Depression Recovery

Question:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> DAY 1 > Welcome to the majority. Only 26 percent of adult Americans smoke, and they > nearly all wish they didn’t. Public opinion holds smokers in low esteem. > When a person lights up a cigarette, others see a poor soul lacking in > self-control, a victim. To put it unkindly, a drug addict. After all, > precious few people smoke because they want to. They smoke because they > can’t stop. Yet they are surrounded by people who could stop and did. How > does that make them feel? > Bad. As you did until today. No you have crossed to the other side. You can > hold up your head. You can sit in the non-smoking section. You don’t have to > subject yourself to other people’s whims by asking the snivelling questions > "Mind if I smoke?" Now you’re as good as they are. > Twenty minutes after your last cigarette, nicotine ceased to affect your > blood pressure, pulse, and body temperature. Within 8 hours, the carbon > monoxide level in your blood drastically fell, and increased oxygen is now > reaching all the tissues of your body. > By: Meditations for surviving without cigarettes > DAY 2 > Don’t feel sorry for yourself. People moan about the pain of quitting, but > what about the pleasure? Things are looking up already. You’ve cleared out > those vile ashtrays. You smell better. You don’t have to look for your > cigarettes. > You probably don’t feel your best today. You crave a cigarette, naturally. > You expected that. But you may also be bowed down by headaches, nausea, > sweatiness, aches, and digestive upsets. Not to mention irritability, > restlessness, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating. These are normal > nicotine withdrawal symptoms, and they pass quickly. You can ignore them, or > if you prefer, declare yourself sick and go to bed. It’s best to stay away > from smokers; this is a perfect time to haunt museums, movie theatres, > parks, and mountain trails. one woman spent the first two no-smoking days on > her bicycle miserable and depressed. On the third day she felt wonderful. > Withdrawal is a nasty business. Wouldn’t care to repeat it, would you? Even > if you’re on a nicotine patch, you’re unlikely to be feeling wholly > yourself. Observe your feelings, as if they were a passing parade. They will > retreat, and so will the urge for a cigarette, unless you smoke. Tomorrow > will be different. > DAY 3 > You have conferred tremendous benefits on yourself by quitting smoking. > You’ve added not just eight years (on average age) to your expected life > span, but eight much healthier years than you could look forward to as a > smoker. Put to good use, they will be happier years, too. You are now in a > position to get more out of life than you ever could as a smoker. That cloud > of smoke stood between you and life’s full experience. > At the moment you may be coughing or clearing your throat more than ever > before–so much that your chest may hurt. Be glad! You’ve recovered the > ability to clear out blocked airways, which were stuck full of mucus. The > clearing-out process lasts only a few days, and your old smoker’s cough (the > body’s attempt to protect itself from the irritants in cigarette smoke) will > be history in a few weeks. > Fatigue during the day and wakefulness at night are normal withdrawal > symptoms, not likely to last more than a few weeks. Intestinal upsets can > also last weeks, but most of your other symptoms will pass in a day or two. > The worst cigarette cravings should now be behind you. > DAY 4 > Your worst physical withdrawal symptoms should have passed by now. if the > only reason you smoked was that you’d once had the bad luck of becoming > addicted to nicotine, you’d be home free. > But people are not such fools that they smoke out of addiction alone. They > smoke because smoking is rewarding. Chances are, you have a number of > hurdles still to cross in your metamorphosis into a non-smoker. In the past, > smoking has helped you to regulate your moods, ignore pain, control > excitement, ward off anxiety, and medicate depression. But as smoking > provides only a distraction, not a cure, smokers tend to have a lot of > unfinished business in their psyches. > When someone stops smoking, he or she is apt to suffer most from the > intensity of emotions. The uplifting ones can be as intimidating as the > anxious ones. Both scream "CIGARETTE"!!! The trick is to let these feelings > rush by without succumbing to them. In time, you will learn to tend your > emotions far more effeictely without cigarettes than you ever did with them.