Question:
When I saw the doctor this week about these muscle spasms, he advised
me to find more productive ways to relieve stress and tension, now
that I'm a nonsmoker! He suggested gentle stretching, a cup of tea, or
a hot bath.
Additional suggestions ?
Answer:
When I first quit, found there was a lot of pent up stress and anger -
I did a lot of house cleaning, yard chores, home improvements, exercise, and
emotional venting.
Exercise is good - it helps us burn off the stress hormones secreted from
our adrenal glands.
Laughing and crying are good in different ways -- both release endorphins in
the brain which help us feel better, and both can help relieve muscle
tension. Crying also releases another type hormone that is helpful in
reducing stress hormones.
The home centered stuff was toward creating more of the type of environment
I felt good in because I had begun to learn when I felt good, the addiction
*itch* was not as intense.
When I first quit last year I decided to take up golf with my DH as he'd
been trying to get me to play for years. I found it was great as it was
something that I've never associated with smoking so whenever I play I get
four hours of completely crave free time :)
How about yoga or swimming.
Keeping active was my favourite - I'd never smoked in the car, so long
drives were a favourite when I couldn't settle down to do anything more
constructive. Cleaning the car helped - it has never been so clean, before
or since! In fact, anything that kept me occupied and in a situation where I
wouldn't previously have been smoking!
Long walks followed by long scented baths, getting out of the house, going
online (I never smoked in front of the computer, either), exercise of any
kind - there is nothing to beat swimming for relaxing the shoulder tension,
and making me tired enough to get a good night's sleep afterwards!
I still need those stragegies now from time to time - not to stay quit so
much as to deal with the everyday stresses and strains that would otherwise
have had me reaching for the cigarettes.
