Regardless of which option you choose that you feel will assist you to stop smoking, the first three days are the hardest. This is when the physical symptoms of nicotine leaving your body is felt the most. Common symptoms such as irritability, feeling sleepy or fatigued, and that slight headache that never seems to go away, are all common symptoms of withdrawal.

The trick is to make preparations prior to your stop smoking day so that these feelings will not make you feel that you have to alienate yourself from the rest of the world. One good step to take would be to let the people in your household in on your efforts (only if you feel they will help you, not hinder you). You might get a bonus and end up with the house all to yourself, just in case you get a little uptight.

Keep in mind, that by making plans in advance on how you are going to handle these symptoms, it can really help if they present themselves. What are you going to feel? What are the symptoms of withdrawal? You may want to include these things on your list:

Feeling angry or agitated: I will take deep breaths and take a walk outside. I will leave the room or go take a shower.

Feeling overly emotional or sensitive: I will find a few moments for myself.

Feeling tired: I will allow myself to be able to rest and heal from my addiction.

Feeling nauseated: I will eat an apple or ginger (helps with nausea).

After a meal I will: get out and take a walk, or clear the table.

A really good way to help your body get rid of the nicotine within it is to drink lots of liquids. The more you drink, the faster your body will metabolize the stored nicotine within your system and the only side effect of this is a slouchy stomach and maybe a few more trips to the bathroom. The faster you can get the nicotine flushed out of your system, the sooner the withdrawal symptoms will be over, at least the physical ones.

There are a lot of theories as to what makes withdrawal symptoms worse or better. Some say that you should also give up caffeine when you stop smoking and there are others who found that it makes no difference in their case. If drinking beverages with caffeine in them makes you suddenly crave a cigarette, it is probably better to not to have any, or at the very least cut back.

Just be careful not to overload your willpower by giving up too many things at once. Perhaps just cut back slowly on the caffeine in the beginning and replace those types of drinks with things that will help rid your body of the nicotine, like fruit juices and water.

Another common side effect of stopping smoking is the inability to fall asleep or to stay soundly asleep. Regardless of how tired you might have been throughout the day, it seems like your mind won’t shut down for the evening and comfort is nowhere to be found.

To help alleviate this, I recommend a hot shower before heading off to bed to help you relax. Usually the sleep deprivation only lasts for a night or two. However if it persists, I would suggest a visit to the pharmacy to pick up a sleeping aid until the restlessness passes. It won’t last forever.

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