Beat Nicotine Cravings: 54 Things To Do Instead Of Smoking

Brushing Teeth Instead of Smoking

Photo: eqqman

Quitting smoking is hard work, and while there's not a single magic formula to make it easy to quit, or one best way to quit smoking that works for everybody, there are things that you can do to make it easier on yourself when the cravings hit.

I chose to quit cold turkey, but whatever method you are using, the early days and weeks will test your willpower with nicotine withdrawals and cravings. The best way I've found to beat those cravings is to substitute something for the cigarette.

At the most basic level, it doesn't really matter what you do, so long as you don't smoke! Some people even use text messaging as a substitute. It has been shown in studies that these cravings only last for 3-5 minutes, so anything you can do to stop yourself from smoking for these few minutes (which may seem like an eternity), will have you one step closer to becoming a nonsmoker for good.

"What can I do, Chris?" I hear you asking. That's perfect, since I have put together a list of lists, if you will (you know you want to), of things you can do instead of smoking a cigarette. Remember, doing anything is better than doing nothing.



DO STUFF INSTEAD OF SMOKING:

1. Keep a journal. Writing about how you're feeling or what you're doing when those cravings sneak up on can help you gain insight. You can read these entries later, and by the time you're done overanalyzing them, the craving will have passed.
   
2. Start a blog. Blogging is fun, and can be likened to a journal or diary without all the erasing.
   
3. Go to sleep. Sleep can be your best friend, especially for those first few days when you're still suffering physical withdrawal symptoms. No matter how hardcore a smoker you used to be, you can't smoke in your sleep.
   
4. Visualize yourself as a non-smoker. Paint a mental image of yourself with pretty, pink, healthy lungs and other organs.
   
5. Breathe. Take a slow, deep breath while you count to four. Feel the clean air refreshing your body as the oxygen is carried to the tips of your fingers and toes. Hold the breath for a count of four, then exhale slowly over a count of four. Finally, allow the air to remain expelled from your healing lungs for, you got it, a four count. Repeat.
   
6. Count the money you've saved from not buying cigarettes (You are saving money, aren't you?)
7. Got kids? It may sound like some corny slogan, but if you have youngsters of your own, or nieces or nephews hanging around, spend some quality time doing anything with them. It will be difficult to light up smoke while doing a jigsaw puzzle or playing a game of checkers. Besides, you never get these early years back.
   

GO SOMEWHERE THAT YOU CANNOT SMOKE:
If you're somewhere that you can't smoke, then you won't be smoking, right? These will depend largely on your location, but smoking is being snuffed out in all kinds of public places across the globe. Hopefully some of these will be safe havens in your area.

1. Movie theatre
   
2. Bookstore
3. Coffee Shop
   
4. Library
5. Shopping mall
   
6. House of Worship
   

DO SOMETHING THAT MAKES IT PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO SMOKE:
Some activities just don't go with smoking cigarettes. Spend a couple minutes with one or more of them.

1. Wash your hands. Remember the wrists and forearms.
   
2. Take a shower or bath. Maybe not impossible to smoke in there strictly speaking, but you should be able to distract yourself in there for long enough to get that nice clean feeling, and come out of it smelling like a rose.
3. Chew on a straw. May look funny hanging out of your mouth, but not funnier than a blazing death stick.
4. Mint toothpicks are the greatest things since sliced bread, which we all know is one of the greatest pre-Edison inventions ever to fit into a breadbox.
   
5. Brush your teeth. They're probably not exactly white anymore. Work on it, and give yourself something else to smile about.
   
6. Mouthwash. Use it. Instructions are right on the back of the bottle. Fight the battles against smoking and gingivitis both at once. You're a warrior!
   
7. Learn to play an instrument. It takes a special kind of stupidity to use an ashtray and a harmonica at the same time.
   

INSTRUMENTS YOU CAN LEARN:
You might not get much local radio play, but these instruments are easy enough to make sounds with, and if you've never tried them, you might be surprised how addicting they can be. Much safer than the old smoking addiction.

1. Keyboard/piano. Just push the black and white buttons. Use both hands, and leave the ashtray outside.
   
2. Harmonica. Inexpensive and foolproof.
   
3. Guitar. A little tougher to get started with, but with either an instructor or a good book you can be making melodies within a short time.
   
