Quitting Cold Turkey Offers Benefits Other Methods Don’t

I guess one of the biggest upsides to quitting cold turkey is the fact that there is no fooling around. This stop smoking method is black and white entirely. There is no in between here. You either totally cut off your supply to cigarettes or you don’t cut off your supply to cigarettes. That is just how it works when you decide to go cold turkey. A person who wants to go cold turkey usually is at the point where they really to quit and they want to do it now meaning that they probably aren’t going to be interested in nicotine patches, nicotine gum, smoking aids, medications, hypnosis, or any other methods/products that assist you in smoking cessation.

The reason why this approach to quitting, not fooling around with other products or methods, is a good one is because it brings the smoker right to the point of quitting and that is quitting. A smoker going cold turkey decides that they want to quit and so they stop smoking cigarettes. They do not prolong the situation by feeding their bodies nicotine through nicotine replacement therapy, they do not simply cut down on cigarettes, and they do not dance around the problem. A cold turkey quitter is taking quitting head on and dealing with the worst of it from the start. And this is why in some cases quitting cold turkey is the best way to quit.

The truth is that the worst of nicotine withdrawal symptoms are over within the first few days. Now, this isn’t to say that a smoker won’t experience withdrawal or cravings after the first few days, because they sure as heck will, it’s just that it is a whole lot easier to cope after making it through that initial period. Taking this into account, if a cold turkey smoker can make it through the first few days then they can probably deal with the rest of their days as a non-smoker. There is a catch though. Smoking cessation is hardly a cut and dry science, especially when it comes to quitting smoking cold turkey. What this means is that different smokers are going to experience different levels of withdrawal, some smokers will be better than others at coping with cravings, and most importantly quitting will not be the same for all smokers! This is something that is extremely important to realize.

So, what does all of this mean? Basically, it means that quitting smoking cigarettes cold turkey can be a great way to stop smoking but it is also one of the hardest ways to quit. It offers the most amount of gains for the smoker but it also requires a ton of work. In the end, though, it is definitely worth it to commit to going cold turkey. A smoker quitting cold turkey needs to be aware that it will be difficult, be ready for the withdrawal and cravings ahead, and learn how to use effective coping strategies. Keeping these things in mind, a smoker really can stop smoking without the use of any aids, products, nicotine replacement therapy, or anything else for that matter.

Nicotine is a highly addictive drug which is naturally occurring in tobacco. There isn’t tobacco without nicotine which means that there is no cigarette without nicotine. If a cigarette didn’t have nicotine then it wouldn’t be a cigarette at all. This powerful drug creates an addictive habit by producing pleasant feelings to the brain and subsequently, the smoker. In order to maintain this level of “pleasantness” a smoker must continue smoking. Basically, the nicotine presents a new smoker with “pleasant” feelings and this person continues to smoke because they enjoy what they feel as they smoke a cigarette. As the person continues smoking the feelings become normal to them. The feelings associated with nicotine consumption are no longer pleasant but rather mandatory. And this is where the real addiction begins. Since the person has become accustomed to these feelings, they now feel the need to continue smoking. If they don’t smoke then they don’t feel normal and as a result the brain tells them that they absolutely need more nicotine.

The addiction only gets worse as the smoker continues to smoke and fuel there nicotine addiction. In most cases the smoker will develop a tolerance for nicotine. What this means is that in addition to needing nicotine in the first place in order to feel normal, the smoker will need more and more nicotine in order to feel that level of normalcy. The smoker will start to feel cravings even as they smoke if they do not up the amount of cigarettes that they are smoking daily. This is why cigarette addiction is such a vicious cycle. Someone new to smoke is pulled in and then thrown into the daily habit of maintaining nicotine consumption in order to feel normal.