When quitting smoking it is important to take one day at a time, and get support from others: friends and family can keep you motivated. Tesco Pharmacies and the NHS stop smoking services have highly-trained stop smoking advisors and are here to help you give up.
Four things to do first
1. Choose your quit day. This might be the beginning of the stop smoking legislation on 1 July, or before, but make things easy: don’t choose a stressful week.
2. Write a list of your main reasons for giving up on the wall chart. Look at it when your motivation weakens.
3. Write down how you feel and what triggers make you want to smoke. How can you avoid them? Use a diary to keep a note of how you’re doing.
4. Consider using patches, gums or lozenges as these double your chances of quitting compared to willpower alone. Tesco sells a good range. If you need assistance ask your Tesco Pharmacy team who will be happy to help.
What to expect in your first week
Withdrawal symptoms are caused by cutting out nicotine and you may feel restless, irritable, frustrated, tired and sleepless. You may also have a sore throat and be coughing more than usual in the first day or two. This is completely normal and is a sign that your lungs are getting rid of the toxins that have built up over the years. Physical withdrawal symptoms are likely to start a few hours after you've stopped smoking, may peak within three or four days, then tend to gradually decrease and fade away within three or four weeks. Try to console yourself – as soon as you stub out your last cigarette, your body starts to benefit. By the end of the first week, you may find:
- Your breathing is easier and your skin and eyes are clearer
- Sleeping patterns return to normal and your energy levels pick up again
- You have fresh breath and you smell nicer
- Your sense of smell has improved and you’ll find that food tastes much better
- That nasty smoker’s cough will start to disappear.
- Each day put aside the money you would have spent on cigarettes. At the end of the week, spend it on a treat. You deserve it!
Useful Information
Remember you’re not on your own. There’s an abundance of sound advice, support and answers to all your stop smoking questions at your fingertips. Don’t forget – your GP, the NHS and local Tesco Pharmacy are there to help too.
To find your nearest GP or health professional, visit www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk or call 0845 4647. The NHS’s go smokefree website www.gosmokefree.co.uk is great for information and support, and has loads of information on the no smoking legislation
Click for your free 3 month guide
Tesco Pharmacy
They are usually open weekdays from 9am-8pm and Sundays from 10am-4pm. Please check
with your local store for exact opening hours. Find your local Pharmacy here
NHS Smoking Helpline: 0800 169 0169
The NHS offers the Together programme, which helps you pick a quit date and supports you as you give up. You can also find information about your local stop smoking services, too.
Local NHS Stop Smoking Services
For one-to-one, or group - based advice, just text GIVE UP plus your post code to 88088.
