Quit4You - FREE Stop Smoking Service

If you are a smoker and are thinking about quitting please don't let COVID-19 Pandemic stop you. It is still vitally important that if you want to quit, you should. Smoking harms the immune system and so as a smoker you are less protected against infections like coronavirus.

Smokers are at a greater risk of:

• getting acute respiratory infections
• infections lasting longer
• infections being more serious than it would be for someone who does not smoke.

Some of reasons for not wanting to quit could include: 

• I can’t cope without it
• I enjoy smoking
• It is my life and my choice
• I’m only harming myself
• I’ve tried quitting - it’s too hard
• My friends and family also smoke.                                                 

           
Consider some of the benefits of quitting. 

I want to look, feel, and be healthier

• My chances of having cancer, heart attacks, heart disease, stroke, cataracts, and other diseases will go down.
• I will be less likely to catch colds or the flu, and will be able to recover quicker if I do get sick.
• I will breathe easier and cough less.
• My blood pressure will go down.
• My skin will look healthier and I will look more youthful.
• My teeth and fingernails will not be stained. 

Quitting will make you feel better and improve your health. But there are other reasons to quit that you might not have thought about. 

I want a better lifestyle

• I will have more money to spend.
• I can spend more time with family, catch up on work, or dive into my favorite hobby.
• I won't have to worry about when I can smoke next or where I can or can't smoke.
• My food will taste better.
• My clothes will smell better.
• My car‚ home‚ and kids won't smell like smoke.
• I will be able to smell food, flowers, and other things better. 

I want a better family life

• I will set a great example for my kids; it takes a lot of strength to quit.
• My friends, family, co-workers, and other loved ones will be proud of me.
• I will protect my friends and family from the dangers of secondhand smoke.
• My children will be healthier.
• I will have more energy to do the things I love with friends and family. I will get healthy to make sure I am around to share in my family's special moments.

For more details visit:

10 health benefits of stopping smoking

Smokers are 3 times more likely to succeed at becoming smokefree if they talk with a specialist stop smoking advisor. Quit4you are advising that all smokers have at least one annual quit attempt to go smokefree. If you want to meet with an adviser to discuss getting the best out of your 2020 quit attempt we will be happy to hear from you.

Vaping and e-cigarettes can be a particularly helpful way to stop smoking tobacco especially when combined with a specialist face to face support.  Although experts say they are not entirely risk free, they are at least 95% less harmful than tobacco. 

The latest independent e-cigarette review, authored by leading academics in the tobacco control field, focuses on the up-to-date facts about vaping among adults and young people in England. 

Despite the sometimes confused, and confusing, media reporting around the safety of e-cigarettes, there is growing consensus around the evidence. While not without some risk, when compared to smoking cigarettes are far less harmful. 

This view is supported by a number of key bodies, including Cancer Research UK, Action on Smoking and Health, the Royal College of Physicians, the British Medical Association and recently, a major US science body, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 

Anyone who is considering using or who has already switched to vaping as a way to stop smoking is welcome to have a chat with one of our specialist advisors to see how we can support you.

A new post, 'Vaping and lung disease in the US: PHE’s advice' has just been published on the Public health matters blog.

Since mid-September, headlines around the world have warned about an outbreak of serious lung disease across the US, said to be associated with vaping. Read this blog to find out about PHE’s advice on e-cigarettes and vaping.

Vaping Myths

Myth - E-cigarettes aren’t regulated and we don’t know what’s in them

The UK has some of the strictest regulation for e-cigarettes in the world.  Under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, e-cigarette products are subject to minimum standards of quality and safety, as well as packaging and labelling requirements to provide consumers with the information they need to make informed choices.

All products must be notified by manufacturers to the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), with detailed information including the listing of all ingredients. 

MYTH - E-cigarettes must be harmful as they contain nicotine

Four out of 10 smokers and ex-smokers wrongly think nicotine causes most of the tobacco smoking-related cancer, when evidence shows nicotine actually carries minimal risk of harm to health. Although nicotine is the reason people become addicted to smoking, it is the thousands of other chemicals contained in cigarette smoke that causes almost all of the harm.

E-cigarette vapour does not contain tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke.  It does contain some chemicals also found in tobacco smoke, but at much lower levels. 

MYTH - E-cigarettes give you ‘popcorn lung’

One of the most commonly held concerns is that e-cigarettes might cause ‘popcorn lung’. This came about because some flavourings used in e-liquids to provide a buttery flavour contain the chemical diacetyl, which at very high levels of exposure has been associated with the serious lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans.

The condition gained its popular name because it was initially observed among workers in a popcorn factory.

However,

diacetyl is banned as an ingredient from e-cigarettes and e-liquids in the UK. It had been detected in some e-liquid flavourings in the past, but at levels hundreds of times lower than in cigarette smoke. Even at these levels, smoking is not a major risk factor for this rare disease. 

MYTH - Exposure to e-cigarette vapour is harmful to bystanders

The evidence is clear that exposure to second hand smoke is harmful, which is why the UK has laws prohibiting smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces. These laws do not cover vaping and organisations are free to make their own policies on the use of e-cigarettes on their premises.

E-cigarette liquid is typically composed of nicotine, propylene glycol and/or glycerine, and flavourings.

Unlike cigarettes, there is no side-stream vapour emitted by an e-cigarette into the atmosphere, just the exhaled aerosol.

PHE’s 2018 evidence review found that

To date, there have been no identified health risks of passive vaping to the health of bystanders. People with asthma and other respiratory conditions can be sensitive to a range of environmental irritants, as well as pollen and cold air and PHE advises organisations to take this into account and to make adjustments where appropriate, when making their own policies on the use of e-cigarettes. 

MYTH - E-cigarettes will lead young people into smoking

Our latest report found no evidence so far to support the concern that e-cigarettes are a route into smoking among young people.

UK surveys show that young people are experimenting with e-cigarettes, but regular use is rare and confined almost entirely to those who already smoke. Meanwhile, smoking rates among young people in the UK continue to decline.

There is also no evidence to support the assertion that vaping is “normalising smoking”.

In the years when adult and youth vaping in the UK were increasing, the numbers of young people believing that it was ‘not ok’ to smoke was accelerating. Of course, PHE will continue to monitor the trends in e-cigarette use alongside those in smoking.

As a smoker it can be difficult to quit smoking if you feel you have no choice. Sometimes we have to reduce or stop smoking unexpectedly due to hospital stays for example and it may be that we do not feel ready to quit. The Quit For A Bit programme is designed to help and support you through this time. Contact us for more information on temporary smokefree solutions.

If you are a smoker and are pregnant or planning to be pregnant in the near future then stopping smoking is one of the best things you can do to look after your health and that of your unborn baby. Specialist Stop Smoking Advisers are available to provide you with loads of information about how to quit smoking as soon as possible to give your baby the best start in life. Your health professional will refer you to our service however if you want to be seen sooner please contact us for a free consultation.

If your family has just grown a little person bigger and you want to quit smoking but it seems impossible right now then we totally understand where you are coming from.

Trying to quit smoking is hard enough but when you feel like those 5 minute breaks are all that keep you going; it’s even harder. We know where you’re coming from and so Quit4You advisers are ready to provide lots of really useful information about stopping smoking. Contact us to arrange a tea and chatter about how we can support you and your family to become smokefree.

If members of your family smoke then chances are you are all being affected by second hand smoke which has been proven to be harmful to health. The Quit4You team are available to offer free professional advice on how to become a smokefree family, contact us to arrange a free consultation today.