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How To Quit Smoking

You probably don’t need to read an article to know you should quit smoking cigarettes. "Those things will kill you" gets old pretty fast. But where do you begin?
The most common way smokers try quitting is cold turkey – or, the more technical term, "unassisted quitting" – but it’s far from being the most successful. "People can double or even triple their odds of success if they used some kind of assistive method," says Yvonne Hunt, program director in the National Cancer Institute's Tobacco Control Research Branch.
With patches, gums, hotlines and pills, how do you figure out which methods are best for you? Well, maybe all of the above. "The gold standard of quitting is a combination of medicine with counseling," Hunt says.
First, let’s take a look at the smoking cessation products. There are two options:
Nicotine replacement therapies. Remember, nicotine is a drug. These products, which Hunt says are best for people who smoke 10 or more cigarettes per day, help ease withdrawal symptoms and urges by releasing nicotine into the body.
Nicotine replacement therapies (with on-the-nose names such as Nicorette and Nicoderm) can take the form of patches, gums, lozenges, inhalers and nasal sprays, so it’s all about choosing which type of product is going to be comfortable for you, Hunt says. In fact, these products are particularly effective when mixed and matched. For example, you may sport a nicotine patch for your baseline level of cravings, and then when you feel a strong urge to smoke or face a situational trigger – everyone else is smoking, or you have a ritual of smoking on the ride home – that’s when you boost your nicotine with a lozenge or piece of gum, Hunt says.
A pharmacist, doctor or counselor can help you determine how, exactly, to use these products in a safe and effective way.
Non-nicotine products. The generic names for these kinds of products are varenicline and bupropion, but you may know them as Chantix, Wellbutrin and Zyban. A physician must prescribe these aids, and she can also work with you to determine if and how to combine them with nicotine replacement products.
These medicines work with your brain’s neurotransmitters to block certain reward systems, including, as you may guess, the rewarding effects of nicotine. "If somebody is using this during a quit attempt and they do have a cigarette, they’re not going to feel the reinforcing pleasure to the same degree that they would have if they weren’t taking the medication," Hunt says. "This helps to reduce cravings and urges to smoke."
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