Stop Both Poisons: How to Quit Smoking Cigarettes and Drinking Alcohol

smoking cigarette

Given that more than 20 million people deal with substance addictions of some kind, there are even more smokers who struggle to quit.

When you want to quit smoking and drinking, you’re going to find out that it’s a serious struggle to stay on track. The two habits work together for some people, making quitting extra hard.

Here are three ways to quit both now.

1. Take Them One at a Time

When you’re trying to quit anything, you’re going to have to contend with a lot of issues. There are reasons why you started drinking or smoking in the first place. There are stressors that keep you going and that trigger you when you’re trying to quit.

Start by making a list of the reasons why you smoke and the reasons why you drink. These reasons should give you an indication of what drives you. Then make another list for triggers for each.

If you’re one of those people who only smoke when you drink, be honest with yourself about this and consider drinking a trigger for smoking.

2. Try Some Replacements

There are so many replacements for cigarettes and alcohol that it’s impossible to go into listing them all. The frequent ones for cigarettes are chewing gum and nicotine patches. For alcohol, some people turn to soda, others to seltzer, and bargoers will just take their favorite mixer and order it sans alcohol.

These replacements may be just as unhealthy, as when drinking sugary sodas, so it’s not just about replacing one habit for another. You need to find more conceptual replacements.

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Once you’ve stopped smoking for a while, you’ll notice you have more energy and you’ll be able to breathe easier. If you have the energy, you should join a gym. Getting out and getting exercise will feel great after years of limiting your aerobic abilities.

3. One Day At a Time

Remember that this whole process needs to be taken one day at a time. If you quit both at the same time, you’ll struggle to keep things together. You’ll be so overwhelmed and your body will send you into a miserable spiral of anxiety.

Instead, take things one day at a time. Go from consuming 10 cigarettes a day down to 9, then to 8, then to 7. Once you’ve cut back considerably, you should be able to get rid of the last few cigarettes a day pretty easily.

Drinking can be harder because people may pressure you to at family gatherings and special events. If that’s the case and you don’t have a severe problem, you can find a way to have one or two drinks on holidays. However, in severe cases, you may need to cut things off completely.

If you have a severe alcohol addiction, check out alcohol addiction treatment centers near you.

Quit Smoking and Drinking For Good

When you want to quit smoking and drinking for good, you need to build up a support network. Just like how your friends can peer pressure you into bad decisions, they can be your safety net when you need them.

If you’re curious whether cigarettes are worse than weed, check out our guide for more info.

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