World No Tobacco Day: 5 Ayurvedic tips to manage Tobacco addiction

It is the 'World No Tobacco Day' today. The World Health Organisation(WHO) has designated 31st May of each year as the World No Tobacco Day. The theme for this year is "Tobacco and heart disease".

You may have heard time and again that "Smoking Kills", yet when it comes to quitting the habit people find one reason or the other to stick on. Tobacco, if consumed in excess can take a toll on multiple organs and even pave way to a painful death. Tobacco addiction has been one of the biggest challenges faced by the 20th century. There are around one billion smokers in the world, about a seventh of the global population, according to World Health Organization (WHO) and other estimates. According to WHO, Tobacco use kills more than 7 million people every year and costs households and governments over US$ 1.4 trillion through healthcare expenditure and lost productivity.

(Photo by Benjamin C. Tankersley/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Nicotine is the drug in tobacco that causes addiction. And it is definitely not easy to get past the addiction so easily. But no one ever said it is impossible too. This World No tobacco day, try using these Ayurvedic home remedies as a step forward to healthy life.

According to 'The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies' by Dr. Vasant Lad suggesta n effective herbal tea made with equal proportions of jatasmi, chamomile and brahmi to resist the urge to light. "Steep 1 teaspoon of this mixture in a cup of hot water, and drink. Take it slowly, sip by sip, to help relieve the desire to smoke."

Ayurveda Expert Dr. MA Chaudhary from Ayur Tree Herbal suggests chewing on bits of dried ginger to control the urge to smoke. Ginger has Sulphur compounds that help in reducing this addiction. All you need to do is to soak small pieces of ginger with lemon juice and mix it with black pepper and store it in a container. Just suck into the piece of ginger whenever you have the urge to smoke and you will see the difference.

Ginseng helps in reducing cravings and further helps the body to deal with physical and emotional stress while experiencing withdrawal symptoms like mood swings, irritability etc, notes Dr. MA Chaudhary. Ginseng is known to have the ability to control the pleasure neurotransmitter dopamine from being released when you have a cigarette.

Harad or Harar (Terminalia Chebula) are of two types, one is big sized and brown in colour and the other is small sized and black in colour. Use the black harad and soak it in water for a few hours and keep it in your mouth for a few minutes. This will help reduce the urge to smoke.

Whenever you are hit by craving, it is better to start chewing into something healthy suggest Dr. Vasant Lad in his book. "Chew one or two small pieces of dried pineapple instead, mixed with half teaspoon honey.

Follow these steps and tell us if they helped you in anyway.