Strategies for being smoke free on campus
SAIT is a smoke-free campus. While you don’t have to quit smoking, you may be wondering how you’ll adjust.
Don’t panic. Here are some tips to help you get through the day.
A nicotine craving only lasts a few minutes
If you can distract yourself that long, you’ll have beaten it. Try this:
- Chew gum — this will give your mouth something to focus on. A fresh minty taste actually reduces the desire to smoke.
- Take a few deep breaths — this simulates the type of breath you take while inhaling smoke or vapour.
- Keep your hands busy — they’re used to holding a cigarette, so try squeezing a stress ball, twirling a pen between your fingers or playing with a rubber band.
Break your smoker’s habits and practice new ones
By practicing the habits of a non-smoker, your day on campus will be easier. These new habits don’t have to be forever, but after a few weeks, they’ll help the cravings fade.
- Don’t have a smoke with coffee — teach yourself to have your morning java without a craving to smoke.
- Don’t smoke in your car or at a bus stop — make not doing it the norm, and eventually you won’t be looking for that cigarette.
- Try not to smoke right after you eat something — keep those cravings after breaks or at lunch time at bay.
Avoid replacing cigarettes with snacks
Especially the sweet kind. Instead, drink a glass of water or have a veggie break.
Work it out
A short burst of exercise releases the same feel-good chemical in the brain that is triggered by nicotine. Climb a flight of stairs, walk around the block, or try doing star jumps or crunches for one minute.
Looking to quit smoking?
- Smoking cessation resources are available to students through Saitsa’s Student Health and Dental Plan.
- Students can also access wellness support through Student Development and Counselling and community smoking cessation resources through Alberta Quits and myhealth.alberta.ca.
- Employees have access to resources through SAIT’s Employee and Family Assistance Program, Lifeworks.
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SAIT is located on the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of Treaty 7 which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Îyârhe Nakoda of Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney.
We are situated in an area the Blackfoot tribes traditionally called Moh’kinsstis, where the Bow River meets the Elbow River. We now call it the city of Calgary, which is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta.