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To help break the tobacco habit, break the connection between smoking and your routines and moods

Everyone has habits. Many of them are not harmful. Smoking is.

Habits are things we learn to do automatically, without thinking. Usually they are responses to certain moods, times and daily events. They become part of our daily routines -- things that give comfort because they do not require much conscious effort or thought. Often, we combine certain activities as habits to reinforce our sense of pleasure or provide relief from stress.

Conscious thinking is one of the keys to breaking or "deconstructing" your smoking habits and routines. That means becoming aware of the moods and activities you have come to automatically associate with smoking -- the things that make you want to smoke and the things you believe smoking gives you or prepares you for.

For example, many smokers automatically light up while getting up in the morning, drinking coffee or alcohol, in social situations or after enjoying a meal. Others may associate smoking with happiness, boredom, anxiety or stress. Even touching your mouth can be a trigger, since a pack a day smoker repeats the hand-to-mouth motion more than 250 times a day!

Keep a piece of paper folded inside your pack and write down what you are doing and/or feeling each time you reach for a cigarette. Or print our tracking form and use it to record your next 20-25 smokes. Use it to analyze your routines and learn about your smoking "triggers".

Break your normal smoking routines

You can't change or control all your daily activities, but you can choose to avoid some tempting situations to practice cutting back. Avoid taking breaks with other smokers, especially if that is a normal part of your routine. Delay or avoid smoking at your usual times, such as in the morning, after work or after dinner. Tell others that you are preparing to quit.

You can also change how you respond to your triggers or to other situations that tempt you to light up. By anticipating, planning and thinking, you can "unlearn" to respond with cigarettes. You can learn, instead, to respond in healthy ways that will, in time, provide you with the same sense of distraction, pleasure and relief -- and a much greater sense of self-confidence.

Try it! The very act of thinking and consciously breaking a routine will make you feel capable, willful and strong.

Instead of smoking....

There are many alternatives to smoking that can help you or distract you in all types of situations to help you break the tobacco habit. Whenever you automatically reach for a cigarette... stop. Consider what you are doing or feeling, and how else you could respond. Instead of lighting up...

• enjoy a low-calorie, healthy snack
• doodle or draw a picture
• begin or add to a short story
• stretch, walk or exercise
• talk to a non-smoking friend
• close your eyes and daydream
• play basketball with your office trashcan
• read the paper or a magazine
• find a joke on the Internet
• clean or tidy something
• send an e-mail or postcard to a friend
• sing to the radio
• brush your teeth
• drink a glass of cold water slowly
• chew sugar-free gum
• make someone laugh or smile
• imagine what you will do with the money you save by not smoking
• treat or reward yourself in any small way
• take five minutes just for you

All of these ideas are simple, but they work!

Smoking at parties or other social situations

Some smokers light up or smoke more in social situations. It's often a way they have learned to deal with feeling nervous or to fit in.

Relax! Recognize that people don't respond to you any better because you smoke. In fact, since most Canadians do not smoke, the risk of offending others is usually much greater than any possible reward. And when you smoke, you may expose others to the dangers of second-hand smoke. That's why so many indoor public places are now smokefree -- by law!