Introduction to a comprehensive program for effective smoking cessation

  1. Commit to quitting: Identify motivation and desire to quit smoking.  2. Talk to your doctor and discuss medication and strategies for wanting to smoke again to increase your chances of success.  3. Choose a quit date and do not try to be slapdash; quit completely from the quit date.  4. Remove all tobacco-related devices, wash all clothes and cars before the quit date; stop smoking in your home and car immediately; do not go to places that tend to smoke.  5.Do not consider diet until it is safe to quit smoking.  6.Ensure and enlist the support of co-workers, friends and family to encourage quitting and to stay quit.  7. If you are a father or mother, set an example for your children.  8. Learn how to avoid or make situations and behaviors that make you want to smoke.  A combination of smoking cessation interventions is most effective. Behavioral therapies alone are often not enough to lead to cessation; nicotine replacement methods or non-nicotine pharmacotherapy will often be more beneficial to smokers.