It’s easy to make the resolution, “I’m going to quit smoking.”

And it’s easier to break that resolution.

Sure, you can convince yourself that this is the last time you’ll ever smoke a cigarette, and you might really believe it, too – but when you’re faced with something as simple as finishing a meal or having a drink, you can feel a sudden need to smoke. And you’re just as good at talking yourself into having one as you were at never having one again.

It only takes 3 days for your body to completely eliminate all of the nicotine in your system, and this is why quitting ‘cold turkey’ is often recommended. But you can still experience cravings like this for weeks, months, and even years after your last cigarette.

This is because your brain, even at the biological level, is constantly learning through associations. Whether you’ve smoked five cigarettes or five thousand cigarettes, each one has served as a lesson. Nicotine has taught your brain to associate smoking with a form of psychological relief, based on the way it activates your reward pathway.

So when you’re finishing your lunch, your brain lights up with neuronal firing, leading to you thinking ‘I should have a cigarette now.’ And your brain is very efficient at creating and maintaining these associations, which is what’s responsible for the high relapse rates among those attempting to quit.

While products like nicotine patches and gum can help you through the withdrawal period, you’re left to rely on your willpower alone when it comes to facing the way your brain has learned to need cigarettes. Nicotine substitution methods like the patch have a success rate of only 9% — over 90% of users go back to cigarettes within 6 months.

Aversion sessions interrupt this reinforcement loop by adding an unpleasant factor to these associations. A negative consequence to smoking a cigarette changes the way your brain works –- instead of fighting your cravings as they come, you can rewrite the code itself at the neuronal level.

In a scientific study, following five days of pairing shocks with cigarette smoking, 60.6% of subjects successfully quit — maintaining total abstinence from cigarettes over a year after the sessions. Beforehand, these subjects smoked an average of over 32 cigarettes per day, and 80% had tried to quit in the past.

After 5 days of pairing electric shock with smoking, 60.6% of smokers quit entirely.

Scientists have been using electric shock in labs for over 50 years in experiments to end bad habits. This technology has always been limited to research studies.

Now, Pavlok puts it in your hands, literally — by building a wristband with simple “one-button activation”. You can safely self-administer electric shocks, and you can control the level of intensity for each shock using an app on your phone. Pavlok’s device means you can take advantage of the scientific research for your own benefit!

How to Use Pavlok to Quit Cigarettes in 5 Days

1. Try out the device. Shocking yourself can be a little daunting at first, but you can adjust the intensity on your phone to calibrate and find a level of shock that works for you.
2. Shock for your first cigarette of the day. After getting familiar with the wristband, start administering a shock for each inhale of your first cigarette of the day. Your desire for this primary cigarette is often the most habitual, and breaking this initial craving will have a huge impact on your ability to kick the habit altogether.
3. Shock for additional cigarettes. You guessed it — after getting accustomed to shocking yourself for each puff of your first cigarette on day one, you can start applying shocks in the same pattern every time you light up.
4. Keep shocking and keep track of your progress. Continue administering shocks for every inhalation of every cigarette. Many Pavlok users report a rapid drop in daily tobacco use very soon after starting aversion sessions; if you experience this, you can advance to shocking yourself based on cravings alone.

A great example of Pavlok’s success in quitting cigarettes is Marty, who was a pack-a-day smoker for over seven years. He used Pavlok to quit smoking by following the method above, including continuing to shock himself until his cravings subsided.

No matter how long you’ve been a smoker, it’s never too late to quit. Even if you’ve been smoking cigarettes for years, or have tried and failed to quit in the past, Pavlok can help you break your habit in five days!

We know that once you try Pavlok, you’ll love it, and you can join the incredible group of smokers who were able to quit using electric shock aversion sessions.