43
Cancer society: Stop using tobacco, and live longer
GREAT AMERICAN SMOKEOUT ‘Quit day’
The American Cancer Society has resources available to help tobacco users begin their journey toward quitting and staying well, including free help from trained counselors through the organization’s Quitline. People may call the number toll-free at 800-227-2345 or visit www.cancer.org to learn more. Here are some steps to help people prepare for their “quit day”:
Pick the date and mark it on your calendar.
Tell friends and family about your “quit day.”
Get rid of all the tobacco and ashtrays in your home, car and place of work.
Stock up on oral substitutes, such as sugarless gum, carrot sticks, hard candy, cinnamon sticks, coffee stirrers, straws or toothpicks.
Decide on a plan. Will you use nicotine replacement therapy or other medicines? Will you attend a stop-smoking class? If so, sign up now. Set up a support system. This could be a group class, Nicotine Anonymous, or a friend or family member who has successfully quit and is willing to help you.
Ask family and friends who still use tobacco to not use it around you or to not leave the tobacco products out where you can see them.
If you are using Bupropion or Varenicline, take your dose each day of the week leading up to your “quit day.”
Think back to your past attempts to quit. Try to figure out what worked and what did not work for you.
Successful quitting is a matter of planning and commitment, not luck.
Decide now on your own plan.
Source: American Cancer Society
Staff report
The American Cancer Society is marking the 35th Great American Smokeout on Thursday by encouraging smokers and all other tobacco users to use the date to make a plan to quit or to quit on that day.
By quitting, smokers and other tobacco users will be taking an important step toward a healthier life — one that can lead to reducing cancer risk, said Al Stabilito, Northeast Ohio public- relations director of ACS.
“Quitting is not easy, but it can be done. To have the best chance of quitting successfully, you need to know what you’re up against, what your options are and where to go for help,” Stabilito said.
Health concerns usually top the list of reasons people give for attempting to quit. According to the American Cancer Society, half of all smokers who keep smoking will end up dying from a smoking-related illness.
In the United States alone, smoking is responsible for nearly one in five deaths, and about 8.6 million people suffer from smoking-related lung and heart diseases, Stabilito said.
Nearly everyone knows that the use of tobacco can cause lung cancer, but few people realize it also is a risk factor for many other kinds of cancer, he said. This includes cancer of the mouth, voice box (larynx), throat (pharynx), esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, stomach and some leukemias.
“No matter how old you are or how long you’ve used tobacco, quitting can help you live longer and be healthier,” said Stabilito.
In fact, people who stop smoking before age 50 cut their risk of dying in the next 15 years in half, compared with those who keep smoking.
Ex-smokers enjoy a higher quality of life with fewer illnesses from cold and flu viruses, better self-reported health and reduced rates of bronchitis and pneumonia, he said.
Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States, he said.
Each year, smoking accounts for an estimated 443,000 premature deaths, including 49,400 deaths among nonsmokers as a result of secondhand smoke, and costs the nation $193 billion in health-care expenditures and productivity losses, according to the American Cancer Society.
Tobacco use increases the risk of at least 15 types of cancer, and 30 percent of all cancer deaths, including 87 percent of lung cancer deaths, can be attributed to using tobacco, the ACS said.