Why Does Cutting Down on Smoking Never Work?
One of the most common ways that people try to quit smoking is to 'cut down' gradually.
What this means is that from smoking 20 cigarettes a day, they might smoke 15 instead, and then a week later maybe 10, and then 5, and so on.
Different people tend to develop different schedules for 'cutting down' on smoking - and while this might seem like a reasonable way to quit smoking, the truth is that it doesn't really work as well as most people seem to think it does! On the surface, cutting down gradually does seem to be a good idea.
This is because of the fact that if you can get your body used to having less and less nicotine in it on a gradual basis, its going to be a lot less painful to you as you won't feel the burning urge to have a smoke all that often, and at the same time you'll slowly be working towards quitting smoking completely once your body has gotten used to having little or no nicotine around whatsoever.
Unfortunately that is almost never the case.
In reality, even if you do somehow manage to whittle down your smoking habit to maybe one cigarette a day - the truth is that you're going to be waiting and craving for that one cigarette practically the whole day.
So when an excuse pops around for you to let go and smoke more - you probably will.
In essence, that means that you're going to end up going back to square one sooner or later.
Most people who try to gradually cut down don't even get that far.
The majority find that they reach a certain point where they've cut down to about half of their regular smoking quantity, and then they find that the temptations just keep getting greater and greater.
Some even start to develop a denial of the fact that they've stagnated - and end up using excuses such as the fact that they were drinking so they smoked more, or they were in a situation where everyone else was smoking so they smoked more, and so on.
Needless to say, the reasons why you were smoking don't really matter.
What matters is that you were smoking - and that is distinctly counterproductive to your efforts to quit! Admittedly, there are a few people who have managed to quit by slowly cutting down.
However, there are many more who turn into casual smokers instead that smoke from time to time at pubs, bars, or social functions.
Social smokers are really just smokers who are constantly on the edge and could quite easily fall back to being regular smokers instead.
So if you're thinking about quitting it is probably best for you to try other methods instead of just 'cutting down'.
What this means is that from smoking 20 cigarettes a day, they might smoke 15 instead, and then a week later maybe 10, and then 5, and so on.
Different people tend to develop different schedules for 'cutting down' on smoking - and while this might seem like a reasonable way to quit smoking, the truth is that it doesn't really work as well as most people seem to think it does! On the surface, cutting down gradually does seem to be a good idea.
This is because of the fact that if you can get your body used to having less and less nicotine in it on a gradual basis, its going to be a lot less painful to you as you won't feel the burning urge to have a smoke all that often, and at the same time you'll slowly be working towards quitting smoking completely once your body has gotten used to having little or no nicotine around whatsoever.
Unfortunately that is almost never the case.
In reality, even if you do somehow manage to whittle down your smoking habit to maybe one cigarette a day - the truth is that you're going to be waiting and craving for that one cigarette practically the whole day.
So when an excuse pops around for you to let go and smoke more - you probably will.
In essence, that means that you're going to end up going back to square one sooner or later.
Most people who try to gradually cut down don't even get that far.
The majority find that they reach a certain point where they've cut down to about half of their regular smoking quantity, and then they find that the temptations just keep getting greater and greater.
Some even start to develop a denial of the fact that they've stagnated - and end up using excuses such as the fact that they were drinking so they smoked more, or they were in a situation where everyone else was smoking so they smoked more, and so on.
Needless to say, the reasons why you were smoking don't really matter.
What matters is that you were smoking - and that is distinctly counterproductive to your efforts to quit! Admittedly, there are a few people who have managed to quit by slowly cutting down.
However, there are many more who turn into casual smokers instead that smoke from time to time at pubs, bars, or social functions.
Social smokers are really just smokers who are constantly on the edge and could quite easily fall back to being regular smokers instead.
So if you're thinking about quitting it is probably best for you to try other methods instead of just 'cutting down'.
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