Realization about habits

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 2:52 pm

I'm working on trying to break another bad habit -- smoking. In doing so, I've realized something. Pretty much no matter what I'm doing, I need to take frequent breaks. When I take a break, I smoke.

Yesterday I realized that I don't take a break because I need to smoke, I smoke because I need to take a break -- and smoking just happens to be what I do when I take a break. And if I can't smoke, I very well may eat!

My quit-smoking plan is to increase the time between cigarettes and then eventually just quit. Yesterday I'd be working at something and realize I needed to take a break, but smoking wasn't an option. I ate a dozen cookies over the course of the day while taking breaks.

I'm going to have to substitute something relaxing or constructive instead of smoking or eating!

Nichole · Post by **Nichole** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 4:06 pm

You're an RN, right? Do you have a break room at your facility with a tv? Maybe watch tv and read magazines?

Vigilant2010 · Post by **Vigilant2010** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 4:56 pm

If you have an iPod or portable CD player with headphones, maybe listening to some music would be nice. You can make playlists of the songs you find most relaxing as well as songs that really pump you up. Then pick accordingly, depending on what your emotional needs are on that particular break.

Just a thought. I like music because it's calorie free.

These kinds of substitutions for habits are easier said than done, I know.

VintageGeek · Post by **VintageGeek** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:01 pm

I quit smoking in September. I had tried a thousand times, but for some reason this time it just stuck. It's the best decision you'll ever make. And food will taste better (as they all say).

That's an excellent realization, wosnes. You're exactly right. Here are two things that helped me:

1) I realized that every breath I took that didn't have smoke in it was healing my lungs.
2) I quit smoking at night. Finished the pack, dumped out my ashtrays, threw away my lighters, took a shower and went to sleep. Then, I had about nine hours of not smoking. When I woke up in the morning, I felt much more empowered to keep it up.

Post by **reinhard** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:01 pm

Coffee? Tea? An audiobook? An urban ranger stroll around the block? Some combination of all these?

Good luck finding something that works!

Reinhard

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:13 pm

Your on the right track by analyzing what's going on. I did much the same with eating - eating to take a break. When I went on No-S, had to figure out what else to do.

Some things I do...
Just walk outside a moment. (I work in an office. so seeing the sky is good.)
Mini-meditation break (should do that more!)
Come here on the computer (that's why you see me so much.

)
Walk around the building once. This often turns out to be productive, b/c I bump into someone I needed to talk to anyway.
Stand and stretch.
Put something in my office that I like to look at, like flowers. Take ten deep breaths while enjoying...

Hope you find something. Let me know - I can still use ideas!

winnie96 · Post by **winnie96** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 8:40 pm

I quit smoking 9 years, 2 months, and 12 days ago -- after almost 30 years of at least one pack per day. Two things contributed particularly to my success:

1. I had a wonderful, non-judgmental doctor who was very supportive and encouraging (vs pushy and threatening).

2. I used pills (zyban) and patches, and I was so afraid of overdosing on nicotine while wearing the patches that I never cheated once.

The first 2-3 days were pretty rough, but after that I really didn't suffer very much at all, and after a very short time I realized that part of the reward for quitting is that you don't have to feel like an outcast anymore.

Good luck to you -- I hope you will find, as I did, that quitting is one of the very best things you've done for yourself!

lindalou · Post by **lindalou** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:14 am

I also quit smoking about 12 years ago I also used zyban. I wish you all the luck in the world and you will be glad that you did quit.

Lindalou

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 1:28 am

Hi Wosnes

Try to find an acupuncturist who is recommended for smoking cessation.
It is incredibly helpful I hear.
I know people who have had only a few sessions and their cravings totally disappeared.

You are doing yourself a great favor so don't worry if you have a few cookies on the way. That will not be forever.
When my friends mom quit, after being a smoker for over thirty years she ate caramel nips. I'm not recommending candy necessarily, especially not on S days! LOL, but it has got to beat smoking.
I think she eventually got over the need to eat stuff instead of smoking and to my knowledge she has stuck with it and not gone back.

My own dear Father suffered so badly at the end of his life from the smoking damage to his heart.. He smoked from about 13 till his mid fifties.
The year he was in hospital before he passed away, the tests they did showed that his heart could only pump 15 percent of the blood that it should because the damage to the heart was so bad. That was when he was 82 years old and he had stopped smoking nearly thirty years before that.
Do it now.
Good luck to you!

Debs

janmarie · Post by **janmarie** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 1:08 pm

Addiction to nicotine is very real. I think many of the same principles that apply to the habit of snacking and over-eating apply to smoking.
I quit with the gum, then used the patch in smaller and smaller pieces for a very short time to get off the gum but I did quit...many years ago. You can do it! There is a temporary increase in snacking when quitting smoking as you look for something, ANYTHING to calm the 'i need' feeling but that goes away too. I'd say the increased eating lasted about 3 or so weeks but then dissipated. You can do it!