QUIT SMOKING
QUITTING smoking is very difficult for some people. While some smokers can just go cold turkey and wean themselves from this addictive habit, others need to replace it with something, and then others may need therapy to help them quit.
Penelope Johnson – 37 of Rondebosch in Cape Town, who has quit smoking – was only 15 when she smoked her first cigarette. “I smoked just for the fun of it. I had no reason to smoke but I did it.”
Little did she know that her first cigarette would lead to total dependency.
“I smoked every day, all day long. Before meals, after meals, in the morning after I wake up...I couldn’t start a day without my smoke.”
On average, Johnson says she smoked 30 cigarettes a day – a habit which she confesses became very expensive to maintain.
Being surrounded by smokers made her believe that there was nothing wrong or out of the ordinary about smoking.
“My parents smoked, and I was surrounded by smokers. Despite them discouraging me from smoking, I chose to smoke,”said Johnson.
Smoking is receiving attention this month as May is Anti-tobacco Month.
Although most of us are aware of the health dangers associated with smoking, millions of South Africans still light up.
This is despite the fact that smoking puts many at risk of developing illnesses such as lung cancer, chronic lung diseases and heart disease.
Research shows that cigarettes will kill half of those who smoke. Tobacco contains nicotine, a highly addictive drug that you start to crave when you are without it. This is what makes it so difficult to give up. Your body and brain soon starts to need nicotine in order to feel good, resulting in addiction.
Johnson said for her smoking became “my thinking time”.
“I woke up in the morning to plan my day with a smoke and during the day when I was stressed I would smoke.” she added.
She explained how she saw her addiction taking over her life, one day at time. She recalled a day that changed her life for the better.
It was in the early hours of the morning, around 4am 11 years ago that she decided to change her life.
“I woke up in a panic. I rushed outside and I lit my cigarette in relief. But as I was smoking I realised that I was an addict and the addiction had taken hold of my life and was in control of my sleep as well,” said Johnson
After attempting to quit smoking on her own she realised that she couldn’t do it and decided to find a support group that helped her with her quitting journey.
She giggles as she recounts the number of times she tried to quit.
It was her support group that took the pressure off her, and advised her to decide on the day she wanted to quit smoking.
When she finally decided to quit, three things – saving, becoming attractive and leading a healthy lifestyle – became her constant motivation.
If she could stop smoking she would save up to R8 000 a year – money she could use for other important things.
“I wanted to buy a car that I would not smoke in. That car’s deposit would be taken care of by the money I managed to save when I stopped smoking,” she said.
The second thing that motivated her was the fact that she didn’t feel that women who smoked were attractive.
“I always thought to myself that women who smoked were not sexy... there was just something that was not working that made me think twice about my cigarette,” she added.
Another reason was that she needed to take care of herself and to become healthier.
Johnson has stopped smoking for 11 years and bought herself a car.
Stephen Aggett, 40, used to enjoy a cigar when he was out with friends for drinks.
He liked how it made him feel.
He started buying loose cigarettes once in a while until he bought a packet for convenience. Within no time he was a full-time smoker.
It took a health scare to get him to stop smoking after years of being advised by family members and a girlfriend to quit.
“I had been going to the doctor for a nasal surgery. Then doctors suspected that I might have serious medical issues that were linked to smoking. That was a turning point and the reality had struck that my habit had serious implications on my health and could cost me my life,” said Aggett.
He admits that over the years, he tried quitting but failed.
He tried quick methods that he saw on the internet. At some point he says he tried “a quick spray-to-mouth method” which he admits worked but not enough to make him quit.
He also explored with overthe-counter medication that is available in the market and while this took the urge to smoke away, it too was not a permanent solution.
“I needed something that would deal with the physical and psychological aspect of my smoking because I had been dealing with just the physical only,” said Aggett. He started looking closer into his daily routine, and how this made him smoke and increased the chances of him relapsing.
“I changed my daily routine to combat my habit. I disrupted my smoking pattern. From waking up in the morning and smoking to waking up and doing something else delayed my first cigarette.”
The benefits of that were evident and he started to smoke less every day.
“I delayed my cigarette based on hours, a day, then a week until I could go for a month without smoking.”
He added that his routine played a huge role in his smoking habit, because if he played sport and did well that would result in a reward of a smoking break.
“Breaking the routine was the most difficult thing because it had been part of my life for a long time.”
Now, it has been seven months since Aggett smoked his last cigarette even though he admits that he still craves one now and again.
But he no longer tastes the cigarette in his mouth and he is no longer bothered by people smoking around him.