Why do people smoke? This is a potent question that everyone answers differently. Usually though, the answer incorporates a few of these elements – for the nicotine kick, in order to appear “cool”, or for stress relief. For these reasons, smokers are willing to live with the chances of emphysema, asthma, or cancer.

Apart from lung disease, nicotine also works as a stimulant by increasing the heart rate. On the other hand, nicotine withdrawal sends the smoker into a restless state, which can be “calmed” down only by a cigarette. This ultimately results in a cycle leading to high blood pressure, depression, anxiety, restlessness and other mental problems.

The very first puff on a cigarette starts this lethal chain – the materials entering the body with each inhalation include carbon monoxide(a potent toxin, depriving oxygen from the body and generating carcinogenic free radicals), hydrogen cyanide(a very poisonous substance), and coal tar – which deposits itself inside the lungs, slowly destroying the thin capillaries and forcing the membranes to collapse upon each other. Apart from these, there are nearly 400 other toxins in trace amounts, which over the years build up and turn the body into a wasteland.

A lot of people are aware of the risks associated with smoking. Some of them accept their doom cheerfully, while others try to quit but fail to do so due to their physical and psychological dependence on the nicotine fix. For them, nicotine patches or sprays can occasionally be useful.

So when you’re helplessly caught trying to quit and being unable to, what do you do?

Firstly, set a date for quitting and make that public. Make sure that you cannot smoke at any point in your daily life without having to answer uncomfortable questions to whoever sees you. Enlist the support of your friends and family(your mother might be most glad to help!) in preventing you from smoking at home.

Try to avoid being around your smoker friends, since that will only increase your desire to have a puff. Get rid of the apparatus you associated with a leisurely smoke – ashtrays, lighters, tobacco, a favourite evening Tshirt, etc. Preferably, engage in a new occupation or hobby to change your routine and keep your mind off smoking until you grow used to being without it.

In the end, we all wish to live a happy, healthy life. I feel that a life where mornings are spent coughing up globs of phlegm, with our lungs slowly giving way, is no way to live. So quit smoking, and feel the quality of your life improve dramatically!