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> DAY 5 > As long as you smoked, your body operated under a tremendous hindrance. It > had to adapt not only to nicotine, but to the 4000 plus other chemicals > found in burning tobacco (over 40 of which are known to be carcinogenic). > That smoke you took in didn’t just gum up your lungs, but passed immediately > into your bloodstream. The carbon monoxide in the smoke displaced oxygen, > making you tired and breathless. Nicotine sped up your heart rate and raised > your blood pressure. When you lit a cigarette your body temperature also > fell, and less blood flowed to your arms, legs, and feet. If you’re feeling > tingling now in your fingers and toes, it’s because you’re noticing > improved circulation. > If you still want a cigarette, try the 4 D’s: Drink water, Delay, > Deep-breathe, Do something else. The craving will go away in a couple of > minutes — If you don’t smoke > DAY 6 > You do exercise, don’t you? Exercise lets you fully reap the sense of > well-being that comes from not smoking. Exercise does well what the body > does badly, which is to alleviate anxiety, depression, and restlessness. > Both smoking and exercise give the brain’s neurotransmitters a boost, but > the effects of exercise are much longer lasting. A cigarette produces only a > few minutes’ reprieve from anxiety; a good workout creates genuine > relaxation, lasting hours. For those who worry about getting fat, exercise > is a critical part of the program. > It’s necessary to find an exercise you can bring yourself to do regularly. > You can hate running and still like ice skating or racquetball or weight > lifting or bicycling or swimming or yoga. Good old walking will do fine. An > easy stroll is far better than nothing. > In your early weeks of not smoking, you should try to at least one exercise > break a day. The exertion cuts the craving for a cigarette, and there is > satisfaction in making the most of your body’s growing capabilities–now > that it is no longer a smoking machine. > DAY 7 > "Just for today" is a key slogan in Nicotine Anonymous. "Just for today, I > will not smoke." You may reassess the situation tomorrow, whereupon you may > decide to smoke again. Thus, your only problem is getting through today. In > the years to come, if you want to smoke, say to yourself, "Well, maybe > tomorrow." Tomorrow, one hopes, you will decide you can get through > tomorrow. This takes the chill off making a lifetime decision. The thought > of forever may be too much to contemplate. And if tomorrow seems too close > to forever, there’s "just for the next 7 minutes I will not smoke." > DAY 8 > Congratulations! Your first and worst week without cigarettes is over. It is > not, however, time to relax your vigilance. Instead, count your blessings. > You look better, you smell better, and you’re welcome wherever you go. You > are probably enjoying your food more, too. Few great cooks are smokers, as > smokers generally lack both the passion for food and the nose for it. You > may, however, now be demonstrating an obsession with food that you’d rather > not have, and you should take certain precautions. > If you crave sweets, suck on lemon drops or Life Savers. Bowls of sunflower > seeds around the house are diverting. Keep plenty of fruit, juice, and ice > water on hand, and fill the fridge with ready to eat vegetable snacks. You > can use the vitamins; as a smoker, you needed more and absorbed less. And > eat good square meals, remembering that the US Government recommends that we > all eat five to seven servings of fruit and vegetables each day. This is no > time to diet. Chew gum if you must, but bear in mind that some people find > gum chewing even more irritating than smoking.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> DAY 9 > Even though he quit 16 years ago, Micheal Mery vividly remembers how > difficult it was. "I loathed myself for smoking, for trashing myself, but it > still took me a long time to quit. When I finally did stop, the first three > days were just the normal physical withdrawal. Then a light-headedness set > in > that was so extreme that I was borderline dangerous. (Mery is a carpenter > and works with power tools). At the same time, I was almost euphoric not to > be smoking. > "I’d also break out in a sweat from head to foot while just sitting in a > chair, and I had major joint pain. I was irritable for months. Three months > after I quit I had a drag of my then-wife’s cigarette. Having that one drag > filled me with fury at myself for being so stupid. That was the last time I > smoked." > "I didn’t notice much physical change until one day I was shovelling horse > manure into my truck for my mother’s garden. I was in a big hurry, and I > loaded up in less than twenty minutes. As I drove away I was amazed to > notice I wasn’t winded. Now, I run twenty miles a week. I’m just grateful to > be free of