Quit smoking like SRK: Find out what these two men did to kick the habit and lead healthy lives

TURNING POINT AND REBOOTING THE MIND

His turning constituent happened during the demonetisation announcement successful 2016, erstwhile helium realised helium had Rs 20,000 of unusable notes and bought 8 cartons of Marlboros from the nearest vendor for Rs 16,000. “Since I led a reasonably progressive lifestyle, I didn’t person immoderate noticeable wellness impacts similar different smokers, but for elevated levels of cholesterol. But I thought I was truly mentally sick to stroke up my wealth during a situation connected cigarettes and justifying the enactment successful my caput arsenic an beforehand acquisition for the months ahead. That twisted reasoning did it,” says Niranjan.

So his rehabilitation followed the intelligence way called neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), which fundamentally resets and retrains your caput to delink the representation of cigarettes from mundane activity. “I ever associated smoking with maine penning a storyboard oregon a punchline. Much of my ideas developed during smoking breaks and I wrongly attributed my creativity to it. Nicotine is simply a stimulant that excites the encephalon by releasing adrenaline. When you’re bored, sleepy, oregon tired, nicotine tin perk you up. It tin adjacent unbend you temporarily due to the fact that it encourages the merchandise of endorphins and dopamine, which tin amended temper and make feelings of pleasure. Truth is this is an illusion,” says Niranjan, who changed the imagery associated with his work.

“The existing affirmative associations with smoking tin beryllium replaced easy with different images. I switched implicit to beverage from java and took up immoderate different enactment during enactment breaks, truthful I could dissociate my reasoning from smoking. In fact, NLP tin assistance you visualise the perils of smoking successful specified detail, that giving up smoking whitethorn look similar a relief,” helium says. Niranjan did 3 months of this protocol and has not been remotely tempted by fume since. He stayed distant from nicotine replacement pills and patches due to the fact that helium didn’t privation to beryllium babelike connected them.

He present eats cleanable and has corrected his lifestyle. “Of course, I didn’t effort everything together. While I was quitting smoking, I continued having my reddish meat. This gradual withdrawal prevented a relapse,” helium says.

HOW TO PREVENT RELAPSE

Relapse is thing that 53-year-old Madhav Kolhatkar had been dealing with earlier helium yet gave up smoking connected February 4, 2017. “I americium nicotine-free.” This is the SMS that helium has been sending regular since that time to Mukta Puntambekar, manager astatine Pune’s Muktangan De-Addiction Centre, who helped him springiness up smoking. That was rather a zigzag travel of promises kept and broken, of burning himself successful bed, humor unit and yet a liver abscess. Now, the erstwhile smoker is simply a counsellor himself, helping young radical footwear the habit.

What began arsenic a Class IX student’s “post-dinner thrill” rapidly changed into addiction arsenic Madhav saw galore of his peers bash that successful South Mumbai. “By the property of 21, I was smoking astatine slightest 10 cigarettes a day. I adjacent stole wealth from my dad’s wallet to bargain a battalion of cigarettes and past got attracted to alcohol. I became an addict of both, puffing up 15 cigarettes with 360 ml of rum and beer. Sessions with a psychiatrist failed and erstwhile my parents visited my older sister successful the US, I stayed back, smoking and drinking astatine home. Once the mattress connected my furniture astir caught fire,” helium says.

He mislaid weight, his humor unit soared, helium had jaundice and typhoid. But it took a liver abscess to property the intermission fastener and motion up for a rehabilitation programme. “For a portion I was good but my craving for baccy remained unaddressed. I gave up midway and replaced cigarettes with gutkha oregon paan masala. Then I focussed connected giving up intoxicant first. That made it easier for maine to springiness up cigarettes arsenic I usually smoked and drank simultaneously,” says Madhav arsenic helium battled withdrawal symptoms similar restlessness and sleeplessness.

Mukta devised a personalised module of deaddiction. “We followed a graded enactment plan, bringing down his cigarettes from 10 to 2 successful the archetypal days. Then I asked Madhav to telephone maine the infinitesimal helium had a craving. I would instantly punctual him that his lung problems could lone worsen and that helium could person lung nonaccomplishment oregon cancer. We planned his meals and filled his waking hours with antithetic activities. We utilized the HALT and HOW methods. HALT refers to Hunger, Anger, Loneliness and Tiredness which are triggers for smoking. We distracted him during these phases. HOW refers to Honesty, Open-mindedness and Willingness, which helped Madhav physique trust. I would behaviour astonishment urine tests, which tin place nicotine adjacent if the idiosyncratic had smoked 10 days ago. So Madhav started feeling accountable and got superior astir quitting,” she says.

Initially, Madhav was enactment connected nicotine replacement chewables called Nicogum, which mimic the effects of nicotine and tricks the brain. It tin assistance trim cravings and irritable feelings that hap erstwhile idiosyncratic stops smoking. “I took to journalling, penning down however each time passed without nicotine. As I work each page, I realised my beingness was getting fuller and I was becoming much meaningful to others than feeling sick each the time,” says Madhav. He has present completed his graduation and earned a diploma successful Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy. He thinks his applicable acquisition volition marque him a amended counsellor.