Why Should You Keep Busy When Quitting Smoking?

Trying to quit smoking? It won’t be easy, but it’s your determination that will help you fight off the urge to reach for another cigarette after a few hours without one.

But the real test comes when boredom kicks in, and your instinct is to reach for a ciggie out of habit.

Keep yourself occupied when the urge hits. Put on your favourite tune, jot down some thoughts in a diary, or do a bit of light exercise somewhere far from temptation.

These small distractions are great for taking your mind off tobacco and helping you ride out a nicotine craving. 

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Today, we’ll explore how staying busy can help you quit smoking for good.

The Vicious Cycle of Idleness and Smoking

Whether you’re spiritual or not, there’s truth in the old saying, “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” 

When you’re not keeping yourself busy, those nicotine cravings can easily creep in. 

Human brains are wired to seek out new and stimulating things, and sadly, willpower alone often isn’t enough to hold off cravings.

To make matters worse, tobacco can take over your dopamine levels—the body’s feel-good reward system. 

That’s why you might feel a quick boost of energy and pleasure after a smoke, making you want to light up again. 

The key to quitting and staying smoke-free is to keep yourself occupied. 

Once your mind starts wandering, the urge to smoke becomes stronger, and before you know it, you’re reaching for a cigarette again.

If you’re going cold turkey, it’s even more important to fill your days with activities that keep you distracted and help form new, healthier habits.

Battling Boredom: The Danger of Temptation

Idle meditation has helped some people quit smoking, but it’s not for everyone. 

Determination can run low when cravings strike, and focusing solely on your breathing might not be enough when you’re just starting to quit. 

Instead, try keeping yourself busy with non-addictive activities, especially when those cravings get intense. 

Going for a walk outdoors or through a park can help distract your mind by letting it wander and take in new sights.

If you used to enjoy reading, you could pick up a book again. Immersing yourself in a new fictional world and caring for its characters can be a great escape. 

Even if it takes some time to get hooked, keep reading when cravings grow stronger—it’ll help the urge pass.

Staying busy is a good way to prevent giving in to cravings, but it doesn’t stop there. 

New Habits and Activities to Keep You Busy

If you need some ideas to strengthen your willpower against stopping smoking, here are a few:

Exercise: Walking, running, jogging, and swimming are great for rebuilding your cardiovascular system. Your lungs might feel weak during the first few times you work out, but you will surely feel good after your body releases endorphins.

Relaxation: Contrary to popular belief, smoking does not and will not be a relaxing activity – nicotine introduces adrenaline into the body. 

If you can handle some physical downtime and keep your focus, you can go for mindfulness meditation and journaling. Otherwise, doing yoga and simply decluttering your space can relax your mind.

Mental Activities: While exercise is great, your body has a limit to the activities it could endure (if you keep at it, though, your endurance will keep on improving). As mentioned, reading is a great pastime. You can also try creative writing, painting, puzzles, or even writing about how successful you are after a month, a year, or a decade without cigarettes.

Here are plenty more activities and hobbies you can try to keep yourself off ciggies for good.

Repairing Your Internal Reward System

Quitting smoking detaches tobacco as a primary dopamine trigger. As you change your habits and set new goals, your internal reward system will repair itself and kick out nicotine as the only thing that triggers it.

Of course, during your first few hours or days of quitting, you’ll throw off your dopamine balance. You’ll have mood swings and feel dissatisfied with almost anything during this period.

But as you keep yourself busy, discover new hobbies, and find new activities, your dopamine levels will stabilise, making you feel good by doing things that do not involve lighting up.

A Supportive Environment

Our environment is partly responsible for developing our habits and preferences. In a supportive environment filled with empathy and understanding, a smoker going through withdrawal has the best chance of quitting for good.

A house or workplace where others do not smoke around you, or invite you to smoke with them to socialise, improves any motivated smoker’s success in quitting.

Aside from creating a healthy non-smoking environment at home, we also recommend joining a smoking cessation group. 

While your family and friends can support you, group members are going through the same issues as you, making it easier to empathise and relate to them as you all go through your quit journeys together.

How to Quit Easily

Today, you can easily quit tobacco if you’ve fully made up your mind. You won’t have to fear losing any willpower and going back to smoking by knowing the timeline to quit smoking and the steps to take to quitting, along with the ongoing help of GPs, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and nicotine vaping products (NVPs) from pharmacies.

Consult a GP

Many smoking cessation groups are facilitated by GPs who specialise in smoking cessation. They can create a tailor-made plan based on your previous tobacco consumption to make sure the NRT products you use can help you quit successfully.

NRT products, such as lozenges, gums, and patches deliver a small dose of nicotine designed to satisfy your cravings and wean you off cigarettes. While effective, they don’t always work for everyone, which is where pharmacy-sold NVPs can come in.

More About NVPs

NVP products sold in pharmacies are made under stringent pharmaceutical standards on the manufacturing process and ingredients, are toxicologically assessed for inhalation, are locally insured, and are specifically designed to help you stop smoking.

The latest Cochrane Review found high-certainty evidence that NVPs are more effective than NRT in helping people stop smoking.

It’s important to know that if you access a vape without a prescription, you’re consuming an illegal vaping product that can endanger your health. Illicit NVPs (such as those in convenience stores and tobacconists) are imported under the radar, just like illicit tobacco and drugs, and are made as cheaply as possible for maximum profits. 

Furthermore, imported illegal NVPs sold in the blackmarket contain nickel and lead, two metals that are fatal to human health.

Summary

Our brains crave novelty, and at the cost of satisfying boredom, it’s easy to just reach for a ciggie. Instead, keep yourself busy, try new hobbies, and over time you’ll find yourself not thinking about smoking at all.

We know you’re here because you want to know how to keep busy after you’ve stopped smoking. We can help.

Smokefree Clinic gives you access to many medically reviewed and trustworthy resources that can inform and aid you in your path to wellness, so have a look around! 

If you’re ready to get started, Smokefree can connect you to Australian healthcare professionals who excel in helping patients quit smoking for good.

Link Reference:

• https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060826180547.htm
• https://www.cochrane.org/news/latest-cochrane-review-finds-high-certainty-evidence-nicotine-e-cigarettes-are-more-effective
• https://www.bbc.com/news/health-65614078