A year of quitters
2020 SEES THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE STOP SMOKING SINCE 2007
IT has been a bleak year healthwise because of the coronavirus crisis with around 70,000 deaths from it in the UK.
However, there is one ray of light as 2020 has seen 21.7% people quit smoking, the highest number since 2007 - the year when smoking was banned in pubs and in most workplaces.
The figure was highest in the 18 to 24 age group at nearly half (48%) - again the highest figures since 2007.
Data released earlier in 2020 shows the Covid-19 pandemic led to a surge in quitting, around a million people making a quit attempt during the first national lockdown.
With the momentum behind them, health campaigners have launched a New Year plea for smokers to quit in 2021.
Respiratory consultant Ruth Sharrock said: “2020 has been a dreadful year for most of us but we need to remember even when we do go back to normal, smoking will kill nearly 80,000 people in England every year - around 15 people a day here in the North East.
“Each week in my job I have to break terrible news because of smoking; telling people and their families they have lung cancer and have to watch as their world falls apart.” Dr Sharrock is the face of the ‘Don’t Wait’ campaign from Fresh, the regional tobacco office, and the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System.
She added: “I want to help everyone look forward to a more positive 2021, where we all reflect on the way our lifestyles impact on our health and fitness and ability to cope with infections and make really positive changes.
“For smokers, the single most important thing you can do to improve your health and extend your life expectancy is to stop smoking.”
In the North East, eight out of 10 smokers who saw the Don’t Wait campaign in June took some form of action - with nearly one in six smokers or around 49,000 people cutting down or quitting as a result.
It is backed by North East former smokers, including mumof-two Cam Walton, 38, from Ryhope, Sunderland, who quit smoking in May this year after her oldest daughter begged her to stop. After successfully quitting during the first national lockdown, she is encouraging others to give it a go.
She said: “I was a 10-a-day smoker and managed to stop a number of times over the years, but I always started up again.
“I went upstairs one day during lockdown to find my oldest daughter crying in her room.
“She was so worried about losing her mum and I promised her I would stop smoking.
“When I finished my last packet of cigarettes that was it. I quit cold turkey - I was so determined.”
Someone quitting smoking 10 cigarettes a day now can expect to save around £1,899 by this time next December - enough for a deposit on a new car, towards a holiday or for a day trip to Lapland next year with children or grandchildren.
Mrs Walton added: “I have saved loads since quitting.
“The way I think of it is I am not wasting money on something which could kill me.
“I can treat the girls and buy nice things for the house.
“I feel better in myself, I am exercising more and my skin and hair are noticeably better.
“I used to get a bad chest which has improved too.
“If I ever felt stressed, I had a cigarette, now I know I can manage better without them.”
In cases where smokers have struggled to stop previously, switching over totally to vaping may provide an alternative quitting method - with recent research showing e-cigarettes to be 70% more effective than nicotine replacement therapy at helping smokers to stop completely.
■ TO get started visit www.nhs. uk/better-health/quit-smoking.