There can be gain and anxiety after quitting smoking. I know that many people are trying to quit smoking right now and now that we are in the third
weekend of the new year they are really struggling to keep away from the cigarettes. I wanted to let you know that I understand how tough things are but the end is in sight and you will not have that urge anymore.
Anxiety After Quitting Smoking
One of the concerns that many people have is gain and anxiety after quitting smoking.
Weight gain after quitting smoking is actually one of the reasons why many people refuse to quit and why others will start smoking again when they see that they are starting to gain unwanted pounds.
Most people will notice some gain when they quit smoking and on average the increase in will be approximately five pounds.
There are however many ways to make sure that you won’t put on and these are healthy lifestyle choices such as the correct food and good exercise.
Considering the major benefits you will be making to your health both now and in the future by quitting smoking you might as well go all the way and boost your fitness levels too.
The advantages of quitting outweigh weight gain after quitting smoking
Smoking with does help people to keep their weight down and some fashion models smoke cigarettes because the nicotine in them speeds up the metabolism and that helps to burn fat due to the increased demand for energy. By burning more calories to supply the energy demands it is easier to remain thinner.
In addition to speeding up the metabolism nicotine acts like a stimulant and that can help to suppress the appetite.
A third way that nicotine helps people to stay thinner is because it causes the food to stay in the stomach longer and reduce the feelings of hunger.
These are definitely not good enough reasons to keep up the nicotine habit!
So you will need to make some lifestyle changes to avoid anxiety after quitting smoking. The easiest and most obvious step to take is to make sure that you are drinking enough water throughout the day.
This will help you to remain hydrated and it will also give you a fuller feeling in your stomach that will reduce the amount of hunger pangs you get.
This will stop you from eating excessively and it will also help to boost your energy levels which will make it easier for you to do some form of exercise that will help to boost your metabolism in much the same manner as the nicotine has done but without the negative effects on your health.
This is not to say that gain and anxiety after quitting smoking is unavoidable as a good percentage of people will actually lose weight. Just monitor your and no matter which direction it goes in you will always be better off from quitting even if you do gain a few pounds.
Anxiety problems while quitting smoking
Many people use the effects that nicotine can deliver to self medicate for depression and anxiety. It has been shown that the nicotine and other chemicals in cigarettes can help to improve the mood of a person and also to lessen the effects of anxiety.
While this is a temporary fix there is a need to tackle the underlying problem that is causing the depression as it can lead to more serious consequences.
Depression after Quitting Smoking
It is also very difficult to quit smoking when you are feeling depressed as the withdrawal symptoms that can come from quitting smoking and not getting the nicotine fix can cause a person to feel depressed.
By treating the depression properly with counseling, medication or other means a person will have a better chance of quitting smoking.
Anxiety attacks will also need to be sorted before any attempts at quitting smoking are attempted as once again cigarettes contain chemicals that help to release norepinephrine which lessens the effect of anxiety and depression.
Without the cigarettes to release norepinephrine a person who is feeling depressed or anxious is likely to have increased levels of anxiety and this makes it difficult for them to maintain their composure when on a program to stop smoking.
This is a situation where other alternative methods of quitting smoking such as hypnosis and acupuncture can help add support to mainstream method such as nicotine patches, pills and gum.
Yoga is an excellent discipline to train the correct breathing techniques and by using these techniques in times of stress and anxiety similar feelings of control to those achieved from smoking can be experienced without the detrimental affect to health.
The reason why hypnotherapy & NLP are so successful is because both our beliefs about smoking and our habitual smoking behaviours reside within your unconscious mind. So whilst consciously we may wish to quit, all too often our all powerful unconscious mind simply would not let us.
If you are quitting smoking and notice increased levels of anxiety it might be necessary to use a higher strength medication for your nicotine replacement like uping to instead of 30 or 20 and drop the strength at a slower rate to help cope with the changes.
Getting started quitting and staying off the tobacco can be hard but it is so incredibly satisfying to know that you are improving your life and that you have quit for good so you may need more help quitting smoking. Weight gain and anxiety after quitting smoking can be avoided but make sure you quit smoking no matter what.