Tips to Successful Quitting

• Get FREE counseling, nicotine patches, and lozenges by calling 800-QUIT NOW, free to DC residents.

• Make an appointment with your healthcare provider. Your doctor can recommend medications that will help you through the process of quitting.

• Get support. Tell your friends and family that you are going to quit smoking. If they smoke, ask them not to smoke around you or to quit with you.

• Plan ahead. Get rid of the things that remind you of smoking. Throw away all cigarettes, lighters and ashtrays.

• Save money. Give yourself a financial incentive to quit by putting the money you would have spent on tobacco products in a glass jar. For pack-a-day smokers, a habit costing between $6.00 and $7.00 a day, can be $2,000 a year or more! Watch your savings — and your resolve — grow.

• Extra help. For more specific advice, contact Breathe DC at 202-574-6789 or 800-QUIT NOW (800-784-8669).

• Make a plan and set a quit date. Give yourself some time to prepare before launching into your quit attempt. Make a list of all your reasons for quitting and put this list where you will see it often. Think about reasons you smoke, including routines that trigger tobacco use, and think about how to change those routines and avoid cues that cause you to light up. Mark your quit date on your calendar and get mentally prepared.

• Keep busy on your quit day. Change your routine. Plan a full day with enjoyable activities. Avoid alcohol because it can weaken your resolve. At the end of the day, do something to celebrate.

• Replace cigarettes with alternatives like gum, cinnamon sticks, suckers, toothpicks or low-calorie snacks like carrots, celery and apples.

• Start an exercise program. Doing any kind of exercise, including walking, can take your mind off urges and remind you that quitting helps improve your lung capacity and overall health.

• Remind yourself. Review your reasons to quit, put pictures of loved ones, even pets, on your list of reasons. Write down all the good things that happen everyday because you quit, like breathing better, smelling better, or having more money.

• If you slip, keep on quitting. Most smokers take several quit attempts to quit for good; consider your slips a normal part of quitting and a learning process, and set a new quit date to quit for good.

• 50 million Americans have quit smoking, and you can too!!