The beginning of a new year brings the perfect opportunity to focus on making positive lifestyle changes. With smoking one of the biggest causes of premature deaths in Britain, you can dramatically improve your health by quitting smoking this year. In order to help you get started, our GMC registered online doctor, Helen Webberley, has described her useful methods to help you stub out your smoking addiction now: 

Why Should You Stop Smoking?

Many people are aware that smoking is bad for their health, but how does stopping smoking improve your life? There are countless benefits of quitting smoking, and you will notice several health benefits within just a few days:

- Quitting smoking improves your senses, such as taste and smell
- Stopping smoking will lower your risk of stroke, heart attack and lung cancer
- Ditch the cigarettes for younger looking skin and whiter teeth
- Ex-smokers have improved blood pressure, asthma symptoms, diabetes and circulation 
- Stop smoking for improved fertility  

You Can Stop Smoking

It’s never too late to give up smoking, so take control and join the hundreds of people everyday who kick the habit. 
Stopping smoking after early adulthood adds an average of three months healthy life expectancy for every year of smoking avoided. For most smokers quitting is extremely difficult, with fewer than 5% of unaided quit attempts lasting 12 months. However, It’s never too late to give up; the lungs, heart and circulation all start to heal the moment that you stop smoking. It’s healthy for you, better for those you live with and it will stop your family persuading you into submission.

Sometimes quitting is as easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Set a date to give up and tell everyone all about it.
2. Throw away all cigarettes, ashtrays, smoking jackets and reminders.
3. Become a non-smoker and never look back.

For those of you who have struggled with your addiction, there are national helplines and websites offering additional help, advice and support on quitting:  

http://www.quit.org.uk/  

http://www.nhs.uk/smokefree

Get Help With Stop Smoking Treatments

As a regular smoker you will experience withdrawal symptoms when your nicotine levels fall. Nicotine is a drug that stimulates the brain, therefore, when nicotine levels fall you may begin to feel irritable, restless, anxious or hungry. However, these challenging symptoms can be managed with the use of prescription medication:

1. Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)

Nicotine is very addictive, so if you are struggling from the withdrawal of nicotine you can replace your cravings without reaching for the packet of cigarettes. Your doctor or pharmacist can advise on the suitability of nicotine replacement treatments, such as:

- Skin patches
- Chewing gum
- Inhalators (plastic cigarettes through which nicotine is inhaled) 
- Tablets and lozenges
- Nasal spray
- Mouth spray

2. Tablets

Many people benefit from the use of tablets to control cigarette cravings.Champix (Varenicline) is a tablet available on prescription that you can start taking before quitting. Champix works by blocking nicotine acting on the brain. Zyban is a tablet also used to control nicotine cravings and is available on prescription.

With a combination of stop-smoking medicines and willpower you can control your cravings for a cigarette, and increase your chances of quitting. Resist the temptation and don’t give up, giving up! 

For further information about how we can help you succeed in stopping smoking, medication and treatment that we provide please click here.