Understanding Bad Habits and How to Replace Vaping or Smoking: Part 2

12/09/2024

Key Takeaways

01. Quitting smoking or vaping isn’t just about willpower; it involves understanding how these behaviors become ingrained coping mechanisms and bad habits.

02. Recognizing the addictive cycle of nicotine, driven by dopamine rewards, is essential for tackling both the physical and psychological aspects of dependency.

03. Building awareness of smoking or vaping triggers and replacing them with healthier habits, like breathing exercises, can help break the reliance on nicotine.

04. Embracing setbacks as learning opportunities and reinforcing new routines over time makes the journey to quit more achievable and sustainable.

05. Komuso’s Quit Vaping and Smoking Course can help you overcome nicotine dependency by rewiring habits through proven science and using tools like The Shift Breathing Necklace.

Quitting smoking or vaping is rarely about sheer willpower alone. It’s about understanding the powerful forces that turn these behaviors into deeply ingrained bad habits. Smoking and vaping often serve as quick “fixes” to manage stress, loneliness, or boredom. But over time, they become coping mechanisms the brain and body rely on, making quitting feel like an uphill battle, especially if you’re struggling to figure out how to replace vaping or smoking.

To break free, it’s essential to approach this process thoughtfully, using a blend of strategies that address the behavior and reshape the mind’s attachment to these habits.

This guide utilizes Cody Isabel’s research to explore the psychology of bad habits, the neuroscience of addiction, and practical steps to quit smoking or vaping for good, like using a breathing necklace. Cody is a Brain Scientist and entrepreneur who has used his over 22,000 hours of training to help thousands of clients break bad habits and develop a healthy lifestyle.

Where Do Bad Habits Come From?

Understanding the roots of habits is key to breaking them– especially bad habits. Many people start smoking or vaping as simple solutions to handle specific emotions, like lighting a cigarette to calm nerves after a tough day or reaching for a vape at a social event to ease anxiety. What begins as a “quick fix” often becomes an unconscious coping mechanism as the brain links relief to the habit.

An Example

Imagine Jamie, who initially used cigarettes as a quick way to relax after a stressful day. Over time, reaching for a cigarette became automatic. Each time it provided comfort, it reinforced a neural pathway, making the urge feel more natural. Jamie didn’t just have a habit; the behavior became tied to feelings of relaxation and self-identity.

As Cody explains, habits also become entwined with how we see ourselves. Statements like “I’m just a smoker” or “I need to vape to unwind” reflect how deeply habits can root themselves in our identity. This attachment makes breaking them harder—it isn’t just changing behavior; it’s reshaping beliefs, thought patterns, and emotional responses tied to bad habits. It’s figuring out how to replace vaping or smoking for good.

Addiction vs. Bad Habits: Why Nicotine Hooks the Brain

Understanding the difference between a habit and an addiction is especially important when it comes to nicotine. A habit is a repeated behavior, but addiction involves physical and chemical dependency that changes brain circuits over time.

When nicotine enters the body, it triggers dopamine release—a chemical that generates a “feel-good” sensation. This surge in dopamine reinforces the urge to use nicotine again and again. Your brain likes to feel good!

Over time, this cycle builds physical and psychological dependency, making it difficult to quit even when the desire is there. Nicotine’s strong effect on dopamine can hijack logical decision-making, as cravings overpower rational thinking.

The Science in Action

Unlike habits that can be altered with effort, addictions like nicotine require strategies targeting both physical and psychological aspects. Quitting nicotine involves managing physical cravings by figuring out how to replace vaping or smoking while retraining the brain to no longer expect a dopamine “reward” from smoking or vaping.

With that in mind, this is the general process for breaking bad habits that have become an addiction.

Step 1: Building Awareness Around the Habit

One of the most effective ways to break bad habits is to bring them into conscious awareness. Smoking and vaping often thrive in the background of daily life, unnoticed, as they become embedded in routines tied to stress, boredom, or anxiety.

