Tobacco is one of the most consumed psychoactive substances worldwide. Along with alcohol, it is a legal substance that has traditionally been well regarded at a social level and that today can be consumed freely on public roads.
But it also generates addiction and has important health effects, including a decrease in life expectancy, a weakening of the cardiovascular system and an increased risk of respiratory diseases or even lung cancer.
This is why many smokers want to quit, and why there are great awareness and prevention campaigns. How to prevent smoking or, if you have been a smoker before, prevent relapse? Throughout this article we are going to mention 12 habits and tricks to prevent smoking.
Habits and tricks useful in preventing tobacco dependence
Dependence on tobacco, or rather on the nicotine it contains, is one of the most frequent problems linked to addiction and is often not seen as something serious or excessively harmful. But with the passage of time and as the level of information available regarding its effects increases, there is increasing concern and demand for preventive measures regarding tobacco consumption.
There are many preventive measures that we can use, both at an institutional level and at a personal level. Below we will see different measures that can be taken into account in order to avoid getting hooked or getting hooked on tobacco and nicotine use regardless of our age and condition.
1. Get informed
The first and most basic of the habits that we can recommend is to inform yourself. Although there are multiple prevention campaigns, the truth is that many of them are often ignored and rejected. However, seeking true and reliable information from oneself can help us take the data more seriously and the need to prevent consumption may arise. It is important that this information is true and that it comes from someone with a critical vision of consumption.
Many people start smoking mainly by imitation or by identifying the fact of doing so with maturity or being interesting, considering it a symbol of rebellion and virility. This vision of tobacco comes largely from advertising carried out on television, in cinema or as an inheritance of the traditional vision promoted by the industry.
In this sense, it may be useful to carry out training regarding critical thinking, in which the person must form their own point of view and not limit themselves to believing what they are told or shown. It’s about searching information that allows us to verify our beliefs
3. Do not promote contact with a habitual consumption environment
We have already indicated that one of the reasons why people usually start using is often to join a group, especially in the case of adolescents. In this sense, it can be useful to have some control of our environment and the places where we spend time.
Obviously we are not talking about relating to others based on whether they smoke or not, but rather on try to avoid elements in the environment that facilitate consumption: try not to frequent smoking areas or do so in areas where tobacco cannot be consumed (for example during activities such as going to the movies), for example.
4. Look for models or references
One of the reasons why people start smoking is the existence of relevant or admired people who are smokers. One way to prevent smoking is precisely to use the opposite case: to be or look for a role model who does not consume and who is admired by the person in question.
They can also serve as such people who in the past smoked but have now successfully quit and who speak openly about the problems that consumption has caused throughout their lives and what it has meant for them to achieve this recovery
6. Assess the economic impact
One way to make us a little more reluctant to consume tobacco has to do not so much with health but with money: smoking is not free and in fact it is increasingly expensive, so falling back on its consumption or getting back into it has an implication At an economic level, some may end up considering consumption as something inconvenient.
7. Consider the advantages of non-consumption
Smoking prevention can benefit from treating not only the negative aspects and problems that smoking can cause, but also positively assess the situation and the advantages of not smoking or having stopped doing so.
8. Set limits
Whether the person who is interested in smoking is you or someone you know, it can be useful to set certain limits and clearly state them. This implies taking into account where one might or might not smoke (for example, not at home), something that nowadays and according to current legislation is only possible on public roads (and not everywhere) and at the same time That idea can lead to make it difficult for the desire to consume to appear
9. Appreciate the effect it has on those around you
Smoking not only has repercussions on those who do it, but also affects their environment, making them passive smokers if consumption takes place near them. This can be especially harmful to children, the elderly and people with a depressed immune system.
Many people, in fact, find this point as one of the reasons to change their consumption habits and try to stop.
10. Train your assertiveness
Many young people often start smoking under social pressure from peers or friends or as an activity linked to socialization, although some do not have a real desire to smoke per se. In this sense, it can be very useful to train in an assertive style of behavior and response: The person must learn to defend their position firmly but respecting the vision and feelings of the other In this sense, there are different techniques that can be learned, such as the broken record or the fog bank.
11. Learn relaxation techniques
Many people turn to tobacco due to the belief that nicotine allows the user to relax in anxious situations. This belief is partly the product of a misunderstanding (since, in fact, nicotine is an exciting and not a relaxing substance) derived from the tolerance that smokers end up acquiring to the substance and that it does generate a feeling of tranquility in them when being providing the body with a substance that it is not used to functioning without.
It can be useful to avoid smoking and, above all, to prevent possible relapses, to work on relaxation techniques. Techniques such as relaxation and Jacobson’s progressive muscle relaxation therapy They can be of great help when it comes to combating moments of anxiety or resisting the temptation to consume.
12. Physical activity is your ally
Probably one of the habits that most helps to avoid becoming addicted to substances such as tobacco, one of the simplest protective factors to carry out and that brings the most benefits, is regular sports practice. Regular physical exercise provides a large number of benefits such as an improvement in mood, the release of endorphins and a reduction in anxiety states.
