October is officially Stoptober and Stoptober is a 28-day NHS stop smoking challenge to help you quit smoking and start breathing easier.

Now, not everyone smokes - or wants to stop, but all of us have habits that we would like to make a little healthier, whether that is to drink less caffeine, move more or implement a morning routine.  So, below are a few of my hints and tips to help you to get there.

• Start small, baby steps – limit your intake if you’re trying to cut down on caffeine or use a different shop so you’re journey to buy cigarettes or alcohol is more inconvenient.
• Have a helping hand – find a support network; if you want to walk more, invite a friend to join you, find chat groups online focussed around the same topic or even challenge yourself to do it for charity and gain sponsors.
• Find other ways to occupy yourself when you are struggling. This could be reading, exercising, getting some fresh air or even bathing the dog.
• If it helps, make a list of things that you feel you have to do but never get around to and then when struggling do one of these and tick it off your list this way you will be curtailing your unhealthy habits AND being more productive.
• Positive affirmations – positive affirmations can be really helpful to encourage us and keep up motivation when times get tough, you can even try recording affirmations and playing them back to yourself each morning to start you off on the right foot or at the times when you need some encouragement.
• If positive affirmations aren’t for you then try limiting your negative talk, when you’re craving, try taking a few minutes to think about how you would respond to a friend to encourage them to stick to something they want to do.
• Treat yourself – reward charts don’t have to just be for kids, watch your successful days mount as you check them off (or a gold star if you prefer), then choose a great reward for yourself to work toward when you have had a successful week or month.
• Impose a Curfew – I don’t mean don’t go out or avoid any situation that could cause you to ‘fall off the wagon’ but try not drinking caffeine after 2pm, or not eating after 7pm. A curfew can help you limit your intake by providing a boundary that you know you shouldn’t cross.
• Change your thinking to the long-term – Each day is a new day, and this is also true when changing our behaviour. Behaviour change is not quick and easy and consistency is key. Thinking in the long-term helps to put things into perspective; if you slip up one day, it is just one day in the rest of your life. It hasn’t ruined your goal – it’s given you an opportunity to learn from it.  Stoptober says, that in relation to smoking if you can make it to 28 days, you’re 5 times more likely to quit for good.

So, there we have it – Tamsin’s top tips for making your habits healthier. Reach out on our social media and let us know if you are giving up smoking or trying to limit your unhealthy habits in any way and if you feel you would like some support why don’t you look at our plans on our website and see if one of those could help you to get on the road to success.