Is there anything left to say about cigarette smoking? Half of cigarette smokers die of tobacco-related diseases, and all lose 14 years of their lives, on average. As a result, government and society have collaborated to make smoking in the U.S. about as difficult as it can be. Yet nicotine is extremely addictive, so many of you continue to smoke.

You know what you must do; here are a few tips to do it:

1.      Brush Your Teeth Often: One of the perks of quitting smoking is that your mouth tastes better and your breath smells better. If you brush your teeth frequently, you will be less inclined to light up a cigarette and dirty your breath again.

2.      Sip Cold Water: Sipping cold water through a straw can help replace the act of sucking on a cigarette. It also releases dopamine, a feel-good brain chemical that can help ease bad moods.

3.      Eat Small Meals: Eating small meals can also help you get past the urge to smoke. Choose lean, healthy foods to avoid weight gain.

4.      Avoid alcohol. Not only might you associate drinking with cigarette smoking, alcoholic beverages break down self-restraint, and that can erode your commitment to quitting.

5.      Reduce your caffeine. This drug, too, is often ingested along with nicotine, and so your mind may have formed an association between the two. Caffeine also makes others feel tense, jittery, and stressed, and the path to quitting smoking may augment this.

6.      Get some exercise. Set aside time to be physically active every day -- especially in the first month after you've quit smoking. Exercise offers a powerful distraction from cravings. When your body is active, it sends out natural chemicals that help your mood and ease your stress. 

7.      As best as you can, avoid “That One Guy.” You know who it is: perhaps he feels threatens by your plan to stop smoking, as if you are trying to “break up the band.” Maybe he is just looking to undermine your efforts because he is jealous of your happiness. Most of your friends, if they are worthy of the name, will be supportive, but That One Guy will stop at nothing to maintain the status quo (which is slowly killing the both of you).

8.      Get Thee To a Non-Smoking Area! Feel the urge to smoke? Drive somewhere where it is forbidden – which now is pretty much any enclosed public space.

9.      Shove something in your mouth, quickly. So much of the smoking habit is tied to sensation and ritual that transcends the chemical addiction, like the feeling of a foreign object in your mouth. Substitute a low-cal lollipop or sugarless gum when your feel the urge to slip a cigarette into your mouth.

10.  Be Patient. It gets easier. Once you make it through the first two weeks, you have jumped over the major hurdles. But if you do fall off the wagon, remember it's not the end of the world. Just call to mind the reason you decided to quit in the first place, and climb back up on the horse.