There are a lot of methods nicotine addicted persons can make use of in order to quit smoking:
- One method is to determine a date and to stop smoking exactly on the determined day.
- Another method is to reduce the consumption of cigarettes gradually (Gradual reduction, so that it will after several week or month will be zero cigarettes. This method can be done with or without the help of nicotine plasters.
Nicotine plasters tend to make quitting harder by keeping up the illusion that the smoker is losing something by quitting. Real nicotine withdrawal lasts up to six days and consists of an empty, insecure feeling. There is no pain involved. When one understands that the withdrawal is a sigh that he is about to be free of HAVING to smoke, he can easily handle them for the short while they last. Nicotine patches, the gum as well as all other substitutes, prolong the withdrawal by keeping nicotine in the blood.
Gradual reduction doesn't work because it reinforces the myth that the smoker loses something by quitting. The most precious cigarettes are those after a period of not having smoked. When a person tries to cut down, every cigarette becomes "precious" to the smoker and defeats the entire purpose.