4. Harp. I haven't tried one of these (yet), but in searching online for opinions on the easiest instruments to get started with, it came up again and again. The main negatives seem to be difficulty finding instruction, and it appears that all product choices are relatively expensive when compared to the others.
   

EXERCISE:
Exercising doesn't have to mean three hours at the gym. Exercise to quit smoking only has to last a few minutes, remember. Here are a few exercises that will stimulate the body, and keep you away from the cigarettes for as long as you can keep them up.

1. Pushups. You can do modified pushups (with your knees on the floor) if you're not ready for full pushups yet.
   
2. Punching bag. It's a commitment getting one of these and setting it up, but it's worth every violent moment. Sometimes you just need to beat the crap out of something, and stopping smoking is likely the best excuse you'll find.
   
3. Jump rope. Actually a deceptively challenging activity.
   
4. Swim. If you're fortunate enough to have access to a pool or natural body of water, swimming is said to be one of the best all around exercises in which you can get involved.
   
5. Go for a bike ride. You haven't forgotten how to ride, have you? Here's another activity that will stop you from thinking about cigarettes, yet can be done for any length of time and at any intensity level. Bring a water bottle, and enjoy the scenery.
   
6. Walk. Feel free to bring along a friend or two.
   
7. Jog or run. Like walking, but faster. With this, you get the bonus of being able to slow to a walk in the middle, thus doing two exercises on the list in one session.
   

KEEP YOUR HANDS BUSY:
After a few days of quitting smoking, the nicotine is gone from your system and the cravings are mainly psychological in nature. Part of this is that your hands are trained to grab a cigarette at certain intervals or when bored.

1. Do a crossword puzzle, or try some sudoku.
   
2. Play Cards. No company, no problem. Here's how to play solitaire.
   
3. Paint your nails, or paint your lady's nails
   
4. Draw something. Don't have an artistic bone in your body? Use tracing paper to get started; You might just surprise yourself with a little practice.
5. Cook. Can't cook? Learn to cook. Which brings us to...
   

EATING INSTEAD OF SMOKING:
Everybody worries about the weight gain when quitting smoking. This is because the habit of constantly having a cigarette in your mouth is easily replaced by stuffing your face with food. This is actually a pretty good idea, if you don't let yourself go down the road of sugary candies and ice cream. Here are some less damaging alternatives.

1. Sunflower seeds. These are my favorite cigarette substitute, aside from sweets. In the shells, and salted to hell and back. It can be ugly finding a place to spit all those shells, and make sure to drink plenty of water to offset the salt.
   
2. Pickles
3. Raisins
4. Celery
   
5. Grapes
   
6. Oranges
7. Berries. Any kind of berries, maybe try something new. Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, whatever. And for the record, these are all being counted as one list item so I don't want to hear any nonsense about padding my list to make it look like more things.
   
8. Spearmint leaves
9. Gum. sugarless
   
10. Yogurt
11. Popcorn
    
12. Cinnamon sticks are another interesting thing you can let hang out of your face-hole that don't require ownership of a lighter or matches.
    
13. Lollipops. Yes, they're technically sweets, but you can get them sugar free I guess, and they take a long time to get through, so they're not as bad as the other sweets I'm not listing.
    
14. Carrot sticks
    
15. Orange juice. I remember not wanting to have a cigarette after drinking orange juice because of the bad way the smells of OJ and cigs mix, and it's still true.
    
16. Water or ice water
    
17. Seltzer or tonic water
18. Ice cubes or shavings

Made it this far? Good. If you were having a nightmare craving before, you're probably feeling a little better now that a few minutes have passed. If not, you'll be better equipped for next time you do.

Reward Yourself With Money Saved From Quitting

When I initially decided to stop smoking, one of the major factors was the money that I could save. Here in New Jersey, it's well over six dollars a pack. Figuring myself at a little over a pack a day, that's an easy 50 bucks weekly, two hundred a month.

If you're giving up cigarettes, or have given them up, you've surely considered the money spent over the years. What are you doing with yours? Something, I hope.

I keep mine tucked away, and every once in awhile it's a nice bonus to have it there for impulse spending. Depending on circumstances, a person could easily use that cash to go out to dinner or have some kind of a night on the town every couple of weeks.

