The best way to deal with anything, whether it's an exam, a job interview or giving up smoking, is to be prepared.

In the case of giving up smoking the better prepared and educated you are, the greater your chances of success.

In other words, once you have set your quit date and written out your list of reasons for giving up, the next step is to prepare yourself for what is about to come and work out how you are going to deal with and manage each situation.

As you are probably well aware, on giving up smoking you will experience a number of withdrawal symptoms, both physical and psychological.

If you know what to expect, you are half way on the road to coping with these withdrawal symptoms and have more chances of not giving in to them. This will also help you to decide on the best way to give up smoking, which method you are going to use and how you are going to cope in times of temptation. In the following section we are going to discuss each of the withdrawal symptoms that you may experience after stopping smoking, why they occur and how to lessen and combat them. You could also re-read our section on the health effects of smoking, in order to remind yourself of the consequences of continuing to smoke. Bearing that information in mind should help to prevent you from relapsing and keep you on the right road to becoming a non-smoker.
Within about 20 minutes of smoking your last cigarette, you will begin to apprehend a small craving or urge to smoke another cigarette. This is your brain gently reminding you that it is time to smoke and get your fix of nicotine before the physical symptoms of withdrawal set in. At this time the nicotine levels in the body are falling and those levels must be maintained for us to feel good and normal. Usually, when we start to feel these cravings, we relieve them by smoking a cigarette. If we are unable to smoke at the time, these cravings get stronger and stronger in intensity and we may become angry, irritable and lose concentration until we are able to smoke again. Once you give up smoking though, you will have to fight against these urges and cravings to smoke. More will be discussed on this matter in the following sections. Everyone that gives up smoking will go through a different experience from the next person. Some people may suffer from terrible withdrawal symptoms whilst others may only experience a few of the symptoms mentioned in the next section. It is probably fair to say that the more dependant you were on cigarettes and the greater number of cigarettes smoked, the more severe the withdrawal symptoms are likely to be. The nicotine withdrawal symptoms will be the strongest and most intense around 24 - 48 hours after giving up. They will start shortly after smoking your last cigarette and will begin to ease off after 72 hours more or less. However, they will not completely disappear until two to three weeks have passed, possibly longer, depending on the person. Nevertheless you will still probably have the occasional urge to smoke a cigarette and this may never go away. Even though you may experience many withdrawal symptoms that probably seem unbearable at the time, this is just the response of your body as it heals itself and recovers from years of cigarette smoking.
All the same, going through the physical withdrawal of nicotine and the symptoms that you may suffer, is only temporary and will not last forever. At worst, what is a month of withdrawal symptoms that will subside each day but lead to you finally becoming a healthier person and a non-smoker for good, as opposed to possibly dying an early death after suffering years of living with cancer or lung disease? In short, if you know what to expect and are well equipped beforehand, you should be able to prepare yourself mentally to deal with the withdrawal symptoms as they occur. They might not even be as bad as you thought they would be. Read the next section to find out exactly what you could be going through once you stop smoking, in terms of physical withdrawal symptoms and how you can best deal with them if they happen to you.

Next Step: Nicotine withdrawal symptoms