cigarettes. > DAY 10 > Day by day, this book takes note of the milestones the ex-smoker passes > along the road to recovery. Some body parts recuperate quickly, some slowly. > For ease of reference, we collect together here some of the highlights in > the progress of an ex-smoker. > Twenty minutes after the last cigarette: Blood pressure, pulse, and body > temperature return to normal. > Eight hours later: Carbon monoxide level in the blood falls, allowing oxygen > level to rise. > Seventy-two hours later: The bronchial tubes relax, and breathing becomes > easier. The lung power increases. Coughing decreases. > Two weeks to three months: Circulation improves; stamina increases; lung > capacity increases up to 30 percent > Two Months: Chronic cough completely disappears > One to nine months: Sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath > decrease. The cilia regrow in the lungs. > One year: Risk of heart disease falls to half that of a current smoker > Five years: Risk of heat attack and stroke almost equals that of a never > smoker > Six years: Risk of bladder cancer becomes half that of a never-smoker > Ten years: Risk of lung cancer drops to half that of a never-smoker > Fifteen years: Risk of lung cancer drops to almost that of a never-smoker > Day 11 > Chances are that you still feel a berserk craving for a cigarette from time > to time. Even nonbelievers may take recourse in prayer at such moments. > Saying "God help me" (white breathing deeply) comes as naturally to quitters > as it does to drowning sailors. Both are, after all, fighting for their > lives. > Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace, felt that people smoke, or took other > intoxicants, to drown the conscience. He gives as an example the cook who > cut his lady’s throat but could not finish her off until he smoked a > cigarette. Thieves, gamblers, and prostitutes nearly all smoke–and so do > people in lawful professions, says Tolstoy, if their behavior requires them > to quiet their consciences. > DAY 12 > Most smokers cling to the odd idea that cigarettes reduce stress. In fact, > the effect of smoking is quite the opposite. On lighting a cigarette, the > pulse speeds up, blood pressure increases, and the heart pumps faster. The > smoker may enjoy a moments tranquillity when the nicotine hits the brain, > but > that is quickly followed by the agitation of withdrawal. So the next > cigarette quickly follows, sending a further valley of toxins into the body > and to the nervous system. The upshot is that smoking is the world’s worst > way to cope with stress. > Rx for stress: Take three deep breaths, and hold the last one as long as you > can. Have a hot bath. Run around the block. Do some stretches. Envision > snowcapped mountains. Find someone pleasant to talk to. Pour out your soul > into a notebook. Go to bed early.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Day 13 > Coffee drinking and smoking go together in the minds of many smokers like > the proverbial horse and carriage — so much so that some cigarette quitters > feel they must renounce coffee also. But adding the stress of giving up > coffee to that of giving up cigarettes can be unduly traumatic. Most > cigarette quitters would just as soon postpone caffeine withdrawal, perhaps > till the grave. > However, you might as wee be advised to cut down on the quantity of > caffeine you’re taking in. Smokers metabolize caffeine faster than > nonsmokers. In one test, caffeine levels went up 46 percent after smokers > quit smoking–while still drinking the same amount of coffee. This could > account for some of the irritability and nervousness attributed to cigarette > withdrawal. > So add some decaf to your usual coffee brew, and if need be, alter your > rituals. The after-breakfast cup of coffee causes many recent ex-smokers to > grieve for their after-breakfast cigarettes. Have that second cup of coffee > (maybe decaf) but don’t sit around with it. Stroll in the garden. Strum the > old guitar you’ve stowed in the closet. And this is an excellent time to > write in your journal–where you can express those feelings you’re no longer > trying to extinguish with smoke. > Day14 > Two weeks smoke free! You’re feeling like a real nonsmoker now, not even > thinking about cigarettes for big chunks of time. You may still have bad > moments, very likely in the evenings when you’re tired and your defenses are > low. It’s a good idea to acquire new routines to get your mind off sinking > into an easy chair with a cigarette. One couple who quit together now each > evening take a stroll together. > You may need to find things to do with your hands: Set up a picture puzzle, > do the ironing, bake bread, groom the dog, sew, take up needlework, make a > model airplane, pull weeds, or