Beat The Urge To Smoke With These Exercises For Smokers

‘Smoking is injurious to health’. On ‘World No Tobacco Day’, take a look at a few exercises that can help you fight the urge to smoke. 

Here’s what you need to know:

• What is World No Tobacco Day?
• Ill-effects of smoking
• How can exercise help fight the urge to smoke?

What is World No Tobacco Day?

‘World No Tobacco Day’ is celebrated on May 31 to spread awareness about the harmful effects of smoking. When an urge of using tobacco arises, it is important to remember that it is just a fleeting craving that can pass in about 10 minutes, only if you try to distract yourself with work, by exercising or by spending time with family.

Ill-effects of smoking

Smoking has many ill-effects on the body. It can:

• Increase the risk of mouth, skin, pancreatic, lung or cervical cancer
• Cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Cause chronic bronchitis
• Increase blood pressure, weaken blood vessel walls and increase blood clots
• Increase the risk of heart stroke
• Cause hair loss and balding

Smoking not only impacts you, but exposes the people around you to diseases such as asthma and heart diseases. 

How can exercise help fight the urge to smoke?                                                                                    Quitting cigarettes can be extremely difficult. Craving for a cigarette is the most common symptom of nicotine withdrawal. Your body’s physical reaction can cause a tightness in the throat or the stomach or can impact you psychologically triggering irritability, stress, anxiety and sleep deprivation. Exercising to quit smoking is a really helpful technique to distract you until that bout of craving passes. Exercise can help you get in sync with your body and makes you aware of the improvements in your physical health after you quit smoking. It also releases endorphins which decreases stress and tension. Walking is a moderate activity that not only keeps you healthy, but can take your mind off smoking for some time. While walking, breathe from your diaphragm to get more air in and out of your lungs.                                 Breathing exercises to quit smoking can help expand the lung capacity, making them healthy. Try to control the rate of your inhaling and exhaling by practicing deep and controlled breathing with anulom-vilom pranayama – common in yoga. Sit in a comfortable position, hold one nostril closed while inhaling and the other nostril closed while exhaling to strengthen your lungs. This process is then reversed and repeated. Short periods of physical activity like aerobics releases sweat, increases the pace of your heartbeat and makes you breathe harder.                                                                                                                                                                               Yoga and meditation has the ability to not only make you feel better, but also helps you retain your peace of mind.                                                                                                                                                                                                 You can also control the cravings by consuming sugarless gum or candy, chewing on raw carrots, nuts or sunflower seeds as they are crunchy and can satisfy the urge. The main challenge is to have willpower and to convince your mind against smoking. This World No Tobacco Day, try to quit smoking to maintain a healthy lifestyle! Stay healthy and earn up to 100% of premium as HealthReturnsTM with Activ Health – Platinum-Enhanced Plan, a comprehensive health insurance plan. #ABHIKaro. Aditya Birla Health Insurance karo. To get more information on fitness and nutrition, visit the Activ Living Blog.