction causes your brain to ask for a dose of nicotine.
Behavioral addiction: this is an addiction to ritual/reflex smoking, the cigarette you smoke after meals for example.
Finally, psychological addiction: this type of addiction describes "crutch" cigarettes, "I smoke because I'm alone”, “because I am bored”, or “I want to celebrate something”.
You can be susceptible to all three forms of addiction.
Today we decided to help you cope with psychological addiction, the main symptom of which is boredom!
Psychological addiction: Focus on boredom
You will have to change your lifestyle in order to quit smoking successfully. Smokers who are psychologically addicted to cigarettes often find excuses to smoke one: « I'm stressed », « I'm depressed », « I'm bored », « I'm celebrating something ».
All of these « excuses » prevent you from trying to quit or from succeeding. To successfully quit smoking, you need to be aware of these excuses and develop strategies to deal with them. This addiction is, as its name suggests, psychological. It is not related to nicotine or habit.
One of the symptoms of this addiction is boredom; many people light up a cigarette when they are bored. Think back to the times when you were bored when you were a non-smoker. You always found a way, often healthier than smoking, to fill those moments. You can still do that!
The craving only lasts 5 minutes
The urge to smoke can be strong at the beginning when you quit smoking. However, it has been proven that nicotine cravings last between 2 and 5 minutes on average.
Boredom makes you think of cigarettes, but to get rid of this psychological dependence, you can find ways to keep yourself busy when these cravings occur: the trick is to find something else to think about. Very soon you'll realize that you're fine without cigarettes and you won't even think about it anymore. You'll have more fun activities to do. 😉
Here are tips to help you plan activities when you quit smoking to avoid feeling bored 🙂:
Find a nice box.
Write things to do on pieces of paper. 🎨
You don't know what to do? Pull out a piece of paper and do what it says on it.
This is a good way to get rid of temporary cravings!
Take a bath.
Play a game on your phone.
Drink a juice (go to our article 5 anti-tobacco juices).
Listen to music.
Breathing exercises (visit our page mindfulness to download our mediation exercises that can easily be done at home).
Take a nap (when you stop smoking you need energy to help your body get rid of the toxins).
Read a book.
Clean your house (cleaning your house after quitting smoking is very important, the smell of cigarettes is impregnated in the walls and fabrics: find our tips are here).
Write down your motivations (to bring them out in case you feel down).
Make a face mask (on Pinterest we have a board with beauty recipes).
Cook something.
Sort your wardrobe.
Take a walk.
Practice yoga (on our Pinterest account we have a table: relaxation exercises).
Do a DIY project.
Listen to a podcast.
Meditate.
Sort out your paperwork.
Make a chart to organize your food and go shopping accordingly.
Make a chart to organize your household chores.
Organize your holidays (places you want to visit, what you want to do...)
Take advantage of this time to start a project: you've always wanted to create a blog, now's the time!
Create a garden or take care of it.
Call a friend or your family.
Do sports.