practice your golf swing. One ex-smoker > started making a replica of the Vatican from a cut-out book. "It’s > incredibly soothing," she says. "I methodically cut, fold, and glue, and the > Vatican rises before me." > Michelangelo didn’t smoke. If he had, at the age of eighty he could hardly > been hanging from the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel ceiling painting the > frescoes. > Day 15 > Irritability is a big complaint of people who quit smoking. All those > little things that you once took in your stride bug you. The sound of > certain voices may make you feel murderous. Being put on hold is more than > you can take. Trying to be civil is exhausting. You miss the old easygoing > Joe or Jill everybody was so fond of; anything that got on your nerves was > met with a cigarette. > You can be fairly confident that your irritability level will go down in the > next two weeks, although you may not become like Buddha. It’s possible that > behind that curtain of smoke, which you raised whenever any small annoyance > was at hand, is a somewhat irritable person, one of the reasons you smoked > was to obscure that unwelcome fact. Becoming less irritable, which you can > do, may take some time and effort–with meditation, therapy, fresh air, > biofeedback, exercise, etc. > There are, however, some things that are just plain irritating, such as > injustice and dishonesty. These should rightfully be met with action, rather > than with either smoking or a smile. > Day 16 > It helps to practice turning down cigarettes before the chance even arises. > Imagine Rhett Butler sidling up next to you while you’re standing line at > the movies. "Cigarette?" he says. "NO THANK YOU. I DON’T SMOKE," you say. > Rhett won’t stick around, but you could be stuck with the cigarettes for > years to come. > Suppose something frightening happens. Your brother is out fishing, there’s > a storm, his boat doesn’t return. You are waiting at the pier with your > sister-in-law, who is chain-smoking. DON’T SMOKE. Whatever happens, smoking > will only make it worse. > Actually, it’s usually the mundane situations that get you. Your cousin, a > nonstop talker who has been boring you out of your skull for 25 years, is > visiting. In a moment of clarity, you realize that chain-smoking got you > through his visits before. Get out your knitting. Or get him out. If a > situation is driving you to smoke, change the situation.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> DAY 17 > A smoker is a slave, at the beck and call of a cigarette. you, however, are > now free. As your life need no longer be arranged around smoke breaks, you > can go anywhere and do anything. If you’ve dreamed of exploring interior New > Guinea, you can go without worrying about running out of cigarettes. And > speaking of running, you don’t get that awful pain deep in your lungs > anymore when you dash for a bus. If you’re lucky, you stopped smoking before > you had a heart attack. > Young persons who have heart attacks are overwhelmingly smokers. The > chemicals in tobacco accelerate arteriosclerosis, and hearts of smokers are > starved for oxygen. Carbon monoxide, inhaled from tobacco, readily displaces > oxygen in the bloodstream. A smoker has 8 to 30 times as much carbon > monoxide in his/her veins as a nonsmoker–thus getting less oxygen than a > nonsmoker would at 8,000 feet. > Young males who smoke two packs a day have seven times the risk of a heart > attack as nonsmokers. For young women–under age 50– smoking two packs a > day raises the risk for heart attack to ten times that of nonsmoking women. > DAY 18 > Has anyone commented on how much better you smell? There are no two ways > about it: smokers stink. One can usually detect a smoker by smell alone, and > stale tobacco is not an endearing odor. A smoker’s house stinks, too. Most > of us do not care to hang around inside one. Often it’s also overheated > because the smoker has poor circulation and jacks the thermometer up. The > smell inside a smoker’s car does not bear mention. > DAY 19 > Another aesthetic consideration: wrinkles. Women especially wrinkle up from > smoking, probably because of a lack of blood flow to the skin. One study of > smokers and wrinkling, based on photographic portraits, concluded that > smokers ages 40 to 49 had as many wrinkes as non smokers 20 years older. > The coloring of a smoker isn’t pretty either. Likewise due to lack of blood > circulation, the skin tends to be sallow, lacking that slight blush that > adds to sex appeal. No amount of makeup substitutes for moist, dewy skin. Yo > probably already look far better than you id twelve days ago. > Men have tougher skin, but men who smoke are still far more likely to be > excessively wrinkled than nonsmokers. Smoking