Making these behaviors visible makes it easier to recognize and address the patterns driving them.

Questions to Build Awareness:

When do I feel the strongest urge to smoke or vape? Noting specific times, like after stressful meetings or during evening downtime, helps pinpoint triggers.
What emotions am I feeling when I reach for a cigarette or vape? Identifying stress, boredom, or social anxiety sheds light on emotional links.
Where and with whom do I smoke or vape? Recognizing social patterns helps in avoiding triggering situations.

Tracking smoking or vaping instances provides clarity. Try using a notepad, an app, or even sticky notes to log each session’s time, place, and emotion. Over time, these details offer insights into why and when cravings strike, laying the groundwork for meaningful change and figuring out how to replace vaping or smoking with a healthier option like a breathing necklace.

Step 2: Replacement – Building Healthier Responses

Bad habits can be difficult to break, especially when they fulfill deeper needs. Instead of aiming to stop a behavior outright, finding healthier alternatives that serve a similar purpose can ease the transition. Cody called this “replacement behavior.”

For instance, if stress leads to smoking, try replacing it with calming activities like deep breathing exercises, a brisk walk, or a soothing ritual like making tea. A breathing necklace is a useful tool in these moments, reminding you to slow down and breathe deeply, even when the urge strikes. As a wearable, it serves as a consistent prompt to relax rather than reach for nicotine. Plus, it can actually help mitigate anxiety, which we’ll get to in a moment.

Cody shares that research shows that repetitive, mindful activities—like breathing exercises—can mimic the relaxing effects of nicotine without causing chemical dependency. Over time, the brain and body start to associate calmness with healthier habits, reducing the need for nicotine.

Practical Tip: Write down two or three replacement behaviors to try whenever cravings hit. Experiment with using a breathing necklace, light exercise, chewing gum, or a combination of actions to see what works best as a stress reliever.

Step 3: Identify and Break Triggers

Triggers are people, places, or emotions that revive old habits. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, emphasizes that habits often stick because they’re tied to environmental or emotional cues. To change a habit, it’s important to alter or eliminate these triggers.

Ways to Disrupt Triggers:

Change routines: If you usually have a cigarette with your morning coffee, consider switching to a different drink or having coffee in a different spot.
Modify social associations: If you smoke at social gatherings, find alternatives that keep your hands and mouth busy, like sipping sparkling water, using a breathing necklace, or picking up a Flex Fidget.
Rearrange spaces: Make smoking tools less accessible. Moving cigarettes or vape pens out of the house reduces the chances of impulsively reaching for them.

Identifying and dismantling triggers weakens the grip of old bad habits and makes room for healthier, intentional routines.

Step 4: Plan for Setbacks and Reframe Them

The journey to quit nicotine is rarely a straight line. Rather than viewing setbacks as failures, consider them learning opportunities. Using positive self-talk can keep you moving forward without guilt, which can often lead to further cravings.

Think of it like talking to a friend. You wouldn’t bash them for having setbacks! You’d motivate them to keep going and continue to figure out how to replace vaping or smoking with healthy alternatives so that they can live better.

Motivation goes so much further than condemnation to help break bad habits.

Mindful Language Shift

Try saying, “I’m learning what triggers my cravings,” rather than “I failed because I smoked.” Acknowledging the progress rather than fixating on slip-ups helps build resilience.

Cody pulls from Dr. Andrew Huberman’s advice on how to manage failure after the fact.

Adding a “positive cargo” action after a setback can help retrain the brain. For instance, if someone slips and vapes, they could follow up with a glass of water, a five-minute walk, or a quick breathing exercise with their breathing necklace. This action reinforces self-care, showing the brain that even setbacks are growth opportunities instead of following up vaping with beating yourself up for the next few hours and spiraling into a negative brain loop.

This breaks the “Bad-Bad” loop in your brain that’s become subconscious and creates a new “Bad-Good” loop that allows you to become more aware of the steps leading up to the bad habit. If you’re aware of the precurses, you can get ahead of them when they happen again and avoid the bad habit.

