Smoking is not just a bad habit, it is a habit that can kill you! But, millions of people around the globe are hooked on cigarettes and find it impossible to stop. However, with these home remedies to quit smoking, parting ways together with your killer will be way easier for you.
In the U.S., smoking causes the greatest number of preventable deaths. Moreover, based on the American Lung Association, the stick causes one-third of cancer associated deaths and one-fourth from the deaths caused by fatal cardiac arrests.
Reasons why people smoke
The first question non-smokers ask smokers is, “But so why do you smoke?” Here are a few answers to that:
- Peer pressure
- The need to be cool
- To be social
- As a standing symbol
- Media influences
- As a way to handle stress
- Handling anxiety
Once you start smoking, the body starts craving for nicotine, the addictive component in cigarettes, and that's why people find it difficult to quit.
The health problems caused by nicotine and the smoke one inhales while smoking include,
- Asthma along with other respiratory problems
- Increase in blood pressure
- Increased heart rate
- Weak immune system
- Reduced fertility in women
- Low sperm count in men
- Irregular menstrual cycles
- Untimely menopause
- Lung cancer
- Throat cancer
- Mouth cancer
Smokers also modify the health of the non-smokers who are around them once they smoke, because of a phenomenon called passive smoking.
Non-smokers are also believed to develop diseases from inhaling cigarette smoke, known as passive smoking.
To a mad person it should be clear by now how harmful smoking is and how essential it is for someone to quit smoking. Yes, quitting is difficult. At the start, you will go through the usual withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, frustration, difficulty in concentrating, increase in appetite, an increased blood pressure, acute to chronic headaches, and the constant urge to light a cigarette.
To overcome these cravings and to quit smoking completely, try these natural treatments. You can take these in addition to the professional help you should seek.
Home remedies to stop smoking
Here are 10 herbal therapies you have to follow to quit smoking. We recommend you take this only under the supervision of your doctor or perhaps your health care provider.
1. Lobelia
Lobelia helps reduce the addictive effect nicotine has on the body because it contains lobeline, which is an active ingredient. It reduces the secretion of dopamine, which in turn, helps smokers quit smoking.
You can but lobelia from a food store. It is available in the form of vinegar. The usual dosage is 20 to 40 drops of the tincture thrice a day, but before taking it, we suggest you consult a doctor for the correct dosage, and also because lobelia is extremely toxic.
According to health care providers, the dosage should be increased only gradually.
If you've got a heart disease or are taking medications for hypertension, it is strongly recommended you avoid Lobelia. Also women who his drug are expecting or are nursing moms should avoid the herb too.
2. Licorice
Licorice helps stop smoking owing to its expectorating and demulcent qualities. Also since licorice is sweet, it kills the impulse to smoke.
Licorice offers relied from smoker's cough. It is an adrenal tonic that balances cortisol levels. It improves the energy levels of the body and thus reduces fatigue.
To use it as a remedy to quit smoking, take a small stick of licorice wash it and then chew on it. You can also prepare a cup of licorice tea and drink it two times a day for desired results.
A word of caution: If you have high blood sugar or hypertension, don't take licorice. Also, people with adrenal diseases and/or reduced functioning of kidney or liver, should avoid the herb.
3. Cayenne Pepper
The third natural treatment that may help you quit smoking involves cayenne pepper. It desensitizes your lungs and also the rest of the respiratory system to tobacco. Additionally, it dulls you to the smoke so there is no urge to smoke.
Cayenne pepper is also an effective antioxidant which helps soothe lung membranes.
To utilize it as a remedy for smoking, you can take the pepper in fresh form or grind it right into a fine powder and add a pinch to your tea and drink.
The best way is to add two pinch of ground cayenne pepper to a glass of lukewarm water and drink once every day until you stop craving a cigarette.
4. Green Oats
The next remedy on our list today is green oats. Forms of called avena sativa and wild oats. A very effective treatment to quit smoking, green oats needed to be on this list.
According to a study conducted in early 70s, green oats lower an individual's urge to smoke by reduction of the body's desire for nicotine. Green oats also assist with the withdrawal symptoms, to ensure that is a bonus. Also in the end the nicotine your body has absorbed, you need a detox, right? Green oats will provide that too.
Also green oats behave as tonic which sedates our nervous system, helping us quit smoking.
You can buy some green outs from your super market and take 300 mg of it every day. However, do consult a doctor for the correct dosage for you.
5. Ginseng
The next remedy is ginseng, that will efficiently lower your cravings for nicotine. It provides a tonic and sedates the adrenal glands. Therefore, helps enhance the cortisol levels inside your blood.
When one quits smoking, she or he is, in most cases, likely to undergo emotional as well as physical stress. Ginseng helps manage both. It also improves one's concentration levels and reduces anxiety.
To use it as a remedy, add half a tablespoon of ginseng for your bowl of cereals that you simply take for breakfast. You may even chew some dried ginseng. Swallowing the juice of dried ginseng helps lessen the craving for smoking.
If you have high blood sugar or suffer from any heart disease, then avoid ginseng. Ginseng is also not suitable for people with an auto-immune disease or perhaps a hormone-sensitive condition. Schizophrenic patients should also duck this remedy.
6. Valerian
To assist you to quit smoking, you need something that helps deal with anxiety which is sure to haunt you like a withdrawal symptom. Valerian does exactly that. Valerian is a flowering plat that sedates the body and senses mildly and works as an anti-anxiety remedy.
The GABA receptors in the brain belong to the influence of the herb, which means you do not feel like smoking.
Apart from anxiety, valerian likewise helps with other withdrawal symptoms for example irritability, feeling of restlessness and depression.
The American Cancer Society holds that the wonder herb, valerian can also cure insomnia and induce proper sleep patterns.
You can take the herb as supplements, but do consult a physician for the correct dosage. Don't self-medicate.
7. Acupuncture
Acupuncture can help you quit smoking. For those who have no idea, acupuncture is a technique where fine needles are inserted into 5 puncture points on the ears. This traditional technique will help you quit smoking, by lowering your craving for nicotine.
The technique of acupuncture may introduce a sense of calm, that is essential for a person going through withdrawal symptoms.
According towards the Quit Smoking Community,
“Acupuncture, generally, is a technique that can focus on virtually any addiction and not only tobacco addiction however when acupuncture is meant to quit smoking, there are some procedures that are tailored for it. Addiction can take several forms including mental, physical and emotional and thus the addiction has to be fought on all fronts. Probably the most common acupuncture techniques, called auricular acupuncture, involves inserting tiny needles into acupuncture points within the ear. These pressure points are shen men, liver, lung, kidney and sympathetic points. Sometimes, tiny beads are held in place with tape around these points within the ear as a way of self-medication. When these points are stimulated, they are able to lead to reduced cravings and reduction of other withdrawal symptoms.”
For the very first month, it is recommended you sign up for as frequent sessions of acupuncture much like possible. Then, you can slowly lessen the number of sittings.
8. Ear Massage
Believe it or otherwise, one of the best ways to stop craving a cigarette is ear massages. The acupuncture points around the ear when massaged lessen the longing to smoke. Every day give yourself an ear massage that lasts for about two minutes. This should help you quit smoking.
All the home remedies to stop smoking enlisted here are impressive, but what is more important is your willpower. Only your willpower will decide if you are ready to break that bad habit or otherwise.
Once you succeed in quitting smoking you need to ensure you develop a proper diet plan after which stick to it, to repair the damage you've already caused to your body by smoking all these days.
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