When you quit smoking, cravings can be a real trap. Cravings can become a significant obstacle when trying to quit smoking, leading many individuals to relapse each year. But what exactly is this phenomenon? What causes it, and how can you overcome it?
LaserOstop offers effective strategies to combat these intense urges to smoke, helping you break free from cigarettes once and for all.
What is craving?
Understanding the definition of craving
The term “craving” is an anglicism derived from the verb “to crave,” used to describe a strong desire or yearning to do or obtain something. In the context of tobacco use, “craving” refers to an intense and, above all, irresistible urge to smoke. It is that specific moment when you might feel compelled to search your entire house just to find even half a cigarette. It’s also what drives some smokers to travel dozens of kilometres on a Sunday to find an open tobacco shop when they’ve run out of cigarettes.
As you can see, these overwhelming urges are incredibly difficult to resist.
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A significant risk factor for relapse
The craving to smoke is a common feature of all addictions and presents not only a challenge but also a frequent cause of relapse for individuals striving to abstain. Unfortunately, this craving does not disappear immediately with the cessation of toxic substances. It can persist for a relatively long period, affecting smokers and former smokers alike, even if they do not recognize it by name.
For habitual smokers, the solution is straightforward: they light a cigarette, and the craving dissipates. However, when embarking on a smoking cessation journey, managing these cravings becomes significantly more complex.
The mechanisms behind smoking cravings
Nicotine is a psychoactive substance, meaning it acts on the brain and alters the functioning of neural circuits, driving smokers to continuously seek their dose of nicotine. This explains, in part, the symptoms of cravings.
However, there is another underlying factor contributing to these cravings: conditioning. Smoking often takes place under similar circumstances, leading to the establishment of habitual associations. While quitting smoking puts an end to nicotine consumption, the situations in which smoking occurred still persist. It is in these specific contexts that intense and irresistible cravings may arise.
What triggers the irresistible urge to smoke?
This intense urge to smoke stems from both the physical and psychological dependency on tobacco. However, it is primarily environmental and psychological factors that play a significant role in driving this compulsion.
Physical dependence
When you haven’t smoked for several hours or during the first days of withdrawal, the lack of nicotine can trigger an overwhelming urge to smoke. In such cases, supplying nicotine to the body, through nicotine replacement therapies, can help alleviate the craving. However, as you progress in your journey to quit smoking, you’ll soon realize that using nicotine substitutes alone is not sufficient to eliminate this phenomenon, which often persists well beyond the phase of physical withdrawal.
Favourable psychological and environmental factors
The act of smoking is deeply tied to your lifestyle habits, emotions, and the environment around you. Any situation that reminds you of positive or negative moments from the past involving cigarettes can trigger a strong urge to smoke. Among the factors that contribute to an uncontrollable craving to smoke, the following are noteworthy:
- Being in situations where you habitually smoked (e.g., having coffee, taking a work break, socializing with friends, or upon waking up).
- Being near smokers or inhaling second-hand cigarette smoke.
- Experiencing stress, anxiety, or depressive episodes.
- Spending time in places where you previously smoked regularly (e.g., bars, nightclubs, a friend’s house, or even your own home).
These factors play a significant role in reinforcing the habit of smoking, making them important triggers to address when working toward smoking cessation.
Can you overcome the urge to smoke without reaching for a cigarette?
By definition, nicotine cravings are intense but remarkably brief. On average, the urge to smoke lasts only 3 to 5 minutes. After this short period, the craving diminishes and eventually disappears. This means it is entirely possible to overcome the desire to smoke without giving in to the seemingly irresistible need, but doing so requires some effort on your part.
Such intense sensations, however, are unlikely to fade if you focus on them excessively. Instead, you must find strategies to redirect your attention and manage the urge effectively.
Overcoming nicotine cravings at the start of a smoking cessation journey
At the beginning of a journey to quit smoking, the desire to smoke is often linked to the physical withdrawal from nicotine. This aspect of dependence can be addressed by using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Ideally, a long-acting delivery method, such as a nicotine patch, should be utilized, or nicotine gum can be consumed regularly to help prevent cravings and manage the body’s need for nicotine.
What should be done in every case
In any situation, the first step to overcoming a craving to smoke is to remove yourself from the circumstances that triggered it. Then, focus on keeping your mind occupied to avoid dwelling on the urge.
For example, you could shift your attention to the activity you were engaged in or start something you had planned for later. You can also prepare a specific strategy to manage these moments, as recommended by professionals specializing in cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). In such cases, you might choose to brush your teeth or take a short meditation break whenever you encounter this challenging situation.
With the right measures, the craving to smoke will typically fade away and become nothing more than a memory within fifteen minutes.
How to overcome long-term smoking cravings
Remember what motivated you to quit smoking
To permanently overcome the discomfort caused by cravings, it is crucial to remind yourself why you decided to quit smoking in the first place. Most likely, your primary motivation was to avoid or address health problems. However, during moments of intense craving, focusing on immediate benefits of quitting tobacco can be more effective.
For example, think about the fact that you no longer have bad breath, that your children no longer criticize you for smelling like cigarettes, and most importantly, that you are no longer exposing them to harmful second-hand smoke.
Eliminate triggers that make you want to smoke
Ideally, you should modify the habits that frequently lead to cravings for a cigarette. While some habits may be difficult to change, you will undoubtedly find ways to adjust others. For example, consider sipping your coffee in a different room or café, or switching to tea instead of coffee. You might also try taking your work breaks in a different location or minimizing situations that cause stress and anxiety. Gradually, you’ll break away from your old routines and feel less tempted to smoke.
Additionally, make sure to remove anything that reminds you of smoking or makes it easier to light up. Throw away or give away any new or opened packs of cigarettes. Hide ashtrays that are in plain view, and put away any scattered lighters, matches, or other smoking paraphernalia.
By reshaping your environment and routines, you can take significant steps toward overcoming the urge to smoke and building a healthier, smoke-free lifestyle.
Medications that can help… or not
There are medications available that can help combat the urge to smoke. Unfortunately, this often means replacing one dependency with the use of medical treatments, which is not an ideal solution. The best approach is to tap into your internal resources to manage your cravings. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t seek assistance!
Your specialist in nicotine-free detox solutions, laserOstop, offers an effective, simple, and fast method, completely free of side effects, to help you quit smoking and manage those challenging cravings more easily.
laserOstop: saying no to smoking cravings
Thanks to a low-density laser that operates via photobiomodulation, laserOstop directly targets reflex points associated with the urge to smoke. This approach enables individuals to quit smoking without discomfort or the use of chemical substitutes. This technique has already won over tens of thousands of smokers or rather, former smokers!
Non-invasive, painless, and safe, laserOstop helps address nicotine dependency without the need for compensation mechanisms, often requiring just one session.This method works for anyone seeking freedom from tobacco addiction, including long-term smokers. You can benefit from this solution in specialized laserOstop centres dedicated to tobacco cessation across Canada, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and beyond.
