Two weeks without smoking, two weeks sleeping 4 hours tops...

[Artaudbasilio]

Hi everybody! I smoked a pack a day for 23 years (lots of times more than that) that is since i was 15 years old. Two weeks ago I just decided to quit and went cold turkey. So far so good regarding cravings but other problems have arise. The most worrying is that although i have no trouble falling a sleep i just wake up after just 4 hours of sleep sometimes even less when i wake up briefly in the middle of the night. The other stringly debilitating side effect is my difficulty in concentrating and working at an intelectual level. I am education and training specialist and researcher and i am feeling a lot of problems in my work mainly in what concerns, funny enough, planning and writing activities. Do you have any advice regarding both the lack of sleep issue and the difficulty to concentrate in intelectual tasks? I've been thinking if I shouldn't take a sleeping pill to see if i manage to sleep a couple of hours more. Is this advisable or not? Thank you!

[Sammo70 11 Weeks Winner]

I quit on 31st Jan & although wasn't smoking as much as you I too found sleep disturbance occurring.

Maybe it's our subconscious going over a massage change in our lives.

How about trying herbal remedies to get you off to sleep?

I find a good book too takes away my whirring mind & makes me sleepy again.

Hope this helps.

[Artaudbasilio 6 MONTH WINNER in reply to Sammo70]

Thanx Sammo! Yes i can definitely feel my brain 'rewiring' itself just hope it doesn't take too long!

[Sammo70 11 Weeks Winner in reply to Artaudbasilio]

I meant 31st July!! Don't know where January came from! Lol x

[Artaudbasilio 6 MONTH WINNER in reply to Sammo70]

It's still a great run!! 23 days now! Keep it on! Surprisingly I am managing not to miss smoking that much. The most difficult thing for me seems to be abandoning all those smoking related little rituals that I had as, for instance, having a coffee and a smoke before starting to work. Not sleeping more than 4 or 5 hours a day has also been an issue, but I hope it passes quickly! xx

[Sammo70 11 Weeks Winner in reply to Artaudbasilio]

Weekdays are getting easy, not even thinking about it, its weekends I find tough.

[Artaudbasilio 6 MONTH WINNER in reply to Sammo70]

Hang in there! It seems that smoking is definitely connected to your social life! For me is more a work thing, as I always smoked when preparing all the materials necessary for my job. In either case, the matter seems to be getting rid of old rituals and habits and not so much an overwhelming addiction. I am going step by step and always reminding myself that any urge that I feel to smoke is just in my mind and that is no valid reason for me to be sucking on a small burning peace of herbs, tar and paper Cheers!

[jillygirl Administrator Queen Bee]

W"elcome to quit support, Your symptoms are very common when we firts quit. However it does get better. Your body is doing a lot of adjusting, and clearing a lot of toxins in your lungs.

I will put a post on regarding sleeping problems , hopefully it may help you.

I will also add you to our wall of winners and assign you your badge. :)xx