1. Iron Will
Half of the smokers manage to stop smoking without help – with a strong will. This is especially true for occasional smokers or those whose dependence is not so strong.
The other half is having a hard time taking their hands off the cigarette. Addiction and habit are already too great here.
Many seek advice, but often fall for dubious promises. Good to know: A method is considered effective if you are still abstinent after a year!
2. Behavioral therapy
Changing established behaviors is harder than you think. With books like the classic ‘Endlich Nichtraucher!’ by Allen Carr and other behavioral therapy instructions for self-help “are perhaps 15, after professional therapies 30 to 40 percent of all smokers still abstinent after one year,” says Dr. Hubertus Friederich from the University Hospital for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Tübingen.
This works through a detailed analysis of one’s own behavior, substitute occupations and reward strategies. Recommended, but not sufficient in case of strong dependence, so that the smoking stop succeeds.
3. Drugs
Physical dependence leads to withdrawal symptoms such as sleep disturbances, lack of concentration, nervousness, constipation or hunger when smoking cessation.
A nicotine replacement preparation has a success rate of up to 15 percent after one year. “In many cases, the prescription of the active ingredient varenicline, introduced in 2007, can also be useful,” says Friederich. Most common side effects: nausea and headache.
4. With acupuncture to the non-smoker
Exactly in these places he places disposable needles made of gold or silver, which are usually removed after 20 minutes. As a result, an effect on the central nervous system is achieved via the ear.
“It works like the eraser,” says the specialist, “the desire to smoke is basically erased away.” He estimates the success rate at 70 to 80 percent. Usually two sessions are necessary.
5. Support by apps
There are various apps for anti-smoge support for both Android and iOS systems. Because the smartphone can help to abny the blue haze.
Anti-smoke apps such as “QuitNow!”, “Smoke Free” or “My Last Cigarette” usually motivate with shocking pictures, inform about your personal state of health or indicate concretely how much money you have already “saved”.
6. Smoke-free with hypnosis
“Hypnosis,” explains Olf Stoiber, board member of the professional association for hypnosis, “can’t get the desire to smoke out of your head.” Hypnosis is not about working against the will, he says.
After a longer conversation, about two hours, the patient is put into a kind of relaxing sleep. The critical mind comes to rest, the unconscious is suggestively strengthened in the now following 30-minute hypnotic trance.
7. Meditation
The mind calms down, we concentrate completely new on our flow of thoughts – which can also include the desire for nicotine. A possible step to put this desire away.
The meditation creates an open awareness in people willing to change – e.g. B. with breathing exercises in the moments when the smoke ritual otherwise takes effect.
8. SPORT
Scientists at the University of Exeter in Great Britain found out in a study why it is best to exchange the fluppe for sports shoes. The researchers allowed nicotine-addicted subjects to do without the beloved glowing stem twice for 15 hours.
After the first abstinence, the study participants were shown pictures that normally trigger the desire to smoke a cigarette and measured the effect on affected brain areas. For the second session, the men and women were allowed to pedal loosely for 15 minutes in advance.
9. Step by step emergency solution
The absolute emergency solution for all those who cannot yet completely separate themselves from nicotine, but first want to noticeably reduce the dose: In so-called tobacco heaters (for example from Iqos), the tobacco is not burned, but only heated, so that “only” tobacco steam, a kind of aerosol, is inhaled.
The currently available studies show, subject to conflicts of interest and the limited quality of the study, that the aerosol of tobacco heaters actually contains fewer pollutants than tobacco smoke and the consumer is therefore exposed to a lower pollution load – but there is still a non-negligible health risk, since the tobacco itself contains carcinogenic substances that are not only harmful during combustion.
It is not yet possible to estimate the extent to which the reduced exposure to tobacco heaters will be transferred to a lower health risk in the long term.