Maybe you want a copy of Guitar Hero, or your own domain name (just so you know, it's uber-geeky to have your own name registered as a dot com, I think I'm gonna go for it). Hell, for that kind of money, you can probably make payments on a nice entry level car. When I say nice, I mean that it's this year's model, not necessarily nice as in power windows and air conditioning.

I guess it's been about nine days quit for me today, and I didn't have any really bad cravings over the weekend consciously, but I was halfway between insomniac and inconsolable most of yesterday. Managed to sleep like a rock overnight, and today is much better.

I'm taking myself camping this coming weekend with my quit money, what are you doing with yours?

Survived First 24 Hours Without Smoking

Once again, I have joined the ranks of nonsmokers. The first day of quitting smoking, as anticipated, was not very bad at all. I have my sunflower seeds to help me with cravings, and they have been doing their job wonderfully, as they did last time I quit smoking.

There's not much else to report, as Sunday is typically a day of R&R for me. I intend to do a little research in order to find out what it is about sunflower seeds that makes them such good help with eliminating the nicotine cravings. I'll let everybody know tomorrow what I'm able to find out, if anything.

Boredom Continues To Be My Enemy

Saturday night went well. We got out to the artsy-fartsy district and had some expensive dinner and drinks, after which we checked out the Kodo drummers. Very cool show. Later on some more fattening up, this time with half-price Applebees munchies and tall glasses of beer. Don't get me wrong, I am the opposite of an Applebees fan, but those nachos are so nacho-ey and when you tell them you want your wings hot, you get your wings hot.

The cool thing was when most of our group went outside to smoke (you can't smoke inside public places here in Jersey, except in limited areas of the casinos), I got to hang in the nice heated atrium and wonder if it was as cold out there as it looked. Turned out it was, and that was also the only time I had any cause to think about smoking. It wasn't because I wanted any part of it, either.

Most of Sunday though, and to a slightly lesser extent today, I have been finding myself so damn bored! These are the times when I used to smoke cigarette after cigarette. I'm still not having a lot of cravings though, which is great, a reminder that I am really doing a good job here.

I have noticed that I've been quite the miserable prick though. Then when I do have even a little bit of a craving, you want to talk about a grumpy son of a....

I actually am lightening up some even as I type this, it gives me a chance to laugh at myself, despite my reputation for not being all that funny. That's good, since the reason for this blog's existence in the first place is to be my own little space to vent and get this kind of crap out of my system. Another small success. Wow, I'm awesome!

Still Alive After Quitting Smoking 14 Days Ago

It's been a rough couple weeks, but today marks the fourteen day anniversary of the day I stopped smoking cold turkey. It's been a rough couple of weeks, with days both good and difficult, but I am finally beginning to feel like I am really meeting with some measurable success as someone who has quit smoking.

There are no more cravings whatsoever first thing when I wake up, and the overall amount of cravings I've been having on a daily basis that I consider significant is low, perhaps one or two a day. After dinner I still almost always think about a cigarette.

I've been told that it will probably take from two to four months to become very, very comfortable as a non smoker. I have heard wildly different amounts of times stated as to how long it will take until the possibility of smoking will become completely foreign. These range from six or eight months to a year or two to probably never.

I guess time will just have to tell, but for now I'm celebrating.

We're going out on a triple date to dinner and a show tonight, followed by question marks (???). The kids are sleeping out, so who knows what could happen?

I might not be able to catch up again until Monday, so enjoy the weekend.

Apples Do Nothing For Cigarette Cravings

Note to self: The doctor still hasn't showed up yet though, so that old adage may still hold true.

I haven't touched a cigarette in five and a half full days (I feel like one of the kids saying that, the six and a half year old in particular). As of five minutes ago, I weigh exactly the same as I did last weekend, which means I'm mostly keeping myself from eating a bunch of garbage to control cravings.

For some reason or another, I just found myself thinking about a cigarette. As I have been doing in these situations, I tried something new, an apple this time.

While I am satisfied that the doctor will likely not be making any house calls this day, a big chug of flavored seltzer water (it's black cherry right now) is far higher on the it fights cravings scale than the apple, which sits at zero.