6 Common Smoking Triggers—and How to Fight Them What to Do If You Slip When You Quit Smoking Smoking May Ease Anger And Anxiety How to Control Smoking Triggers

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  6 Common Smoking Triggers—and How to Fight Them   What to Do If You Slip When You Quit Smoking

 Stress

 Although cigarettes actually increase physical markers of stress, smokers tend to feel more relaxed after lighting up. So, it’s not surprising that emotional stress is one of the biggest triggers for smoking.

If you quit smoking, make an effort to reduce the stress in your life; take up yoga or meditation, for instance. And try to develop strategies other than smoking to cope with stressful situations. If you have an argument with a spouse or co-worker, or are rushing to meet a tight deadline, try walking around the block or practicing relaxation exercises instead of reaching for a cigarette.

 Driving

  For many smokers, cars are a smoking lounge on wheels. You’re bound to have cravings when you’re behind the wheel—especially if you’re late for work and stuck in a traffic jam—and while you can’t avoid them altogether, you can make it harder for yourself to sneak a cigarette.

  For starters, remove your car’s cigarette lighter and fill the ashtray with hard candy or gum (you might even try nicotine gum). If you have passengers in the car, ask them not to smoke. Above all, don’t keep cigarettes in the car. The areas outside office buildings and restaurants where smokers congregate are like quicksand for people trying to quit. If you find yourself walking by a group of co-workers or friends who are merrily puffing away, don’t get sucked in. If possible, find a way to avoid them? Use another entrance or tweak your schedule.

Parties

  The same goes for parties and other social occasions. If people are smoking, move to another room; if your friends head outside for a cigarette, don’t go with them and pick up the conversation when they return.  Smoking May Ease Anger And Anxiety

   How to Control Smoking Triggers 

 

   Instructions 

  

1.     Identify your smoking triggers by carrying a notebook with you and using it to log situations that make you desire a cigarette. Note how intense each craving is, the time of day the craving occurs, what you are doing at the time, who you are with and how you are feeling emotionally. After a few days of keeping careful notes, you'll begin to see a pattern develop.
2. Plan ahead to develop strategies for dealing with smoking triggers. Experts agree that, at first, you may be more successful if you avoid smoking triggers altogether. For example, if you typically crave a cigarette after drinking an alcoholic beverage, it may be best to avoid alcohol when you are first giving up cigarettes.
3. Avoid temptation after a meal by changing your routines. Do not linger at the table when you finished eating. Go for a brisk walk instead, or busy yourself with meal cleanup or an enjoyable hobby that keeps your hands occupied. 
4. Change your morning coffee routine if you are used to pairing coffee with cigarettes. Plan to have your coffee at a place where you are not allowed to smoke, such as a coffee shop or at your office. 
5. Learn new ways to cope with stress if emotional upset triggers a desire to smoke. Try deep-breathing techniques, or go for a quick walk to release pent-up stress. Incorporating yoga or other exercise into your daily life is a healthy way to keep stress at bay.
6. Avoid other smokers. Talk to friends who smoke about activities you can do together that do not involve smoking. If you are used to taking a smoke break at work, find other pleasurable ways to fill that time, such as chatting with coworkers who do not smoke or having a healthful snack.
7. Conquer strong cravings with substitutions. Chew on sugarless gum or munch on carrots or other satisfyingly crunchy low-fat snacks. You might also consider nicotine replacement products, such as nicotine gum or nicotine patches. Discuss nicotine replacement options with your doctor before using them. 

  

Read more: How to Control Smoking Triggers |Most people who smoke have 'triggers' that make them want to smoke so understanding smoking triggers is a big step on the way to quitting smoking. 

There can be many and varied reasons why people will reach for a cigarette in certain situations and when they are feeling particular emotions. 
  

 It's a vicious circle - 

 First step: something happens and we have an emotional response. 
 Second Step: our reaction to the emotion is what triggers the "habit" of responding to it by smoking a cigarette. 
  