certainly undermines the > virile look, and a smoking man looks more beaten than bold. And in time, the > health problems associated with smoking do their sad work. Nobody who is > carrying an oxygen bottle looks sexy. > —- > DAY 20 > Besides the smell and the wrinkles, another giveaway that someone is a > smoker is stained, yellow teeth. Young people may escape tobacco-colored > teeth for awhile, but eventually the effect catch up with them. > Smokers get four to five times more gum disease than non smokers and are > more likely to lose their teeth at an early age. A study of 17,000 people in > Buffalo, new York, revealed that the condition of the gums and underlying > bones of smokers was comparable to that of non-smokers fifteen years older. > Among women with osteoporosis, the smokers are three times more likely to > lose their teeth than the nonsmokers. > Now’s the time to make an appointment for a teeth cleaning to get the old > cigarette stains off. Your teeth should look a lot better afterward and will > stay that way if you don’t smoke. If there’s irreversible damage, you may > want to look into the new staining and bonding process.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> DAY 21 > Nicotine Anonymous is a fast-spreading program. Like Alcoholics Anonymous, > it is based on twelve steps, it has no dues or fees, and meetings are run by > unpaid members. Sabrina P. has been attending meetings weekly for the two > years since she stopped smoking. > "I’d tried everything by the time I got to Nic Anon. The support and > awareness I found there are the reasons I’m not smoking today. I had to > realize that I’m an addict. That’s the baseline. People at meetings said, > "Don’t listen to your brain, except for entertainment, because it’s > addicted." I had been smoking two packs a day for thirty years. Who knew > what this person was like without a drug? > "Cigarettes had been my high power. They regulated my life. I preferred > smoking to sex. When I smoked, I never felt alone because I had my > cigarettes. When I put my cigarettes down I couldn’t stand the gaping hole > inside. I felt I was one of those smokers who would smoke through the hole > after a tracheotomy. It’s a miracle that I stopped. I prayed, I worked in my > garden for six hours nonstop, I stood in my living room and screamed. People > at meetings would say that if you’re going to stop smoking you have to be > prepared to change your life. I was and I did. I’m not just healthier. I’m > calmer, I have self-esteem, and my relationships are far better. Smoking > kept me shame-based, a word I picked up from John Bradshaw. I’m not > shame-based anymore." > DAY 22 > If you’re still having strong impulses to smoke (or worse, succumbing to The > impulses), keep track of what brings up the urge. Parties are hard for a > lot of people. It may help if you break the ice when you arrive at a party > by announcing immediately to somebody that you’ve quit smoking. After that, > most people find it too humiliating to be seen with a cigarette. If that > doesn’t work, lay off parties for awhile. Not smoking is more important. > The liquor at parties adds to an ex-smoker’s vulnerability. If drinking > makes > you smoke, then drinking may have to go. And if you can’t stop drinking, you > have a drinking problem. Call Alcoholics Anonymous or the National Council > on Alcoholism. > DAY 23 > The American obsession with thinness has the tragic effect of keeping many > people hooked on cigarettes. It’s all very well for doctors to say that you > could gain 100 pounds and still be healthier than if you smoked. Given the > choice, you’d rather be dead. > There is a fair chance that you are going to end up weighing more than you > did while you smoked, but probably not by much. It appears that smoking > lowers your natural weight–setpoint–and so when you stop, the body > perceives itself as underweight. Consequently, you may suddenly find > yourself eating like a horse. The important thing is not to panic and > imagine that you’re gong to go on eating like a horse indefinitely. Once the > body reaches its new chosen weight, your appetite will drop off. > A few people do add considerable poundage, which can take a few years to > deal with, but a fair number of people do not gain weight at all. Exercise, > like smoking, seems to lower the body’s setpoint, as well as transforming > belly fat to muscle. > DAY 24 > The life of a smoker has become particularly miserable in recent years now > that many households are hostile to smoking. A visit with friends entails > suffering for the smoker. While others are making merry, the smoker is > longing for a cigarette. She becomes more and more distracted as the > question looms larger "When can she make a break for it?" Just as she’s > about to go into the graden for a cigarette, dinner is erved. After dinner, > when it would seem reasonable to have a little smoke outdoors, some bore is > telling an endless story, and she can’t politely exit unil it’s finished. > And then soon after she’s served her addiction, the old urge starts all over > again. > It’s just as bad in restaurants. Even understanding friends may admit that > smelling smoke while they’re eating makes them sick. Smoking was certainly > more fun when there was a happy conviviality about it. Now, a person who > unveils a pack of cigarettes feels like a murderer.