As we draw the curtain on Swaptember – the public health campaign from Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership to raise awareness on methods and support available for stopping smoking – it’s time to turn our attention to Stoptober.
Stop smoking for 28 days and you’re five times more likely to give up for good.
Committing to a quit date now could save you hundreds of pounds in the lead up to Christmas, not to mention the positive mental and physical health benefits.
Smoking tobacco remains the single leading cause of preventable death in the Humber and North Yorkshire area and cigarettes kill two out of every three people who don’t stop smoking.
Swapping cigarettes for safer forms of nicotine, such as patches, gum or a vape, is a proven way of avoiding the death and disease caused by smoking, without the need to go without nicotine.
Evidence is clear that vaping is far less harmful than smoking and public health advice is that if you can’t stop smoking, switch to vaping and vape for as long as it takes you not to go back to smoking, then stop vaping. The message is very simple regarding vaping – if you don’t smoke, don’t vape, but if you smoke tobacco, vaping is a substantially less harmful alternative.
Dave Jones, Tobacco Programme Manager for the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board said:
“The thought of stopping smoking can seem overwhelming and very final. For many smokers, their days are organised around smoking habits.
Swapping to an effective replacement means that the harmful tobacco is removed, without the discomfort of nicotine withdrawal, leading to improved energy, breathing, taste and smell within days. Once you are off the tobacco entirely, you can think about reducing the amount of alternative nicotine you are using, until eventually stopping that when you are ready”.
You don’t have to do this alone – free support to stop smoking and advice on swapping is available from your local stop smoking service. They provide help, guidance, and prescriptions for nicotine replacement products. The support provided by a stop smoking advisor can be the key difference that keeps you on track until you are comfortably smokefree. You have nothing to lose by giving it a go, and a lot to gain.
I would urge anyone who is interested in stopping smoking to consider swapping this Stoptober and starting their journey – you could be completely smokefree by Christmas with much more money in your pocket for festive celebrations! Explore https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/quit-smoking/ for all the free support available to you.