 If you can identify what these emotions or events are, that are causing these triggers then that will be one of the first moves towards quitting smoking.Here are some common smoking triggers: 

  

1. Low Feelings, Feeling Down or Depression: Have you noticed that you feel more like like smoking when you are feeling down or depressed? This is a very common trigger as smoking can act as a comforting element in a person's life.
2. Nervousness or Boost to Self Assurance: Many people smoke because they are shy or self conscious and smoking gives them something to do to take their mind off their anxiety or nervousness. 
3. Anger or other strong emotions: Other people will feel like lighting up when they are angry as this will help them to calm down and manage their situation better.
4. Social Settings:  This is a tough one. Is it nervousness, shyness, peer pressure (wanting to be like everyone else)or a need to bond that causes the difficulty?
   1. Socializing, partying and drinking seem to go hand-in-hand with smoking for many smokers. For those who are serious about quitting smoking, this is where they have to make some hard decisions.
   2. When I assess people who come to me to do Stop Smoking hypnosis, I ask them about the social triggers in their life. I often ask the question: Are you willing to give this trigger up? Would you be willing to give up friends (at least for a while)to quit smoking? Lots of people have answered, "Yes." Then I know they are serious - and stop smoking hypnosis will work for them.
   3. It seems a tough tough thing to ask (I don't demand it, I simply ask, "would you be willing to..." so I can assess how much they want to quit smoking) but most people come to hypnosis as a last resort. By then, they really want to quit. It's their #1 goal and they don't want anything to stand in the way.
   4. What's your goal? To quit smoking or to continue - and risk your health?
5. Any other strong emotion Virtually any emotion can be a trigger for someone to feel like smoking and it is necessary to determine what your emotional triggers are if any.
6. Situations: Perhaps it's not emotional smoking triggers that are your difficulty. It may be certain situations or settings or other activities that cause the smoking triggers.
   1. For instance, you might feel like smoking when you are listening to music, driving your car or watching the television.
   2. Some people like to have a smoke after a meal or when they are consuming alcohol.
   3. Many people feel like they need a smoke to help them start their day or at the end of the day to help them unwind. For one client, it was when the telephone rang. One hand reached for the cigarettes as one hand reached for the phone on his desk. When he realised that this was his biggest smoking triggers, he started his path to quit smoking by putting his cigarettes way across the room on top of a high cabinet.
   4. Best Pennywise Tip: Keep a diary if you have to, noting the times you are triggered to smoke. Write down where you are, what's happening, maybe even who is with you and how you are feeling. Do this until you see the pattern.
   5. If, or when, you do decide to stop smoking, you'll be prepared. Instead of thinking you "need" a cigarette at that moment and just taking one without thought, you will begin to pause and question yourself about what smoking triggers are driving your action. If you have pre-planned your new reaction, that pause will be enough time to let you keep to your new goals. You'll find other things to do at that time, avoid situations that are smoking triggers, or people who won't support you.
   6. Recognising that your smoking habit is a reaction to an emotion or situation, not an addiction, will put you way ahead of people who dwell on their "addiction" as if it were in control of their lives and not them. Remember this: YOU are in control. It's your choice. Knowledge about your smoking habit and what triggers it will help you to know that you can win and just how you're going to do it. 
   7. Once again you need to look at the things that trigger your desire to have a smoke and look at an alternative solution that will help you to cope with the situation without the need for a cigarette. 
   8. If one alternative doesn't work for you then try another and keep trying until you find something that is satisfactory.
   9. Sooner or later you will find something that can give you enough satisfaction to not need the cigarette each time such an emotion or situation arises.
   10. Of course, if you use hypnosis to stop smoking, you may not have to worry about those triggers anymore. They will be diffused gently.
7. Emotional Triggers
   1. Do you expect smoking to relieve stress? Relieve boredom? Calm you down? Do you think you need a cigarette after a meal? With a cup of coffee? To get you going in the morning?
   2. Goal: form new associations that don’t trigger smoking by changing emotional expectations that are bonded to smoking.
   3. Emotional smoking triggers happen largely on a subconscious level. The habit of smoking is about subconsciously fulfilling expectations. A smokers expectation locks their focus of attention on having that cigarette. The compulsion to smoke comes with such a narrowed focus of attention that smoking is the only thing that matters at that moment. Attention is narrowed so much to the here and now that it induces an almost trance-like state. In a sense, a smoker becomes hypnotized by the expectation. They might stand outside in the rain because they are so narrowly focused on smoking in the present moment. In this state of being locked into the present, logical reason has little impact on decision making. That is why so many smokers feel powerless to quit, despite their rational understanding of smoking related disease, expense, smell, and other dire consequences of smoking.
   4. Chemical addiction to nicotine is often less powerful than smokers think. How many smokers can’t make it through 8 hours of sleep or a several hour airplane flight? Most of the nicotine leaves the body within a few days of the last cigarette, yet addiction to smoking remains. Therefore addiction must also, or even mostly, be driven by other factors.
   5. The habit of smoking is hooked to subconscious expectations about the need to smoke in order to relieve stress or boredom or deal with frustration or to relax. Over the course of thousands or tens of thousands of cigarettes, smokers develop hardened associations between lighting up and managing these feelings.  As a result, smokers come to expect that they have to smoke in order to manage emotions. There is some chemical basis to this. Nicotine does activate the dopamine reward pathway, resulting in a mild pleasure state and mildly improved mood. But millions of people manage stress and anxiety without cigarettes, so smoking is not required. The addiction therefore, is the habit of associating smoking with the expectation of results. The habit of smoking is about false expectation alarms, cemented through thousands upon thousands of repetitions.
   6. Despite the fact that smoking actually raises blood pressure and pulse rate, and even though deep breathing when smoking is itself relaxing, the expectation of being calmed by the cigarette is powerful. To make matters worse, the effect wears off quickly, leading to craving and a resurgence of the faulty expectation. Smoking tricks you into feeling built up when you are down, but then lets you down every time. This is a key reason why smoking is so addictive. 
   7. The chances of quitting successfully therefore involve both managing emotional triggers and breaking down the faulty expectations. How? 
      1. Practice positive thinking.
      2. Stress relieving activities.
      3. Therapeutic hypnosis. 
      4. Positive Thinking 