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> DAY 25 > In your first few weeks as a nonsmoker, your sleep may be disturbed, but you > may soon be sleeping more soundly than you did before, particularly if > you’ve been getting some exercise. You may find yourself needing more sleep > than you used to (you’re more active during the day) or less (you have more > energy). Don’t get overtired, which leads to carelessness, which leads to > smoking. > Meanwhile, keep a good book next to your bedside and be glad you don’t have > to worry about falling asleep with a cigarette in your hand. In Baltimore, a > three-year study found that more than half the house fires were caused by > smoking. Of those who died, 39 percent were not the smokers themselves. > DAY 26 > Although cigarettes have been the downfall of most contemporary tobacco > addicts, there are other ways to go — pipes, cigars, snuff, chewing > tobacco. In India there’s the problem of reverse chutta smoking–which is > the smoking of a cigarlike stick with the lit end inside the mouth. > The practioners of these minority methods should not imagine that they are > exempt from the problems of cigarette smoking. Whe the mortality statistics > are highest for cigarettes, each method of nicotine intake has its own nasty > side effects. Pipe smokers have high rates of lip and pharynx cancer; cigar > smokers get tongue cancer; and snuff and chewing tobacco lead to tongue and > gum cancer and heart disease. Furthermore, all nicotine users are drug > addicts and consequently to some degree are escaping reality and operating > beneath capacity. > If your problem was tobacco, but not cigarettes, just substitute the name of > your habit when reading this book. Be assured that your vice, whatever it > was, was just as vile as cigarettes. > DAY 27 > Among smoking diseases, lung cancer is one of the quicker ways to go. > Emphysema is one of the lingering ones. The air sacs of the lungs are > destroyed; by the time the disease is diagnosed a large percentage of these > sacs are gone. The sufferer may be left struggling for breath for years > before death comes. Smokers have ten times the emphysema rate of > non-smokers. > Even in the early years of smoking, tobacco is inflicting permanent damage > on the lungs. Damaged lungs cannot be reconstituted, but fortunately one can > breathe with lungs that operate way below capacity. If the damage is > arrested, one may be lucky enough to never seriously suffer from the harm > already done. > DAY 28 > It may seem surprising that the simple act of smoking can cause such varied > damage to remote areas of the body. The explanation is that tobacco smoke is > made up of a wide variety of toxic chemicals that circulate through the > entire body in the bloodstream. Carbon monoxide is only one of the deadly > chemicals produced. > Nicotine itself is the usual suspect when it comes to raising blood pressure > and forming blood clots, but it’s the other chemicals that cause cancer. > More than forty have been identified as carcinogens, and some are complete > carcinogens, capable of starting tumors single-handedly. One is > beta-naphtylamine, which causes bladder cancer, a cancer seven to 10 times > more common in smokers than in nonsmokers. Wherever tar lands in the system, > it produces abnormal cells, which is where cancers start. For pipe and cigar > smokers who don’t inhale, the main cancer sites are the lips, tongue, mouth, > jaws, larynx, and esophagus. For cigarette smokers, the primary list goes on > to include the lungs, bladder, kidneys, and pancreas.