How Long Before the Cravings Stop When You Quit Smoking?

The biggest problem with quitting smoking is the cravings. But you have a better chance of succeeding if you know what to expect. Find out more in this article.

One third of the adult population globally smoke cigarettes and it is responsible for more premature deaths than anything else. Most smokers will want to quit eventually but the biggest obstacle is the cravings? How long is it before they stop?

How Do Cravings Work?

Cravings are what you get if you are a smoker and you stop smoking. Actually, you get cravings within a few minutes of finishing your last cigarette. That's why sometimes you'll have two cigarettes in a row. But mostly when you finish a cigarette you do not get cravings straight away because you know that you'll soon have another cigarette. Normally, you can go at least an hour or two without a cigarette.

So What Is Actually Happening?

Think about before you were a smoker. You never craved cigarettes. And now that you smoke, do they make you a much happier person? Nope.

The way that cravings work is that you smoke cigarettes to bring yourself back to normality, the the "ground level", where you were when you were a non-smoker. And when you do not have cigarettes then you are basically slowly sinking down. Like someone being slowly buried alive, you crave what will get you out of this hole, in this case – a cigarette!

So with smoking you are always sinking and the cravings are just your natural response to this sinking feeling. Have a cigarette and the cravings are extinguished!

When I Stop, How Long Will They Last?

When you quit smoking, your cravings will get worse. It's kind of like being slowly buried up to your head. As more time passes by, you will want a cigarette even more. After about 3 days to a week, you'll reach maximum cravings. If you are using willpower to stop then you must not give in now.

Then you'll grow used to your situation and the cravings will gradually disappear over time.

Will The Cravings Disappear?

The problem with cravings is that they'll never truly disappear. After you reach your peak then they will slowly disappear. But most smokers say that they'll be there for life.

Also what can happen is that you can be walking down the street 2 years after quitting and suddenly get a big craving. Most ex-smokers will try to put it out of their mind but many will also relapse. I know smokers who have quit for 10 years and then started again.

Does Everyone Get Cravings?

People who use traditional willpower based methods of stopping smoking always get cravings. But there is another technique that is used by a silent minority of smokers and thousands of people quit every year using methods that do not involve any willpower or cravings whatsoever. These methods do not use smoking aids and they are very similar to cognitive behavioural therapy.

How Long Before the Cravings Stop When You Quit Smoking? by Joe White