2. CONSIDER NATURAL TECHNIQUES

Cutting Down

This "method" can be of questionable usefulness, as it is usually just a way of putting off quitting for real. However, some people do use it systematically and intelligently as a way of preparing themselves to quit cold turkey or by some other method. It's just difficult to do so without some kind of plan and the resolve to stick to it.

There is an electronic device marketed under the name "Life Sign" which provides just such a plan and helps you to follow it. It is like a pager which you carry around with you at all times. For the first week or so you just carry the device and smoke normally, pressing a button to inform it whenever you smoke. Then it gets used to your smoking habits and, when you want to start cutting down, it begins to tell you when to smoke by beeping at you. It gradually cuts down the amount you smoke, and it is also purported to break the psychological addiction by removing your usual cues for smoking and replacing them entirely with beeping. It is simple conditioning, and the idea is that when the thing stops beeping you won't feel as inclined to smoke. If this sounds good to you, you can get more information in our related products section.

We are also pleased to provide you with a pauper's version of that plan, which was designed by the sharp thinkers at the SoYouWanna.net laboratory (note: there is no such place). It comes in a 40-day plan or a 20-day plan, and you can choose how long you want to take to cut your smoking down to nil. For the 40-day plan, you purchase two cartons of smokes and one pack. For the first two days, you allot yourself a pack a day (20 cigarettes) to smoke, and any that you don't smoke you throw away, give to your roommate, or flush down the toilet, but you keep the empty packs. For the next two days, you allot yourself 19 cigarettes per day, taking one out of each pack and putting it in one of the packs you saved. For the two days after that, you smoke 18, etc., until you get down to the last two days with one cigarette on each day, after which you will quit.

You will need to write down on your calendar how many cigarettes you are supposed to be having each day, and you have to start out each day with that number of cigarettes in a pack and end each day with none. You give cigarettes away at your peril and you don't bum any off other people or you're cheating. Over the 40 days you will smoke 420 cigarettes, which is why you need two cartons and a pack. The 20 day plan is identical except that you cut down your allotted cigarettes by one each day instead of every other day. For this plan, you need 210 cigarettes, or one carton and a half-pack (toss the other half of the pack). We have no statistics on how well this method works, so let us know how it turns out if you give it a try.

Cold Turkey

We have no idea why quitting without any smoking cessation aids or method is called "cold turkey." It is, though, and so we will continue to use the unusual term. Quitting cold turkey is extremely difficult because most of us have lives that require us to function as somewhat normal human beings for most of the day. When you are suffering through the initial five days of craziness without nicotine, you will feel more like an angry, rabid bear than a human, and you will be about as fit company for other humans. Here are some things you can do to make quitting cold turkey difficult as opposed to impossible:

  • smoke until your last day of work or school, and then begin quitting on the weekend (or whatever days you have off).
  • indulge in other things you like, to the point of foolishness if you feel like it, during the first few days.
  • sleep a lot and watch a lot of TV.
  • avoid situations that frustrate you – you won't deal with frustration very well.
  • avoid any place where people will be smoking.
  • call people whom you know well enough to impose upon and complain to them about how lousy you feel.
  • keep a lot of your favorite non-alcoholic drinks on hand. You will probably feel very thirsty, you'll want to replace the oral gratification of cigarettes with something, and drinking fluids helps to flush the nicotine out of your system faster.
  • have something to do with your hands and/or your mouth. If you like chewing gum, chew it, if you like ripping apart action figures, do so.
  • remember that you're one cigarette away from failure.

These hints apply to some degree to every method of quitting smoking, but if you quit cold turkey you need all the help you can get.