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Exercise: Keep Active and Focus

by Mike Amend

Cincinnati, Ohio
United States

Keeping Active and Focused I have only quit smoking for about a week now, Stepping down over the previous month from 40 a day to 0. I feel to good to go back. I started off with the dance club. I realized that although I was not smoking while dancing, I was still breathing in a lot of second hand smoke. I then decided to take up martial arts classes. The best thing about this, I was not smoking while in class, and during this time I never felt the need to sneak out for a cigarette. I also found that I wanted to perform better, so I would not smoke for an hour before class, then two hours. Eventually I would not smoke between the time I took my daily shower, and the time I left class. Of course, I also would not smoke while practicing. Eventually the group of us decided to start playing soccer on a nightly basis. This made a few more hours of my day that I did not feel the need to smoke. Now when I feel the need, I do push ups, sit ups, go to the park and jog, whatever I have time for. I began to notice that the only "withdrawal symptoms" I had were healthy ones. Energy to work out, clearer thought, and a healthy appetite. Some people are afraid they will gain weight if they quit. They forget that with the hunger comes a desire to be active, misinterpretted as "anxiety". This is not "anxiety", it is the same energy you had as a child. This is natural. Use it. Another benefit is my change in diet. Smokers tend to prefer drinks that taste good with their cigarettes ( soda, coffee, alcohol, etc.). I hadn't drank a glass of water in years, and milk was terrible with smoke. You don't notice what not drinking milk and water do to you until you start drinking them again. My skin is healthy, I look years younger, and I feel great. From what I have seen, feeling great and looking younger are the only true withdrawal symptoms I have experienced. If you miss the feeling a cigarette gives you, run up and down a flight of stairs... hit yourself in the head a few times, then rinse your mouth with something really smelly. I haven't tried this myself, but from an ex-smokers standpoint it seems as if it would have the same effect as smoking. On another note, reminders are a good thing (unless they are a hole in the trachea, or the wheezing sound you hear when you're in a quiet room). My approach was a tattoo (of an oriental symbol for "discipline"). I am not saying go out and get a tattoo, but carrying some sort of personal reminder helps a lot.