What do smokers really need to help them butt out? Is it willpower, a cancer scare, or a child being hospitalized for asthma caused by second-hand smoke? Maybe it’s all these things, but smokers also need compassion and someone to talk to who understands and listens without judging.
If you’re a smoker who feels guilty, embarrassed, frustrated or maybe even ashamed because you smoke, you could benefit from sharing your thoughts and feelings with a trained specialist who can help you develop strategies to successfully quit smoking.
Research shows that smokers who use a variety of strategies to quit smoking are more likely to be successful. Such strategies include; calling a stop smoking hotline, talking things through with a counsellor, friends or family, building a support team, consulting with their healthcare provider, and perhaps using aids like the nicotine patch, gum or other prescribed medications. All of these things put together add up to a pretty powerful plan of attack that may just do the trick, finally.
The bottom line is that butting out can be hard and the last thing you need is people judging you or blaming you for not being able to quit. You need kindness, compassion and a solid plan that will work for you and your lifestyle.
Here are a few facts to consider:
• Quitting smoking is the single best thing smokers can do for their health.
• Twenty minutes after smoking your last cigarette, your blood pressure drops to a similar level to what you had prior to smoking your last cigarette.
• Eight hours after quitting, the level of carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) in your blood drops to normal.
• Twenty-four hours after quitting, your risk of having a heart attack starts to drop.
• Two weeks to three months after quitting, the airways in your lungs relax and you get more air and can breathe easier.
• One to nine months after quitting, you cough less and your lungs are even stronger.
• One year after quitting, your added risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s.
• Five years after quitting, your chances of having a stroke are the same as a non-smoker.
