Tips to Manage Nicotine Cravings & Smoking Urges

Here is the list of things you can do to manage smoking urges and prevent nicotine cravings

Nowadays, most people use tobacco to handle stress better or enjoy life better but in the long run, they don't understand that it becomes an addiction and quite tough to get rid of. For most people, tobacco cravings or smoking urges can be strong and quite challenging to handle but not impossible.

When you feel the urge to use tobacco, something one needs to remember is that however strong the urge may be, it will pass within 5 to 10 minutes even if you don't smoke a cigarette or take a dip of chewing tobacco. The only way to get rid of the addiction is to resist the urge to dive in.

Here are a few tips to handle the nicotine cravings better.

• Short-acting nicotine replacement therapies are one of the popular and easiest ways to manage nicotine cravings. Nicotine therapies include nicotine gum, lozenges, nasal sprays, or inhalers. These short-acting therapies are a perfect combination with long-acting nicotine patches that can help keep strong cravings at bay.

• Another important thing to keep nicotine cravings at bay is to avoid the triggers as well. You will have to observe the tobacco triggers like places where you smoked often such as at parties or bars, or at times when you were feeling stressed or sipping coffee. You only need to find your triggers and have a plan to avoid them.

• Stress is often a common trigger for nicotine craving and one needs to learn to handle stress well. People often take up smoking as their stress buster. And not to mention, fighting back against a tobacco craving can be stressful. Thus, you need to try new relaxation methods to keep stress at bay like deep breathing, muscle relaxation, yoga, visualization, massage, or listening to calming music.

• Participate in physical activities like squats, deep knee bends, pushups, running in place, or walking up and down a set of stairs to keep yourself distracted and spend 5-10 minutes in an activity while your brain tries to fight the nicotine craving.

• The most simple thing but the most challenging is to remind yourself of the benefits of quitting nicotine. You need to understand what works for you and why- you need to remind yourself of health benefits, you doing good for your close ones and saving them from second-hand smoke.