Tying in Blog 1: Reinforce New Habits Over Time to Replace Bad Habits

Behavioral science suggests it takes around 63 days to ditch an old bad habit, like figuring out how to replace vaping or smoking. Breaking this into three phases can make the process feel manageable:

Days 1-21: Awareness-building. Focus on observing and tracking triggers, responses, and practicing replacement behaviors.

Days 22-42: Reinforce healthier habits. Activities like breathing exercises, hobbies, or exercise start to feel more natural and rewarding.

Days 43-63: Solidify the change. By now, healthier habits are automatic, and nicotine cravings significantly weaken.

By consistently practicing replacement behaviors—like using a breathing necklace—the brain forms new neural pathways, reducing reliance on smoking or vaping.

Support Makes a Difference

Breaking a habit like nicotine dependency is challenging alone, so consider reaching out for support. Many people find strength in community support through friends, family, or online groups. Digital resources such as the Loosid Sober App for those going through addiction or online support forums provide a space to connect with others who share the same goal.

Supportive environments not only provide encouragement but also offer accountability. Joining a community creates a circle of shared experience and motivation, making the journey easier.

How to Replace Vaping Or Smoking Using Breathing Necklace

A tool like a breathing necklace can be incredibly helpful when figuring out how to replace vaping or smoking. The key to using a breathing necklace while quitting smoking or vaping is its ability to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This system is responsible for calming the body and can help counteract the intense cravings and stress that often come with withdrawal.

How Using a Breathing Necklace Works

Using the necklace to slow down your breathing sends signals to your brain that it's okay to relax. This can be especially helpful when the urge to smoke or vape feels overwhelming. Each time a craving hits, instead of reaching for a cigarette or vape, you can use your breathing necklace to take slow, intentional breaths. This engages the vagus nerve, helping to reduce stress and giving you a moment to refocus.

Moreover, the physical act of using the breathing necklace can replace the habitual hand-to-mouth motion that is so deeply ingrained in many smokers and vapers. Over time, this new habit of slow, deliberate breathing becomes a healthier way to cope with stress and cravings, rewiring the brain toward more beneficial responses.

Don’t just stop at only using it to quit nicotine, though! A breathing necklace can help avoid bad habits like eating sugary foods, biting fingernails, or negative self-talk.

The Reward of Breaking Free

Figuring out how to replace vaping or smoking and quitting nicotine is a journey of awareness, patience, and persistence. By understanding where habits come from, addressing triggers, and replacing old routines with healthier alternatives, freedom from nicotine becomes achievable. Each smoke-free day strengthens resolve, builds confidence, and brings renewed energy and health.

And when you have particularly hard days, keep your eye on the prize, which is a healthier future! Imagine waking up without the need for nicotine, feeling energized, with better focus, improved mood, and reduced health risks. While the road may be challenging, each small step toward change is a victory worth celebrating.

Check out Part 3 of this blog series, which dives more into habit creation and tools to help you start your habit-creation process.

Ready to Quit Smoking or Vaping for Good?

Introducing Komuso’s Quit Vaping and Smoking Course—to help you overcome nicotine dependency, not just by sheer willpower, but by rewiring habits through proven science. This course combines modern neuroscience and The Shift Breathing Necklace, a tool that makes the process more manageable by reducing stress and naturally curbing cravings.

Developed with the help of Cody Isabel, a Brain Scientist with over 22,000 hours of clinical experience, the course uses his proprietary Tapering Method, blending behavioral neuroscience with positive habit formation techniques to guide you every step of the way.

What sets this approach apart? Cody’s method is built on small, manageable changes, focusing on gradual tapering, mindset shifts, and practical tools for breaking old patterns. The course doesn’t just help you quit—it’s a holistic approach that empowers you to see yourself beyond nicotine dependency and adopt healthier coping mechanisms for life.

With each module, you’ll be working toward a future free from nicotine. This course gives you the tools, strategies, and support to make that change stick.

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