Many quit smoking blogs and websites warn smokers that quitting cold turkey is the worst way to quit smoking because you are more likely to relapse later in life.
Research from Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford in England seems to support that cold turkey is the best way!
Smokers who quit smoking cold turkey, or in other words stop smoking from one moment to the next, have a bigger chance of staying non-smokers in the long term, than smokers who cut back gradually before trying to quit completely.
Researchers studied almost 700 heavy smokers in England, who wanted to stop smoking. Half of the smokers in the study were told to pick a quit smoking date and then quit smoking cold turkey on that date.
The other half of the heavy smokers in the study were told to pick a quit smoking date but to cut back their cigarettes in the two weeks prior to quitting.
Both groups were given nicotine patches in the two weeks before their quit date to help them.
Only the Cutting back group also were given nicotine gum, and other nicotine replacement products to help them while they cut down the number of cigarettes they smoked during the 2 weeks before their quit date.
After the quit date both groups were given nicotine patches, therapy and counseling.
So which group did best after quitting on their quit dates? Was it more effective to quit cold turkey or better to quit by cutting back?
The results were that 1 month after quit date 49% of the participants in the Cold turkey group were still not smoking a month, whereas only 40% were still not smoking in the Cutting back group.
After 6 months the numbers showed that 22% of the Cold turkey group were still off the cigarettes and that this number was still higher than the only 15.5% who still did not smoke in the Cutting back group.
So the study researchers concluded that smokers who stopped cold turkey seemed to have a better chance of long term success.
At Stepbac® we believe that quitting cold turkey is the best way. However we don’t support using nicotine patches or other nicotine replacement products before quitting cold turkey.
We believe that smokers who quit cold turkey simply need to understand why they started smoking and how smoking and nicotine affects their brain. Armed with this knowledge smokers will find it much easier to quit cold turkey.
Quitting smoking is a battle. Nicotine won’t give up without a fight. Quitting is only a small battle if you have a strategy, a plan and knowledge of your opponent. Then you can outsmart your opponent easily.
If you don’t know your opponent, then you are fighting blindly, alone and in the dark, which makes it a big battle, an uphill battle and a losing battle.
So don’t fight alone in the dark. Use our new Stepbac® method which gives smokers have a battle plan so that they can easily win the battle against nicotine.
Learn how to quit smoking cold turkey and how you can defuse your smoking habits and cravings and quit smoking cold turkey.
The Stepbac® method to quit smoking cold turkey is explained in an easy-reader book. It is a new, simple way to quit smoking cold turkey with step-by-step explanations of why people started smoking and how smoking habits and cravings work and how they can be defused.
It’s all explained in a simple way the book “Stepbac® from Smoking” which has over 40 illustrations to help you stop smoking cold turkey.
DISCLAIMER. Individual results may vary
Please click on the link below to view the book in the Amazon Bookstore.
