Sreemoyee Chatterjee
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Written By: Sreemoyee Chatterjee | Published : October 5, 2018 8:31 PM IST
Tobacco causes around 7 million deaths every year, globally. © Shutterstock
India has been recently ranked fifth in terms of size of pictorial warning on packages of tobacco products. According to experts, the country has made remarkable progress in terms of adopting anti-tobacco campaign. They expect a considerable drop in the number of tobacco users across the country in years to come. While it is not so easy to give up smoking on one go, doctors have come up with several ways of resisting tobacco cravings among users. Here are some of them.
Go for nicotine replacement therapy: Nicotine replacement therapy has gained great popularity in terms of avoiding tobacco urge that usually lasts for five to 10 minutes and then drown down whether you smoke or not smoke a cigarette. The options of nicotine replacement therapy can be many. Prescription nicotine in a nasal spray or inhaler, over-the-counter nicotine patches, gums and lozenges and prescription non-nicotine stop-smoking medications like bupropion (Zyban) and varenicline (Chantix) are some of the effective ways under nicotine replacement therapy.
Stay away from the triggers: Doctors say that your urge for tobacco can be strongest in situations where you have smoked or chewed tobacco most often, may be in a party or at a bar or while feeling stressed out. In order to avoid these trigger situations, keep a plan ready. In case you usually smoke while talking over phone, replace your cigarette with a pen and a paper and doodle or scribble something instead of lighting the danger stick up.
Delay for some time: In case you feel a strong urge for tobacco, try and delay it for some time. Tell yourself that you will try it after 10 minutes may be and then go to a no smoking public zone where you won't be able to smoke or distract yourself with something else. These simple tricks may be of great help to reduce your cravings for tobacco.
Chew on it: Having an urge to light up the cigarette again? Forget it and tear the wrapper of a sugarless gum and chew on it. Raw carrots, celery, nuts or sunflower seeds can also be of great help to avoid your urge.
