Quit Smoking: Your Path to a Healthier Life

Do you smoke and want to quit as you've been slowly killing yourself? "Smoking is bad for your health," How frequently do we encounter this message in our day-to-day lives? Just pause for a second and reflect on your life's work!

If you smoke, you should be concerned about your health. Undoubtedly, most individuals are also concerned about how challenging quitting smoking would be. Because nicotine is so addictive, quitting smoking can be difficult, especially without help.

In reality, the majority of people who attempt to stop smoking fail. One can stop smoking, although it might take more than one attempt.

Dangerous Chemicals in Tobacco Smoke

High-risk chemicals in cigarette smoke include:

• Carbon Monoxide
• Tar
• Metals
• Radioactive Compounds
• Oxidizing Chemicals

The Harmful Effects of Smoking on Health

Smoking poses significant risks to various aspects of health, from causing lung diseases to affecting heart health and pregnancy. Below are the key areas impacted by smoking.

Impact of Smoking on Lungs

Smoking is harmful to health, and it causes lung cancer, lung infections, lung tissue inflammation, COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Tobacco has numerous cancer-causing chemicals that inhibit immune cells from working correctly. It weakens the immune system and lung capacity, leaving the body more prone to infection.

Smoking and Heart Disease

Smoking, as well as second-hand smoke exposure, increases the risk of heart disease by worsening atherosclerosis, raising cholesterol levels in the body, and inducing high blood pressure, thus increasing health complications.

Nearly every part of the body can get cancer if you smoke:

• Blood (acute myeloid leukemia)
• Stomach
• Esophagus
• Larynx
• Liver
• Pancreas
• Bladder
• Cervix
• Trachea, bronchus, and lung
• Colon and rectum (colorectal)
• Kidney and ureter
• Oropharynx (includes parts of the tongue, throat, soft palate, and tonsils).

Smoking and Pregnant Women

Smoking during pregnancy harms the developing fetus. Pregnancy-related side effects include:

• Stillbirths
• Ectopic pregnancy (a life-threatening disease in which the embryo implants outside the uterus)
• Low birth weight
• Miscarriages
• Birth defects

Smokers and COVID-19!

Since COVID-19 primarily affects the lungs, smokers are naturally more susceptible to the virus than nonsmokers. Maintaining healthy lungs is essential to prevent the severity of COVID-19 infection. If you genuinely want to prevent the virus, you must stop smoking.

The coronavirus pandemic has made quitting smoking more important than ever in order to deter smokers from contracting serious COVID-19 infections and their complications.

Ways to Quit Smoking

There are several ways to cope with tobacco addiction, but the ideal course of action entails boosting the will to break the habit and developing a desire to live a happy, healthy life. Among the methods used to treat addiction are:

1. Try Nicotine Replacement Therapy

Talk about nicotine replacement therapy with the doctor. The options include:

• Prescription nasal sprays or nicotine inhalers
• Prescription medications without nicotine to aid smokers in quitting.
• Nicotine tablets are available over-the-counter.

The use of short-acting nicotine replacement therapy can help people overcome intense cravings. When paired with long-acting nicotine patches or one of the non-nicotine stop-smoking medications, these short-acting methods are usually safe.

2. Avoid Triggers

The most decisive cravings for tobacco are probably experienced in places where you typically smoked or chewed tobacco, as well as during stressful situations. Identify these triggers, then devise a strategy to deal with or overcome them without smoking. Be careful not to encourage a smoking relapse.

If you typically smoke when talking on the phone, bring a pen and paper close by so you may do some doodling to pass the time instead of smoking.

3. Distraction

Get distracted if you start craving tobacco, like:

• Try to convince yourself and consider going to a smoke-free environment.
• Gardening
• Journaling
• Do duties like cleaning or filing paperwork to divert yourself
• Watch your favorite movie

These fundamental things might enable you to kick your cigarette habit.

4. Chew on it

To resist the urge to smoke, give the mouth something to do. Try raw carrots, almonds, or sunflower seeds for a crunchy and tasty snack.

5. Get Engaged in Physical Exercises

Physical activity can help you avoid tobacco cravings. Short bursts of effort, such as;

• Sprinting up and down the stairs multiple times can relieve cigarette cravings
• Take a walk
• Jog outside
• Go for a gym workout

6. Remind Yourself of the Benefits

The reasons for quitting smoking and putting up with the desire to light up should be written down or spoken aloud. Here are a few examples:

• Getting healthier
• Saving money
• Feeling better
• Protecting your family from secondhand smoking
• Avoiding air pollution

Quick Facts About Tobacco

• Nicotine, an addictive substance, is found in tobacco.
• Smoke from tobacco contains a number of hazardous chemicals.
• Long-term cigarette use causes a slew of health issues.
• Tobacco kills about half of its users.
• Every second person in India is exposed to secondhand smoke.
• According to statistics, around a million people in India pass away each year as a result of tobacco use.

Be Free to Get help!

We would be happy to help you to fulfill your pledge to stop smoking. Our medical professionals can also provide you with one-on-one counselling and therapy sessions to help you stop smoking.

Value Health: Stop Smoking NOW!

Frequently Asked Questions