HEALTH MATTERS
NON-SMOKING day takes place on the second Wednesday of March every year and is designed to help smokers quit.
Smoking is the biggest cause of cancer in the world, accounting for more than 15 per cent of cancers.
Currently 16.5pc of men and 13pc of women smoke, giving a national average of 15pc.
This is five pc less than five years ago and has reduced the number of smoking-related deaths.
Around one third of smokers, who have 20 cigarettes a day, have one within five minutes of waking, so why not try to take a small step and wait until the afternoon.
So what are the health benefits of not smoking? Well here are some:
Let’s you breathe more easily – within nine months your lung capacity can increase up to 10 pc.
It gives you more energy – within 12 weeks your blood circulation improves.
Helps you feel less stressed – studies have shown that people’s stress levels decrease after they stop smoking.
This is only a short list and a more extensive list can be found at www.nhs. uk/live-well/quitsmoking/.
Once you’ve looked through the health benefits you may need some tips and tricks to help you quit, such as: Picking a date Building up a support network
Removing any reminders of smoking, such as ashtrays and cigarette lighters
Using the stop smoking services
Moving more Avoiding trigger situations – which may be places, things or people
An option if you are struggling to quit is an e-cigarette, as both the
NHS and Public Health England (PHE) support the use of vaping over smoking.
In 2015, a report from PHE estimated ‘vaping’ was 95 pc less harmful than smoking.
Stopping smoking is not only good for your health, but also your family and friends, so why not do it for them as well?
It’s never too late to stop and you can find what might work for you in this article or by following the links provided.
You don’t have to go it alone, there’s support to help you.