  

   Positive thinking develops over time with practice. It basically involves redefining situations, replacing negative definitions with positive definitions. If you say to yourself, “that sucks,” then the negative emotions that definition triggers will, in turn, trigger smoking to treat those feelings. If, on the other hand, you redefine the same situation by saying, “that’s funny,” then you avoid a negative emotion and with it a powerful smoking trigger. Examples of positive thinking: 

1.    Is this really a catastrophe? If not, why act as though it were? 
2.    Don’t sweat the small stuff. And it’s mostly small stuff. 
3.    The road of life has many potholes. They are inevitable and predictable. But they are mostly small. 
4.    Think about what is good in life. 
5.    Look at the big picture. Does this event really change it? 

  

   Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a style that brings fast results to those who practice the technique. It involves changing the definitions you place on your thoughts and feelings from negative to more positive definitions. This style is best when you have specific goals, such as quitting smoking. Smokefee.gov, the website of the Tobacco Control Research Branch of the National Cancer Institute, has a great page. Here, they give examples of negative definitions, which they call “smoky thinking” along with suggestions for positive or clear thinking. Just keep in mind that changing thinking is a skill that improves over time with repetition. 

  

   Stress Relieving Activities 

  

   Mental and physical activities may also reduce stress. Some can be done anytime and anywhere. These techniques also require practice and repetition. 

  

   Deep breathing. Inhale deeply through your nose for a count of three. Exhale through your mouth for a count of five. Do this several times. 

  

   Progressive muscle relaxation. Imagine your body relaxing one part at a time. Begin with the tips of your toes. Imagine them relaxing for a few seconds. Move on to the whole toes and imagine those relaxing for a few seconds. Progress to your feet. Then ankles, lower legs and knees. Work your way up your body and out your arms to your finger tips. Then work your way up your neck, through your head, ears and even out to the tips of your hair. Spend several minutes in this exercise. It will feel more natural as you practice over time. 

  

   Guided imagery. Sit in a quiet comfortable space and let your mind go to a place or event you enjoy. Maybe it’s a hammock on a warm afternoon. Maybe it’s a beach. It could also be an experience or task you excelled at sometime in the past. Imagine you are there. Include all your senses so you can imagine not only being there, but also feeling, seeing, hearing, tasting and smelling it. 

  

   Household chores and your to-do list. Crossing tasks off your to-do list is amazing at reducing stress. 

  

   Stress ball or stress putty. Often manipulating something with your hands can relieve stress while at the same time engaging your hands in something other than smoking. Products intended for this are sold in some drug stores and novelty shops. Here is an online example. 

  

   Take a walk. Exercise is a proven stress reliever. 

