Smoking
If you smoke, giving up is one of the best things you can do for your health. Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable deaths and one in two smokers will die from a smoking-related disease.
It’s well known that smoking causes diseases such as cancer, heart disease and respiratory conditions such as COPD or asthma.
How does smoking affect my body?
Smoking greatly increases your chance of having a heart-related condition such as a heart attack or stroke.
Smoking damages the walls of the arteries which can lead to fatty deposits building up. This build-up makes the blood vessels narrower which makes it harder for blood, which carries vital oxygen, to circulate around the body. If the blood vessels in your heart become blocked, or they can’t supply enough blood, then this increases your risk of a heart attack.
Similarly, if the blood vessels to your brain become blocked or not enough blood can get through, this increases your risk of having a stroke.
Are there any benefits to smoking?
There are absolutely no benefits to smoking. People who smoke say that they find it relaxing, and it helps them deal with stress. In reality, it has the opposite effect. The nicotine in cigarettes is a stimulant and it is what people crave. You may feel some relief as you are temporarily satisfying the craving, but once you’ve finished your stress levels increase to more than what they were before having a cigarette.
Another common reason for smoking is that it keeps weight down, and people are worried about putting on weight if they stop. Smoking can suppress your appetite, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that if you quit you will put on weight. It’s important to know what could make you gain weight when you stop so that you are prepared and avoid this.
- Smoking speeds up your metabolism so your body burns calories at a faster rate. When you quit smoking you will need to consume fewer calories. To keep your metabolism high, exercise regularly.
- Smoking dulls your taste buds so when you stop, you taste foods better and may crave sugary foods. Keep some healthy snacks such as fruit, nuts or vegetable sticks to hand so that you’re not tempted by high sugar snacks.
- It’s possible that you may mistake nicotine cravings for hunger pangs and use food as a distraction. Make sure you take any smoking medicines that you have been prescribed to help you suppress any cravings.
- Some people miss the ‘hand to mouth’ action from smoking and replace this by eating more. Try and find an activity to distract your hands and replace the hand to mouth action.
Why should I quit?
There are so many reasons to quit, from the improvements to your health, those around you, and your bank balance! It’s also never too late to quit smoking, quitting has benefits at all ages.
Health
The health benefits from stopping smoking are huge and immediate:
After quitting you will notice that you have more energy as your blood circulation improves. It will also make exercising much easier as you’re able to breathe more easily and cough less. Your lung capacity improves by 10% within 9 months of quitting.
Fertility
Men and women who smoke are also more likely to have fertility problems as the chemicals in cigarettes can damage eggs and sperm. The good news is that the effects of smoking on eggs and sperm are reversible, quitting will increase the chances of conceiving and creating a healthy baby.
Appearance
Smoking deprives your skin of oxygen and nutrients which leads to uneven skin tone, age spots and the destruction of collagen and elastin, which gives your skin strength and elasticity. Giving up smoking slows down the ageing of the skin and the appearance of wrinkles.
You’ll also notice a difference in the appearance of your teeth and gums. Smoking can stain your teeth and can cause gum disease which can lead to teeth falling out and bad breath.
Financial
Because of the serious implications smoking causes to your health and consequently the NHS, tobacco is heavily taxed by the Government to try and reduce consumption. At the moment the average cost of a packet of 20 cigarettes is £10.80, which if you smoke 10 a day works out at £37.80 per week. Add that up for a year and it’s just under £2000, and over 10 years nearly £20,000.
The costs are staggering and are only set to increase year on year as the tax on tobacco rises well up above the rate of inflation.
What support is available to help me quit?
The good news is that there is a lot of support available to help you stop smoking. The first stop for many is their GP or healthcare professional. They can signpost you to local programmes that are free to attend and are staffed by expert advisers that will help find the best method to quit.
Sometimes this might be a group support session or a one-to-one meeting with a smoking advisor. Overall you are 4 times more likely to stop smoking for good if you engage with an NHS Stop Smoking Service that can offer a combination of different treatments. To find what Stop Smoking Services are available in your area, put your postcode into the finder on the NHS Smokefree website.
We live now in a digital age and there are many digital tools that you can employ to help you quit. Have a look at the NHS Smokefree website which has lots of information and you can design your own personal plan. They also have their own Smokefree app which is available to download for free on both the App Store and Google Play.
Tips to help you quit
Making the decision to quit is the first big step, we’ve put together some tips below to help you on your journey to being smoke-free:
- Set a date: Setting a date gives you time to prepare and increases your chance of successfully quitting. Try to choose a date that avoids situations where you would be tempted to smoke, such as at the pub or other places where people around you would be smoking. Setting a date in advance gives you time to get rid of any cigarettes, lighters or matches and to engage with Stop Smoking Services to support you when you quit.
- Remember why you are quitting: Reminding yourself why you want to quit helps you to stay motivated. Writing these reasons down and looking at them every time you feel like smoking can be a great tool to help you resist the craving.
- Stop Smoking Services: Engage with your local Stop Smoking Services so that they can help work out the best plan for you. If you’d prefer to do it yourself, then the Smokefree app is great to give you mobile support, expert advice and a 4-week tailored plan with daily support messages.
- Plan for cravings: Everyone has their own way of coping, whether that’s nicotine replacing therapy or distracting yourself by staying busy. It’s good to think about this before you stop so you have a strategy in place to deal with the cravings.
What about vaping?
An e-cigarette is a device that allows you to inhale nicotine in a vapour rather than smoke and it does not contain tobacco or produce tar or carbon monoxide. They work by heating a solution, commonly known as e-liquid, that contains nicotine, flavourings and propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerine.
Many people in the UK have managed to quit smoking by using e-cigarettes. Using one can help you manage your nicotine cravings as you can choose the strength of liquid in your e-liquid and after time reduce this down. E-cigarettes are not currently available on prescription through the NHS, however, there are many specialists vape shops you can visit or you can buy them online.
How safe are e-cigarettes?
In the UK there are very strict safety and quality regulations for e-cigarettes. They are not completely risk-free and although the long-term effects are relatively unknown, leading organisations such as Public Health England, the British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners, have estimated that they are at least 95% less harmful. There’s also no evidence so far that smoking e-cigarettes are harmful to others, unlike smoking tobacco where second-hand smoking is very harmful to others health.
