Cold Turkey tobacco cessation (stopping suddenly without taper or medication) is a method that advocates a reliance on willpower and tenacity. It may seem like a fast way to stop smoking, but most people find that it’s less effective in the long term. This is because a cold turkey quit approach may not allow you enough time to identify and learn to manage physical, psychological, and emotional triggers that have developed over the years.
While quitting “cold turkey” (stopping suddenly without taper or physical help) may seem like a fast way to stop smoking, most people find that it’s less effective in the long term. Tobacco dependence is a chemically and psychologically powerful habit. Consuming nicotine in tobacco activates a release of the pleasure chemical dopamine in the brain. Dopamine release feels good, which provokes the user to repeat the tobacco use over and over. Because the brain gets a dopamine surge from nicotine every time a person uses tobacco, this chemical reinforcement creates a strong conditioning environment for a pattern of behavior to thrive.
If you’ve been smoking a pack a day, you’ve been repeating this behavior twenty times every single day. This habitual pattern becomes ingrained into your daily routine and, so, requires you to address the times, situations, and people that trigger your tobacco use. Working with a trained coach can help you to identify your triggers and adopt healthy coping tools and substitute activities into your new smoke-free routine.
Quitting cold turkey is a method that advocates a reliance on willpower and tenacity. Withdrawal symptoms include often-intense nicotine cravings, mood disturbance (difficulty concentrating, anxiety, irritability, depression), nausea, headaches, sweating, GI distress (abdominal cramping, constipation and gas), coughing, sore throat, insomnia, and weight gain. Some people believe that quitting without help is a sign of strength. But, if ever there were a time to seek and accept help, certainly quitting smoking would qualify.
Tobacco cessation methods that combine professional support by trained coaches, accountability tracking, and evidence-based medications including over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) are shown to increase quit success rates. This combination of chemical and behavioral support allows a person to focus on addressing the co-occurring triggers of their tobacco use. Getting to the root cause of behavior is preferable for change that sticks.
It’s all too easy to underestimate the addictive quality of nicotine in tobacco. NRT products such as nicotine patches (time-released, 21mg, 14mg and 7mg), nicotine gum (fast acting, 2mg and 4mg), and nicotine lozenges (fast acting, 2mg and 4mg), help the body taper down nicotine levels slowly. This allows energy to be redirected toward replacing psychological habits with healthier patterns. Your coach can help you learn how to move through each day without cigarettes as anchors, rewards, or time fillers.
Read more about NRT products here:
How to Use Quit Smoking Medications
Keeping track of your tobacco use by counting cigarettes, testing your carbon monoxide levels, or both helps to move you from auto-pilot to greater self-awareness. Charting your progress and money savings helps to keep you motivated.
If you're in emotional distress or having a mental health emergency, dial 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. This is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the United States. You can also text HOME to 741-741 for the Crisis Text Line.