To Quit Smoking, Think Outside the Pack

Any smoker will tell you there’s nothing like that first drag of the day. The buzz goes straight to your head. With one puff, nicotine latches onto receptors in the brain and dopamine is released. Dopamine makes us feel pleasure.

The more you smoke, the more nicotine receptors sprout up through the brain cells. When you try to quit, you aren’t getting that hit of dopamine at regular intervals, which is the reason ceasing smoking is difficult.

What happens when you actually do quit? "In theory, what you'd expect to happen is the receptors would just die off," says Megan Piper, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention. “But a 2002 study in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology showed after quitting smoking cold-turkey, feelings of depression and tension remained, even 31 days after the last puff of smoke was taken.”

Perhaps going cold-turkey isn’t the answer. It works for some people, but there are other effective cessation methods to consider to make the transition easier. Below are a few ideas, including wearing a watch that delivers nicotine into the skin, leveraging social media in your effort to quit, and drinking green tea or cocoa.

Wearable tech

Personalized healthcare technology includes wearables such as FitBit and Apple Watch that track your diet, sleep patterns, heart rate and calories burned, and can actually help you quit smoking. There’s also a wearable device, scheduled to hit the market in 2017, called a SmartStop by Chrono Therapeutics. SmartStop is a programmable, transdermal nicotine replacement therapy.

“While nicotine gums and patches can be useful, says CEO of Chrono Alan Levy, Ph.D., “they do not address the cyclical nature of nicotine cravings and offer little to no behavioral support.”

Social media

A study released in summer 2015 by Nicotine & Tobacco Research revealed that younger smokers involved in social media were twice as successful in their efforts to quit compared to those who tried using more traditional ways.

The study compared the success of Break It Off to Smokers' Helpline, a telephone hotline for young adults seeking help to quit. CDC Tobacco Free is another Facebook page you can follow to get tips and support. Or check out whyquit.com. Or start your own support group on Facebook.

Flavonoids

Create a soothing ritual to replace the habit of reaching for a cigarette. Sipping cocoa or green tea is comforting for some people. Even better, research has shown that flavonoids found in foods and drinks (like tea and cocoa) could actually counteract some of the damage smoking causes.

Flavonoids are plant pigments containing both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. They reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering blood pressure and improving blood vessels. Antioxidants help our bodies fight free radicals that cause aging.

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT)

In combination with behavioral therapy with a good counselor, NRTs such as the patch, gum and lozenges may be effective. For about the cost of a carton of cigarettes, one can buy a box of nicotine patches instead. Don’t make the mistake of throwing your money away by using the patch only to go back to the cigs.

Less than 20 percent of our country smokes, compared to nearly half of the population in 1964. But smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death in the country - 1 in 5 people die every year, according to the CDC. Quit while you’re ahead.