  

   Yoga and Pilates provide both physical exercise and stress reduction. Studios exist in most communities. DVDs and tapes are also available. 

  

   Listen to music. Better still, sing or dance along. 

  

   A hobby such as gardening, knitting, or cooking keeps your hands occupied as it relieves stress. 

  

   A pet, though a big responsibility, can be soothing and comforting. 

  

   Keep a journal. Writing keeps your thoughts focused on other things and your hands occupied. 

  

   Therapeutic Hypnosis 

  

   Hypnosis is similar to progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery (see above). In fact, those are examples of self hypnosis. Often however, a skilled hypnotherapist is best at inducing deep relaxation, while suggesting new expectation patterns. The experience is soothing, calming and refreshing.  Most importantly, therapeutic hypnosis can help breakdown faulty expectations and rematch emotional cues of stress, boredom, etc. to new subconscious expectations that do not include smoking. 

  

   You can sample 2 different general relaxation hypnotic sessions below.  While these samples are not particularly directed toward smokers, they are enjoyable and indicative of the power of therapeutic hypnosis.The ABC’s of Smoking Triggers 

  

   HALT = Hunger, Anger, Lonely, Tired 

   Hunger - It is amazing how our minds will tell us that everything's wrong when all we really need to do is eat. 

   Anger - If we are angry, our minds tell us we need a cigarette to cope. Until your mind learns that it doesn't need a cigarette to cope, try to avoid upsetting situations. Avoid certain people that may bother you. If you can't get some time off, quit smoking on a long weekend. 

   Lonely - It is good to know some people who are going through the same thing. (Come to chat!!!!) 

   Tired - If we are tired, it is easy to become irritated and when we get irritated our minds will tell us that a cigarette will help. Our overall resistance becomes weak and it is easy to say, "Oh well, I guess I'll have a smoke." 

Other common triggers:  

1.    After sex 
2.    With alcoholic beverages 
3.    Stressful work situations 
4.    Social functions 
5.    Boredom 
6.    With coffee 
7.    While driving 
8.    End of a workday 
9.    Enjoying a sense of accomplishment 
10.    Facing a family crisis 
11.    Finishing a meal 
12.    Getting out of bed 
13.    Playing cards 
14.    Reading 
15.    Friends who smoke 
16.    Talking on the telephone 
17.    Waiting for someone or something 
18.    Watching TV 
19.    Work breaks 
20.    Out of habit - for no reason whatsoever 

  

Make note of your triggers. When do you smoke? Is it associated with any of the above triggers? Maybe you have others. 

 

It is very important for you to prepare for any of your triggers. Know how you will handle them. Those triggers can quickly overwhelm the unprepared quitter, but a good plan of your own will carry you through all of them. 
  

   Substitution Suggestions: 

  

1. Try substituting orange juice for your breakfast coffee for the first week.
2. Try taking your shower after breakfast or tidy up around the house.
3. Chew gum, have a mint, carrot or celery sticks, suck on long licorice sticks.
4. Keep hands busy with needlework or tools.
5. Take a short walk.
6. Write.
7. If you associate smoking and coffee, try switching to tea or another drink for a while.
8. Reward yourself with bubble baths or other ways of being good to yourself.
9. At times of personal crisis, use a support system. (Quit smoking now message board and chat room) 

Addiction to smoking includes:

1. Physical dependence on nicotine
2. The habit of smoking 
3. Smoking triggers are certain behaviors or actions that make you want to smoke. To help you quit and stay smoke-free, it is important to break the link between these triggers and smoking. 

  

  Write down 5 of your smoking triggers. 

  

  Here are some things that Veterans list as smoking triggers: 

 

1. Nicotine cravings 
2. Feeling down, depressed, or bored 
3. Feeling stressed out 
4. Feeling angry 
5. Being around others who are smoking 
6. Drinking coffee 
7. Driving 
8. Drinking alcohol 
9. While watching TV, try keeping your hands busy, do pursed lip breathing exercises, chew on straws or coffee stirrers. 
10. Avoid smokers for a while; be a non-smoking “actor. “
11.  When on the telephone: doodle, switch hands on the receiver, drink water.
12. When driving, sing with the car radio.
13. In stressful situations, remove yourself from situation if possible.
14. Make a point of hanging out with non-smokers.
15. Let friends and family know emphatically that you QUIT. 
16. Start a journal during your pre-quit. When stress comes along, try to write about it in your journal to get it out of your system.
17. Re-read your list of reasons why you quit 

Anger or anxiety may trigger the urge to smoke in some people, according to a new study that suggests emotional smokers may have a harder time quitting.