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> DAY 29 > The debate is over as to whether it is harmful to be on the other end of the > smoker’s cigarette. It is. Passive smoking is now recognized as the third > leading preventable cause of death – after active smoking and drinking. > Nonsmokers living with smokers have a 30 percent (or higher, according to > some studies) risk of death from heart attacks. And nonsmokers who live with > smokers cannot be dismissed as the kinds of people who have heart attacks > anyhow. The platelets of nonsmokers sitting for twenty minutes in a waiting > room with smokers became stickier-a condition that leads to heart attacks. > In one study, 69 percent of nonsmokers developed eye irritation when among > smokers; 29 percent had nasal symptoms; 32 percent had headaches; and 25 > percent developed coughs. And these were the non-allergic nonsmokers. The > percentages were much higher among those with allergies. > The nonsmoking majority is fighting back, and public places and work sites > now often prohibit smoking. It is in the home that smokers most often find > their victims-defenseless children. > Day 30 > Many are the ex-smokers who have turned to cigarettes at times of pressure. > And just as many have been sorry afterward. When the heat is on, it’s easy > to forget your priorities, such as how much you care about not smoking. > There you are, your mind agitated when a devious thought comes to you: "I > need a cigarette." And many months later, the only reason you may have to > remember that day is that it was the day you started smoking again. > It’s only the moment you have to get through, and the urge will pass. So be > ready for it. Proactive. Conjure up difficult situations in which you turn > down cigarettes. There you are in the hotel bar late at night when your > ex-wife walks in. You suffered for two years after she left. She looks > better than ever. She’s with her new husband. You’re with a friend who > smokes. DON’T REACH FOR HIS CIGARETTES. That sensation of a rib breaking > your chest will pass. You could be stuck with cigarettes forever. > DAY 31 > You’ve done it! A month without cigarettes. This is a time for > celebration-perhaps a long-distance call to someone who will appreciate this > good news? > It’s also time for one of your periodic counting of blessings. Think back to > the state you were in when you smoked. Do you feel better now? Look better? > Smell better? Sleep better? Do you get more done? Do you hold your head > higher? > So, maybe not. Maybe you’re a nervous wreck. Maybe you chew your fingernails > or scream at your children. Some people find themselves depressed at this > point. If you smoked to avoid facing inner problems, the problems may have > become much more apparent since you stopped smoking. But you still have > something to be thankful for-at least you’re on the road to recovery. You’re > not hiding in your private smoke shelter anymore. Possibly you could benefit > from professional insight. Most medical plans offer short-term psychological > help-and consider it particularly cost-effective in the case of people > giving up smoking. > Day 32 > If you haven’t been feeling well tuned in the head since you stopped > smoking, there’s plenty you can do about it. Regular exercise is one of the > most beneficial. It will both calm you down and pep you up. > Regular conversation is important, too. Smokers very often have spent their > years of smoking avoiding certain subjects. This isn’t a problem if you > aren’t > ‘t troubled or longing for cigarettes. But if you are, a confidante might > help-therapist or friend. A good therapist will help you clear away some > anxiety. But therapists cost money, sometimes too much. An understanding > friend will listen to what’s on your mind, although you may have to force > the conversation beyond its usual limits. Men in particular often find it > hard to expose their most profound worries. > There are plenty of self-help groups around. You might not think you’re the > type for them, but you’ll find out in these groups that whatever your > problems, you’re not alone. There may be meetings of Nicotine Anonymous in > your community-ex-smokers helping one another. You will almost certainly > find other twelve-step programs, men’s groups, and women’s groups. > Day 33 > The infants and children of smoking parents are at high risk for pulmonary > problems, middle ear infections, complications of asthma, and heart disease. > Their lungs show reduced airway size, and blood test proves that hey have > higher cholesterol levels than the children of nonsmokers. > An Israeli study demonstrated that children whose mothers smoked more than a > pack a day had three times the rate of hospitalizations for bronchitis and > pneumonia as the children of nonsmokers. Cigarettes have long been suspected > of contributing to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and a Swedish study > of 279,000 infants documented to 2 to 3 times as many deaths from SIDS among > the newborns of smokers. > The children of smokers grow up to have elevated rates of heart disease even > if they don’t smoke themselves. Unfortunately, the children of smokers are > very likely to smoke themselves-twice as likely as the children of > non-smokers.

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