Stoptober can be a breath of fresh air for you
AS THE annual Stoptober campaign kicks off, encouraging smokers to quit, here are your best options for giving up once and for all.
Are you still smoking? Despite a continuing decline in the number of smokers in the UK, nearly 15 per cent of us are still puffing away.
Yet half of all smokers are eventually killed by their addiction – from smokingrelated causes including cancer and heart disease. In Scotland, 21 per cent of adults smoke. Tobacco use is associated with more than 10,000 deaths and about 128,000 hospital admissions every year.
If you’ve decided to say hello to a healthier you this Stoptober, here are safe ways to quit. BY CAROLINE JONES on which would best suit you. The main three are: Your GP can prescribe medication – such as Champix or Zyban – to help you quit. These work by blocking the effects of nicotine to reduce your craving for a cigarette and/or reduce the release of the “feelgood” chemical called dopamine. A nicotine patch releases nicotine slowly into your bloodstream so you get a constant top-up to reduce cravings overall. Inhalers, gum or lozenges, on the other hand, release nicotine quickly, helping you to deal with those more intense, shortterm cravings. People often find combining a patch with a fast-acting spray or gum controls the urge for a cigarette. Now used by an estimated 3.2million people across Britain, e-cigarettes (or vapes) are seen by most experts as an effective way to overcome cravings.
They allow you to inhale nicotine in a vapour rather than smoke and carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes.
However, they aren’t available on the NHS, so you have to buy them from a vape shop or pharmacy. ● For information and to download the Stoptober app for your Personal Quit Plan, visit nhs.uk/oneyou/stoptober
The best way to quit is with planning and with support