The study also found that men are more likely to smoke when they are angry and women are more likely to smoke when they are happy.

"Anger and negative affect may trigger smoking in some people, a process that may explain the higher relapse rates following smoking cessation that have been reported for high-hostile rather than low-hostile and for depressed rather than non-depressed individuals," says the study's lead author Ralph J. Delfino, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of California, Irvine.

The study is published in the August issue of Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

Eligible participants, defined as those who smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day and were otherwise healthy, were recruited by local newspaper advertisements.

Over the two 24-hour periods, the subjects wore monitors that measured their blood pressure approximately every 20 minutes. Every time their pressure was taken during waking hours, participants recorded their location, activity and mood states in a diary. Participants were also told to initiate blood pressure readings and write in their diary before and after smoking.

The researchers found that both men and women were more likely to smoke when they were angry, but the effect was stronger in men. Women also were more likely to smoke when they were happy, while men were not.

The subjects in this study were more likely to smoke when they were sad, with the effect stronger in men than women. Both men and women were twice as likely to smoke when anxious.

The study results also suggested that the men obtained an immediate but short-lived calming of their anger when they smoked. This may be due to metabolic effects of nicotine in the brain, says Delfino.

"Smoking-cessation and preventive interventions may require new methods that teach anger and stress management as well as broader aspects of effective emotional regulation," the researchers say.

The differences between the genders in emotional triggers of smoking should be taken into account, they say. "If smoking cues and reinforcing effects differ in men and women, smoking-cessation interventions may require some level of gender-specificity if they are to succeed."

Although the study included only 25 women and 35 men, the data was based on nearly 7,000 observations gathered during two 24-hour periods of continuous monitoring.

What to Do If You Slip When You Quit Smoking

Don’t be discouraged if you slip up and smoke one or two cigarettes. It’s not a lost cause. One cigarette is better than an entire pack. But that doesn’t mean you can safely smoke every now and then, no matter how long ago you quit. One cigarette may seem harmless, but it can quickly lead back to one or two packs a day.

Many ex-smokers had to try stopping many times before they finally succeeded. When people slip up, it’s usually within the first three months after quitting. Here’s what you can do if this happens:

Understand that you’ve had a little slip. You’ve had a small setback. This doesn’t make you a smoker again.

Don’t be too hard on yourself. One slip up doesn’t make you a failure. It doesn’t mean you can’t quit for good.

Don’t be too easy on yourself either. If you slip up, don’t say, “Well, I’ve blown it. I might as well smoke the rest of this pack.” It’s important to get back on the non-smoking track right away. Remember, your goal is no cigarettes – not even one puff.

Feel good about all the time you went without smoking. Try to learn how to make your coping skills better.

Find the trigger. Exactly what was it that made you smoke? Be aware of that trigger. Decide now how you will cope with it when it comes up again.

Learn from your experience. What has helped you the most to keep from smoking? Make sure to do that on your next try.

Are you using a medicine to help you quit? Don’t stop using your medicine after only one or two cigarettes. Stay with it. It will help you get back on track.

Know and use the tips in this Guide. People with even one coping skill are more likely to stay nonsmokers than those who don’t know any. See your doctor or another health professional. He or she can help motivate you to quit smoking.

The Difference between Slips and Relapses

Now that your quit day has arrived, let’s talk for a minute about slips.  This is a very important word that you need to understand.  A slip is when you smoke one or two times after your quit date.  It’s different than relapse, which is when you go back to smoking the way you have always smoked.  It’s extremely common for people who have just quit to have slips and to feel really bad about them.  The problem is that feeling bad often leads to another cigarette and can easily undo all your hard work. QuitNet members often work out their feelings about slips—and get the support they need to continue their quit—on the QuitStop Forum.

If you slip, remember…

A slip is an opportunity to think about what went wrong and how to prevent it the next time.

One cigarette does not make you a smoker again.  One cigarette didn't make you a smoker in the first place, and one slip now doesn't mean you have to go back to smoking again.

Slips are learning opportunities, not excuses.