When somebody decides that it's time to quit smoking, it is best to start immediately. However, how can you stop smoking when you have been smoking for a number of years? Tobacco is extremely addictive and a very difficult addiction to break, even more so than cocaine. Tobacco contains the substance called nicotine which is addictive to both the mind and the body, a form of chemical dependence, similar to what affected Michael Jackson and led to his death.

Each time you smoke a cigarette, you eliminate five to twenty minutes from your life, hence the term coffin nails. Tobacco weakens your body, leaves you with halitosis, yellow teeth, dry skin, lower bone density, fertility problems that will inevitably affect your sexual health as well as an increased risk of being inflicted with deadly diseases such as cancer, heart disease, osteoperosis and COPD (emphysema). Smoking is costly and will reduce one's life considerably.

Methods to quit smoking can be found in several places and there are also a variety of medications that can be prescribed. Some smokers are prescribed nicotine replacement modalities such as nicotine gums, nicotine patches, lozenges, inhalers, etc. But the problem with all these is that they deal mainly with the physical aspect of what smoking does to the body. Understanding this fact, that the mind becomes quite addicted to pleasures of smoking as well.

The hardest part of quitting smoking comes when trying to deal with the mind. A smoker's mind usually becomes convinced that their happiness, enjoyment and leading a stress free life, all depend on smoking. Understanding this fact is just one of the key pivotal issues in quitting smoking.

The first thing to do to quit is to set a definite time to quit smoking. Circle the date on a calendar that you and everyone in your home see several times a day, and circle your quit smoking date with a red marker. Between now and then, prepare yourself to quit smoking by creating a timeline of items such as when you'll buy your last pack of cigarettes, clean and get rid of all the ashtrays and other smoking related items. If you smoke a lot while sitting at your computer or watching TV, try to change the room in which you do these things, and don't smoke in that room, so your don't associate smoking with that room.

There are also fun things to do once you've set a time to quit smoking. Make plans for rewarding yourself with a weekend getaway, buying new clothes or that new computer you want, using the money you would have spent on cigarettes. Don't laugh! Even if you smoke just one pack of cigarettes each day, at the cost of $3.50 per pack, you'll save $1,277.50 per year after you quit smoking.

One of the most important things to bear in mind when attempting to quit smoking, is the cessation of such connections in the mind. Smokers believe that they need to smoke a cigarette to help them deal with daily issues. Once you are able to overcome this problem, in time your mind will learn to deal with daily activities without needing a cigarette.

A good piece of advice when trying to quit smoking can be to seek counseling sessions and get advice from someone who is an ex-smoker, ie a person who has undergone a similar experience. Talking about your fears about quitting smoking and thereby relieving the doubts you have by going to such sessions can be beneficial to anyone who is trying to quit smoking.

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