No matter how much or how long you’ve smoked, when you quit smoking, your risk of heart disease and stroke starts to drop.In time your risk will be about the same as if you’d never smoked!If you smoke, you have good reason to worry about its effect on your health, your loved ones and others. You could become one of the more than 430,000 smoking related deaths every year. When you quit, you reduce that risk tremendously.
One thousand Americans die each day from the effects of smoking. There are 45 to 50 million nicotine addicts in the United States alone, and most would like to quit.Based on the American Lung Association's Freedom from Smoking program, it acknowledges that each smoker is different and requires different strategies. You identify the places, times, moods, and conditions that trigger your need to smoke.
A person's risk of heart attack greatly increases with the number of cigarettes he or she smokes. Smokers continue to increase their risk of heart attack the longer they smoke. People who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day have more than twice the risk of heart attack than non-smokers. Women who smoke and also take birth control pills increase several times their risk of heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular disease.
Hookah bars are growing in popularity in the U.S. especially among 18-to 24-year-olds, becoming the first new tobacco use trend of the 21st century. The Lung Association report warns that this trend is thriving on the widespread, but mistaken, belief that hookah use is harmless.Contrary to what many beginning users may think, hookah tobacco use carries many of the same risks as cigarette smoking, including being linked to lung cancer and other lung diseases.
Nicotine is a psychologically and physically addictive substance, and quitting smoking is commonly considered to be difficult.If you answered, "I like to smoke, and I'm not planning to quit," ask yourself why so many other people have quit smoking. Consider this: 50 million Americans are former smokers. What do you think were their reasons for quitting? Some of those reasons may also apply to you. Do you have problems with breathing, your heart or high blood pressure? Does cancer run in your family? Quitting smoking can lower your chance of having these problems.
Consider what you don't like about smoking and why you want to quit smoking. Do you want to banish bad breath? Reduce your risk of a heart attack? Have more energy? Set a good example for your kids? Write it down. Whenever you feel the urge to smoke, take out the list to remind yourself why you want to quit smoking. It might also help to think of all you'll gain when you quit smoking, such as a longer and healthier life, and more money — and time — to spend on things you enjoy.
From a smoker’s head to his or her toes, puffing away on cigarettes or cigars does damage throughout the body. That’s what makes it so risky – and what makes quitting so important.Smokers can keep themselves from becoming just a statistic if they quit — and November’s Great American Smoke Out is a great time to do it. The damage done by years of puffing won’t go away, but quitting can prevent any further damage.
choosing a quit date and sticking to it is an important part of breaking the habit. Smokers who want to become ex-smokers, however, must chose a date that makes sense for them.Choosing a day later in the week after all of the parties and activities have died down is probably more realistic. You have to do what works for you because you don't want to set yourself up for failure.
Even though quitting without help is tough, most smokers quit on their own. If help isn't available, here are some tips for quitting:
Des Wooley, 34, quit smoking for his daughter Kylah. He used NRT patches and inhalator and had the support of his wife and stop smoking advisor.Des said: “I have recently been registered disabled but even when that happened I wasn’t tempted to go back to smoking. The best calming influence is my baby daughter. I’m in pain with my knees all the time but it’s wonderful to be around to see her growing up. I use the money I save by not buying cigarettes to pay for family days out.”
Smokers trying to kick the habit should implement a smoke-free policy at home, as new research suggests it may boost their odds of successfully stopping smoking.
Drs. Chung-won Lee and Jennifer Kahende of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at multiple factors associated with successful smoking cessation using data from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey.
The study included 772 successful quitters, defined as smokers who quit for 7 to 24 months and had not relapsed, and 3,218 current smokers who tried to quit in the past 12 months but failed.
Lee and Kahende report in the latest issue of the American Journal of Public Health that the successful quitters were much more likely than the unsuccessful quitters to have a rule against smoking in their home.
"People who had a smoke-free home were 10 times as likely to be successful quitters as those who lived in a home where smoking took place," they report.
Successful quitters were also less likely to have switched to "light" cigarettes for health reasons, more likely to be 35 years of age or older, married or living with a partner, and to have a college degree. Non-Hispanic white individuals were also more apt to successfully kick the habit than those in other ethnic or racial groups.
