Quitting smoking

Stopping smoked tobacco, including cigarettes, roll-ups and other tobacco products. People decide to quit for their health, the money, the smell or the freedom from constantly finding somewhere to smoke. Professional support and treatment can be part of quitting; doing it alone is not a requirement.

Nicotine causes dependence. Withdrawal can bring irritability, disturbed sleep, poor concentration and strong cravings. This is more than missing a familiar gesture. If you use nicotine replacement treatment, stopping smoke exposure and stopping nicotine may happen at different times. Following that treatment does not invalidate having quit smoking.

Plan for the situations most closely tied to cigarettes: after meals, over coffee or around friends who smoke. Removing tobacco from home and asking people not to offer you cigarettes can reduce immediate temptations. A clinician or pharmacist can explain available support and treatments.

Other people will still smoke, and difficult weeks will still happen. You need a plan for those days too. Tell your prescriber when you stop smoking: removing tobacco smoke can change how your body processes some medicines, even if you continue using nicotine. Do not adjust medication yourself.

Cravings, irritability, an argument or a night out can lead back to smoking. What starts as a single cigarette can become another packet. Multiple attempts are common; knowing the risks of smoking does not switch off dependence.

Returning to smoking does not erase what you learned or require abandoning the attempt. It does call for reviewing what happened and what support was missing. Repeating the same plan with a demand for more willpower may leave the same problems unresolved. Embarrassment can make it harder to ask for help when you need it.