Smoking Triggers
Smoking can become so "routine" that many smokers may not even be aware of what causes them to reach for a cigarette.
The Smoker's Log is a tool to help you become more alert to what triggers your urge to light up. For a week or so, track every cigarette you smoke and note the place, people and mood you were in as you reached for the cigarette.
There are three main approaches to coping with triggers and choosing a different activity other than smoking:
1. Think ahead
- identify high-risk places and people so you'll be prepared ahead of time for cravings.
2. Prepare for the craving
- think about how you will handle the situation?
3. Cope with the craving
- coping skills are things you do
or tell yourself to get your mind off wanting a cigarette.
For each trigger, you may want to think about what you can do instead of lighting up.
Here are some other ideas to handle familiar everyday situations that are linked to smoking.
First cigarette in the morning:
Try to change your morning routine in some way e.g., if you have your first cigarette with a cup of coffee, try switching to tea, or having your coffee in another room.
Talking on the phone:
Break your usual phone routine. Stand up, sit down or change rooms. Have healthy snacks available. Doodle with a pen. Keep your hands busy.
Taking coffee breaks at work:
Move to a smoke-free area. Take a walk, read, go buy a lottery ticket, eat a healthy snack, or do a crossword puzzle, challenge a co-worker to a quick game of ping-pong.
After a meal:
Get up after a meal and leave the table. End your meal with a chocolate or a mint instead of a cigarette. Change your routine after eating by going for a walk or brushing your teeth.
Driving:
Remove all cigarettes from the car. Clean the ashtray and seats. Fill your ashtray with mints. Hang an air freshener. Change the usual route you take to work.
Alcohol:
Drink non-alcoholic beverages for a while or replace every other drink with a nonalcoholic drink.
Coffee:
Drink herbal teas or decaffeinated coffee for a while.
Stress:
Mindfulness practice has been shown to decrease stress, which often is a trigger for tobacco use.
Alcohol
For many smokers, drinking and smoking go hand-in-hand. Certain things in the environment (e.g., sitting in a bar with friends, listening to music at a lounge, partying with friends) can cause urges to drink and urges to smoke.
So drinking, or being around alcohol, while you are trying to become smoke-free means that you will need to think about ways to handle the extra strong urges.
- Drinking alcohol lowers the control that stops us from doing things we might feel bad about in the morning. While drinking alcohol, it's easy to lose control. In the early days of becoming smoke-free, most smokers have to focus all their energy on this goal-this is not the best time to test your control by drinking! While under the influence of alcohol, it's easier to think that smoking just one cigarette or I'll smoke only tonight is okay and that you can become smoke-free again tomorrow. But this kind of thinking can set you up to fail or start smoking again.
- Alcohol and nicotine affect the same reward centers in the brain. This means that drinking and smoking may go hand in hand-the more you smoke, the more you will want to drink and the more you drink, the more you will want to smoke.
- Another thing to remember, nicotine slows down the effects of alcohol, leading you to drink more than you usually would.
The bottom line is that drinking alcohol during the early stages of becoming smoke-free is not a good idea. It's important to keep control of your senses when you are learning to live a smoke-free life, and using alcohol puts you at a higher risk of giving into the urge to smoke.
Coffee
Using alcohol and coffee when you're trying to quit are common reasons why smokers slip or start smoking again.
Coffee contains caffeine, which is a stimulant, meaning it helps keep you alert.
The body of a smoker can clear caffeine much faster than non-smokers, so they may not feel the effects of caffeine as much.That is one of the reasons why smokers sometimes drink more coffee.
When you quit smoking, caffeine from coffee or other caffeinated drinks will stay in your body much longer. Smokers who quit and still drink the same amount of coffee can have up to 60 per cent more caffeine in their body compared to when they used to smoke.
Some of the side effects of caffeine are the same as those of withdrawal from nicotine, like irritability, fidgetiness, anxiety, or being unable to sleep. That is why some people start smoking again because it will get rid of those side effects.
If you drink coffee and try to quit smoking, you may find it helps to switch to herbal teas or decaffeinated coffee for a while to give your body a chance to adjust to the higher amount of caffeine staying in your body.
If you can't go without your morning brew, it's important to keep in mind that some of the symptoms you may feel are because of the higher levels of caffeine in your body rather than cigarette cravings, and try to plan ways to get through them.
Stress
Mindfulness practice has been shown to decrease stress, which often is a trigger for tobacco use. It is also thought to be effective in
managing nicotine cravings, withdrawal symptoms and emotional distress that often are associated with becoming smoke-free.
Mind Over Matter
Mindfulness trains our minds to stay focused in the present moment. Through mindfulness practice, we learn to step back and to be more present and focused in our day-to-day lives. Mindfulness teaches us to focus our attention one specific thing rather than get caught in what is happening around us. It brings calmness to our lives. Mindfulness teaches us how to take control of our attention and direct it to where we want it to focus.
Mindfulness can assist you in dealing with slips and help prevent relapses. Slips or a relapse are the result of a reactivation of a pattern of thinking that often happens without even being aware of it. The mind is doing its own thing; it’s not your conscious decision or choice (that’s what comes next!). To help prevent slips or a relapse, you may want to mentally shift gears and take control of what you attend to and how you attend to it.
.. more information can be found in the QuickPack News Volume 3 Issue 4 (PDF, 343 KB)
Guided Imagery for Relaxation
Most people find it helpful to practice these relaxation techniques with music playing in the background, but it all comes down to personal preference. If you continue practicing relaxation exercises, you may find that they become less effortful and you will achieve relaxation faster and in many situations that cause you to feel stressed.
Guided imagery is based on the concept that your body and mind are connected. Using all of your senses, your body seems to respond as though what you are imagining is real. You can achieve a relaxed state when you imagine all the details of a safe, comfortable place, such as a beach or a garden. This relaxed state may aid healing, learning, creativity, and performance. It may help you feel more in control of your emotions and thought processes, which may improve your attitudes, health, and sense of well-being.
Guided imagery has many uses. You can use it to promote relaxation, which can lower blood pressure and reduce other problems related to stress. You can also use it to help reach goals (such as losing weight or quitting smoking), manage pain, and promote healing. Using guided imagery can even help you to prepare for an athletic event or for public speaking.
Guided imagery is safe-no known risks are associated with it.
.. more information can be found in the QuickPack News Volume 3 Issue 3 (PDF, 324 KB)
