The Heart Attack Prevention Service - How to Stop Smoking
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Heart Attack Prevention - Stop Smoking
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Ten reasons to quit smoking
- Men who smoke are more likely to become impotent.
- Women who smoke age more quickly.
- Smoking kills six times more people than the total number killed by accidents, murder, suicide and AIDS.
- Smoking causes 1 in 3 of all cancers and 9 in ten deaths from chest diseases.
- Smokers have three times the chance of having a heart attack.
- If you are pregnant your baby is more likely to be small or less intelligent.
- More than 17,000 young children are admitted to hospital each year because of passive smoking.
- You smell horrible all the time.
- 20 cigarettes a day costs about £1,150 each year.
- People can give up - more than 9 million people in the UK are ex-smokers.
Brief advice from a general practitioner to give up smoking has an effect on smoking rates. (441)
Apart from the obvious dangers of cancer and other lung diseases, smoking can accelerate the development of atherosclerosis and so increase the risk of heart disease.
In fact as many as 20% of heart attacks may be attributable to cigarettes.
People under 50 who smoke are 10 times more likely to die of a heart attack than non-smokers.
Stopping smoking can most definitely reduce this risk, even if you've been smoking for a long time.
Stopping smoking reduces the risk of lung disease by 40%, whereas merely cutting down has no effect (506).
The big problem, as we all know, is how?
Six simple tips to help you stop smoking
- First and foremost you have to want to stop. There is no point in being half hearted about it!
- Choose a date when you would like to stop. Like a 'No-Smoking Day', or as a New Year's Day resolution.
- Tell everyone that you have quit. That way fewer people will offer you cigarettes. If your partner smokes, ask them to be considerate when you are around. Avoid smoky places like pubs. Try and sit in non-smoking areas in restaurants and cafes.
- Be ready for those times you are going to miss lighting up e.g. after a meal, with a cup of tea or coffee, in the car etc..
- When the urge to smoke strikes, try eating fruit or chewing gum to ward it off.
- If you find stopping smoking difficult, nicotine patches or chewing gum can be helpful - speak to your pharmacist or doctor about them.
Remember, if you find it tough to stop smoking all at once, it is a good idea to lengthen the space between the cigarettes you do smoke. Five or six cigarettes a day are always going to be better than twenty.
The first few days are hardest
Nicotine withdrawal can make you moody, irritable, sick even. Some people find it easier to give up than others. Some people find it a living hell. No one is going to pretend that the withdrawal effects are not going to be unpleasant for many people.
These adverse effects may last a while, but sooner or later they do get better.
Your weight may even go up for a time. This is nothing to get overly concerned about. It will only be your body working more efficiently.
Just take it one day at a time and feel proud of you achievement. Remember it is your health that will thank you in the end.
Giving up could save you a great deal of money as the following table shows
| Cigs | 1 Day | 1 Week | 1 Month | 1 Year | 5 Years | 10 Years |
| 5 | £1.15 | £8.05 | £35.65 | £419.75 | £2,098.50 | £4,197.50 |
| 10 | £2.30 | £16.10 | £71.30 | £839.50 | £4,197.50 | £8,395.00 |
| 20 | £4.60 | £32.20 | £142.60 | £1,679.00 | £8,395.00 | £16,790.00 |
| 30 | £6.90 | £48.30 | £213.90 | £2,158.50 | £12,592.50 | £25,185.00 |
| 40 | 9.20 | £64.40 | £285.20 | £3,358.00 | £16,790.00 | £33,580.00 |
| 60 | £23.80 | £96.60 | £427.80 | £5,037.00 | £25,185.00 | £50,370.00 |
What about the tax you will not have to pay the government? What about the extra 15 years pension the government will pay you?
For general advice about how you can quit smoking contact QUIT on 0800 00 22 00
The National Health Service Smoking Healthline 0800 169 0 169
Cignificant - Stop Smoking Services in Norfolk, free services for smokers who are ready to stop 0800 0845 113
For further information on the harmful effects of smoking send a stamped addressed envelope to ASH, 16 Fitzhardinge Street, London W1H 9PL
Or try this link. - www.lifesaver.co.uk
Or this one - www.qwerty.co.uk
Tobacco Advertising? Visit www.ash.org.uk/?advertising
Study of the Effectiveness of Stop Smoking Services www.elsevier.com/locate/ajpmonline
No Smoking Day
smokefree.nhs.uk
Zyban (bupropion) has been shown to be effective in helping people give up smoking. (486)
Abstinence rates at 12 months were:-
| Zyban and nicotine replacement therapy | 35.5% |
| Zyban alone | 30.3% |
| Placebo | 15.6% |
| Nicotine replacement therapy alone | 16.4% |
Adverse reactions to Zyban include insomnia, urticaria, rashes, headache and dizziness. There is an estimated incidence of seizure of 1 in 1000.
Try this website http://endthehabitnow.com. We have heard of a number of successes.
Or try these Quitza and Ffsonline
© G.M.Clayton 1997
GMC Register Number 0147091