Exercise To Quit Smoking

If you have decided to quit smoking cigarettes, you will have realized just how hard that is, so it is a good idea to use every aid to stopping smoking that you can think of. You definitely should try using exercise to quit smoking. How can you use exercise to quit smoking? Well, exercise is a very effective tool in kicking the habit and finishing your addiction to nicotine, so read on for some ideas.

Exercise To Quit Smoking

Many smokers are not healthy and are short of breath, so the moment they start exercising, they realize just how bad their condition is. This is enough of a stimulus for some people to try to stop smoking immediately.

However, one of the consequences of stopping smoking that many people complain of is weight gain when quitting.

Therefore, if you use exercise to quit smoking, not only will you realize your level of fitness at the beginning of your smoking cessation program, but you will be able to monitor how your level of fitness is improving and keep your weight down. A double whammy!

Your exercise program, such as it is, will reduce your craving for nicotine as the benefits of exercise and fitness kick in and encourage weight loss.

In order to use exercise to quit smoking, it is not necessary nor advisable to try to do too much too soon. There is no need to join a gym right away. You should be looking for simple exercises which promote deep breathing. Walking and swimming fit the bill perfectly.

The point here is regular exercise rather than seriously strenuous exercise. If you are working, try walking to work or part way, or take the stairs rather than the lift or go for a walk every day in the lunch break or after dinner. You can swim on the weekend.

As you continue to use exercise to quit smoking, you should notice your breathlessness diminish and your level of fitness rise quite quickly. You will probably find it hard to walk a mile or swim 100 yards at first, but you could double that after a fortnight.

Later, if you want to increase your exercise program, you may like to jog for part of your route. If you want to exercise at home because you live in a polluted city, why not get a rowing machine and a stepper? There are plenty of other exercises that you can do at home as well.

Yoga or Thai Chi are very useful home exercises that cost nothing more than a book or exercise video on the subject to get started. Both of these forms of exercise have long, proven records for restoring health to a neglected body.

Stress is a major cause of smoking cited by smokers, so you should try to tackle this front as well. It is well-known that exercise is a great reliever of stress, but you could help further by analyzing your lifestyle and trying to cut out some of the parts that cause you (the most) stress.

If your stress comes from trying to cram too much into your life, give something up and just read a book. If you just do not have the time to organize the local pool club, let someone else have a go for a while.

Which brings us on to environment. It is a good idea to use exercise to quit smoking, but if you put yourself regularly in places where people smoke a lot, then you will not only find it harder to stop smoking but you will be passively smoking everyone else's dirty air.

Quitting smoking is not easy but it can be done by using exercise to tackle the task on various fronts simultaneously. Start using exercise to quit smoking rather than cutting down gradually and you should find it easier.