People always say they want to live a full life. But, do they really? Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly true. It’s merely fluff words. Millions of people around the world smoke. So, this begs the question: how can you possibly live a full life as a smoker? The answer is: you can’t.
With smoking comes a range of health issues and other harmful or even deadly side effects. We have known this for dozens of years now. There is concrete evidence that shows smoking kills at least one in every two people who smokes. And, that’s not even including all of the people who die from secondhand smoke. The point is that smokers cannot live a full life, even if they say they want to.
Now, it’s understandable that quitting smoking is easier said than done. We’re not going to be that blog that simply says, “oh, just stop smoking! It’s that easy!” Because the short and long answer to this is that it’s really not that easy. Quitting smoking is one of the most difficult things to do in life. It’s arguably harder than for an addict to stop using drugs. So, let’s explore some options on how you can stop smoking today and really start living a fuller life.
The Patch
The patch, otherwise known as the nicotine patch, has been cited as one of the most well-known forms of smoking cessation world-wide. However, the truth is that it’s not that effective. While that article mentions 19-26%, it’s likely to be in the single digits. Still, it’s better than nothing and something you should consider.
Nicotine Infused Gum
Similar to the patch, nicotine gum is a replacement therapy that should enable some smokers to quit using tobacco. The issue arises (again) that it’s not all that effective, especially long term. However, as is the case with the patch, it’s still something worth exploring.
Vaping
There has been a lot of news around vaping recently, especially with all of the alleged vaping-related deaths that have occurred. So, is this really a justifiable method of quitting? The short and long answer is yes. Although anything but air is bad for your lungs, understanding that stopping smoking is one of the hardest things to do is key here. Vaping was created to give smokers a way to quit, by using a less harmful way to get their nicotine. The FDA is an extremely harsh critic of vaping. However in the UK, it’s a different story. The UK government not only advocates for e-cigarette usage for better public health, but they also allow advertising, both online and offline, to encourage people to switch. Heck, even UK hospitals are starting to allow people to vape on their premises. This is something that should be strongly considered.
Conclusion
As you can see, there is really no great way to stop smoking. Your options, other than going cold turkey, are not exactly great. However, if you want to live a full life, you need to realize that there’s no way you can do so by continuing to smoke. So if you’re a smoker, consider the above methods to stop today. You won’t regret it.