These findings, the researchers say, point to the need for a "holistic" approach to smoking cessation -- one that includes smokers' family members, friends and colleagues in implementing smoke-free policies that support cessation."
The findings also confirm that workplace no-smoking policies do help those who intend to quit succeed. Having a no-smoking policy at work doubled the likelihood of successful cessation, Lee and Kahende found.
"Currently, 7 U.S. states have comprehensive smoke-free policies for most enclosed workplaces and public settings, including bars and restaurants," note the researchers.
"In one prominent success story, 10 years after passing a statewide smoke-free workplace law, California is experiencing a significant decrease in tobacco use among youths, is limiting exposure to environmental tobacco smoke for many of its citizens, and is helping many smokers to quit through its antismoking programs and policies," they point out.
* Quitting tobacco use is difficult and may require multiple attempts, as users often relapse because of withdrawal symptoms. Tobacco dependence is a chronic condition that often requires repeated intervention.
* Set a specific date for quitting, and stick to it. Don't pick a time that's likely to be stressful, such as a holiday.
* Quit "cold turkey": on the day you decide to quit, go from your usual number of cigarettes to not smoking at all. Tapering down to fewer cigarettes per day or switching to "low tar" cigarettes is not a good alternative to quitting, and does not make quitting any easier.
* Understand your smoking behavior, and think of the activities or places in your life that you associate with smoking. You should avoid these if possible. For example, if you smoke when you drink alcohol, you may have to substitute non-alcoholic drinks, or avoid going to the bar. If you smoke after meals, plan to take a short walk instead.The alcohol makes it much less likely that they will be able to quit because most smokers like to smoke when they drink.
* Smokers trying to kick the habit might stand a better chance of staying smoke-free if they begin using replacement nicotine patches or gum in the weeks before they quit cigarettes.It's been suggested that if a smoker starts using nicotine substitutes about a fortnight before quitting cigarettes, they are significantly more likely to remain smokefree six months later.
* Sometimes teen smoking is a form of rebellion or a way to fit in with a particular group of friends. Some teens light up in an attempt to lose weight or to feel better about themselves. Others smoke to feel cool or independent. To know what you're dealing with, ask your teen how he or she feels about smoking. Ask which of your teen's friends smoke. Applaud your teen's good choices, and talk about the consequences of bad choices.
* Effective alternative to motivate smokers to quit smoking -- cutting back. According to the qualitative review of 19 studies on smoking reduction in individuals who did not want to quit, this method, typically coupled with the use of nicotine replacement products, led to an increase in quitting.
* Lose excess weight, get more exercise, eat a healthy diet and quit smoking.Those basic behavior changes would have a tremendous impact on the incidence of the most prevalent types of cancer — lung, breast, prostate and colon cancer — told an expert.
* Major weight gain is strongly related to smoking cessation, but it occurs in only a minority of those who stop smoking. Weight gain is not likely to negate the health benefits of smoking cessation, but its cosmetic effects may interfere with attempts to quit. Effective methods of weight control are therefore needed for smokers trying to quit.
* Fear of gaining weight is the primary reason many women give for not quitting smoking. The findings suggest that women may be more likely to stop smoking and to stay smoke free if they exercise.Women who exercised vigorously while trying to quit smoking were twice as likely to kick the habit and gained about half the weight of women who also tried to quit but didn't do the workouts, suggested a new study.
* The US Surgeon General has stated, "Smoking cessation (stopping smoking) represents the single most important step that smokers can take to enhance the length and quality of their lives."Quitting smoking is not easy, but it can be done. To have the best chance of quitting successfully, you need to know what you’re up against, what your options are, and where to go for help.
* Going smokefree is the best thing you can do to improve your health. When you stop smoking, your body will be free from 4,000 poisonous chemicals and start to heal itself. You will be amazed by how quickly your health will improve.Risk of lung cancer falls to half that of a smoker. Risk of heart attack falls to the same as someone who has never smoked. … after 10 years, even if they never went up in price, that's a saving of over..
* Brief clinical interventions by health care providers can increase the chances of successful cessation, as can counseling and behavioral cessation therapies.Among current U.S. adult smokers, 70% report that they want to quit completely. In 2005, an estimated 19.2 million (42.5%) adult smokers had stopped smoking for at least 1 day during the preceding 12 months because they were trying to quit.
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