Quitting smoking is the best thing you can do for your health. After only 24 hours, your risk of heart attack decreases. Also, your carbon monoxide levels go back down to normal. Your blood pressure and heart rate decrease, and your oxygen levels significantly increase back to where they should be. After a couple of weeks, your circulation is improved, lung function starts to return, and you should notice an increase in your energy. However, these health improvements will be accompanied by withdrawal symptoms.
Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet, even more than heroine or alcohol. The withdrawal experience varies greatly from person to person. Most people have symptoms that resemble the flu for the first few days. Irritability, fatigue, insomnia, headache, and cough are most common. Expecting these symptoms and being prepared to deal with them could be the key to your success.
Cravings generally pass within 3-5 minutes, so if you have a plan to distract yourself during that time, your chances of success are a lot higher. Walks are great because exercising calms your nerves and gets your blood moving, helping you to filter out more of the chemicals and stress hormones that are being produced.
The right vitamins and supplements can help you to manage the withdrawal symptoms of quitting while helping your body to quickly repair itself from the effects of smoking. The first thing you should plan on doing is eating a banana. Bananas contain loads of tryptophan and the carbohydrates needed to absorb it. Smoking depletes your body of tryptophan causing disturbances in your serotonin levels. Getting your serotonin levels back to normal will help you to ease sleep disturbances, fatigue, and even depression.
Combating stress is extremely helpful, too, significantly improving your mood, immunity, and cellular repair. Smoking depletes your body of B vitamins which are needed for many body functions. Smoking one cigarette can flush all of the vitamin C from your body, leaving your cells unprotected and susceptible to damage. That’s just the beginning of the long list of vitamins and minerals that smoking depletes and blocks. When you quit, your body will be in a very unhealthy state, so you need to concentrate on getting it back on track so that you have a chance of dealing with the stresses of quitting.
Taking a daily multivitamin when you quit can significantly improve your health and recovery time. Taking vitamin C supplements can help you to protect your cells, remove the thousands of free radicals that are in your system, and regulate your immune system. This may be the most important part of your quitting plan because vitamin C helps your body recover very quickly.
A buffered vitamin C powder may be a good option for you because it is quickly absorbed into the body, is easy on the stomach, and generally helps you in so many ways. It reduces stress, improves your energy levels, and helps to regulate your digestive system, circulatory system, sleep patterns, and your nervous system. It even helps to decrease inflammation that can lead to disease, asthma, weight gain, and ultimately, more cell damage.
Clearing your body of nicotine while repairing and protecting your cells from damage is a great way to increase your chances of success. As always, talk with your doctor if you have concerns before you start a vitamins and supplements routine.
About the Author: Phil Le Breton is the owner at Wholesale Nutrition. He has a strong interest in helping people achieve greater brain and body health with vitamins and supplements. Wholesale Nutrition has the best vitamin C powder on the market (C-Salts). Visit http://www.nutri.com to buy vitamin C supplements of the highest quality.
