How to support a loved one that is quitting smoking

Quitting smoking is not an easy task. The smokers need help when they are quitting. This is where family members’ and friends’ roles become very important. The first thing that you should have before you support a loved one quit smoking is empathy towards the person. Empathy is the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experience by another person. To develop empathy towards a person who is addicted to smoking requires proper understanding about the pathology of addiction.

The general idea towards a smoker is that he is not quitting smoking because he doesn’t want to. The will does play a major role in quitting smoking, but sometimes the smoker may not succeed in quitting smoking because they are strongly addicted to it. When a person is addicted something, it is very hard to get rid of it. When a person takes an addictive substance, the chemicals in the brain change. With time, the brain cells loose the ability to stay without that addictive substance. When the concentration of that substance in the brain reduces, the person experience unpleasant feeling and sensations which leads them back to taking the substance. The same thing happens to a smoker also. Therefore, the first thing you should understand is that difficulty in quitting smoking is not entirely their fault.

Encouraging the person to quit smoking is very important. When your loved one is try to quit smoking you must do everything you can to admire his decision. Frequent admiration, encouragements and reminding of the benefits of quitting smoking make it easy for a person to quit smoking. If you keep on reminding him, it will be a great help for him to get over overwhelming feelings of smoking.

People, who are quitting smoking, get the idea of smoking again more frequently. They always get the desire to smoke again. They have got used to keeping something in their fingers and in their mouth for a long time. Therefore, if you can provide your loved one to find things that he can keep in his hands and something to put in his mouth, it will be a great help. You can provide him some hard candy. You can also prepare some fruits or vegetables (carrots) that he can put in to his mouth whenever he wants.

Smokers who are trying the quit often gets the idea to smoke again, especially when they are free and along. At such times, the person is at very high risk of smoking again. The best way to prevent this is by keeping the person busy throughout the day. Always try to stay with the person. Always try to find something for him to work on, so he doesn’t have much time to think about smoking.

Reducing other stressful situations in the person’s life is very important. Quitting smoking itself is a very stressful situation. Therefore, your loved one must be in real stress. They must have got used to smoking especially when they are under stress. Therefore, by removing other stressful situations from his life, you can make the process of quitting smoking much easier. Never forget to reward your loved one. Rewarding the person for taking this life changing decision encourages him to hang on to quitting. It will help him to get over the feelings of smoking again.

Quitting smoking is not easy. It requires the help of loved ones. Understanding the pathology behind smoking and about the way the brain works helps to understand the situation/