Therapies after Quitting
We firmly believe that self-confidence is the key treatment in your battle against quitting smoking. We are here looking at a mass having a lower confidence level and therefore need external therapy for quitting, both before and after. We believe that you must focus to increase your level of motivation.
Hypnosis
It is one of the oldest treatment methods found in earlier civilizations. It was mostly in China, Tibet and India where people used to focus on healing based on internal energy levels. External energy in the form of cosmic rays used to be infused into individuals to overcome physical illness. Hypnosis has been a prevailing treatment for most addictions that people have inculcated for a long.
It not only removes the indispensability of the addiction but also helps out to lessen the mental agony. A Hypnosis therapy first evaluates your level of susceptibility and accordingly determines the level of treatment required. It has got ways like focusing on moving objects, listening to a deep voice, or even lightening effects. This therapy has become popular even in western countries today.
Meditation
It is one of the most profound methodologies in alternative medicine today which have been used by ancient civilizations in China or India. Today the authenticity of meditation is revealed even in the US & UK where meditation is the most successful technique in stress-related issues. Meditation has been used by ancient gurus as a tool to form a link with God.
Today, it is used to relax you from external agony as well as to increase your focus and level of concentration. Smoking makes you more susceptible to emotion due to the lasting effects of nicotine which only triggers the central nervous system. Scientific research recommends meditation for the busiest professionals.
The medical research team has proved Meditation is one of the best methodologies to increase the level of motivation, self-confidence and willpower – the three primary forces, which can fight in favour of one’s decision to quit smoking.
Counselling
Massachusetts General Hospital study reveals the effect of counselling on smokers. They demand that “hospitalized smokers were given stop-smoking counselling to help them stay off cigarettes after they return home” (http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/). The experiment was done on 650 adult smokers.
American Cancer Society ensures the availability of help for the people, who want to quit smoking permanently. The counselling session is mainly based on the psychological part of the addiction. Even one may opt for telephonic counselling.
Clinicaltrials.gov (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/) publishes the authenticity of their “Motivational Counseling in Preventing Smoking Relapse After Pregnancy in Pregnant Women Who Quits Smoking During Pregnancy”
The American Journal of Medicine (http://www.amjmed.org/) publishes “Effectiveness at the Birmingham VA Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama”, where the team had analyzed over 16,000 records of smokers. They found a tangible amount had shown a positive effect on the people after discharge, who had been admitted to the hospital due to heart attack.
What you need to do, is to find out the right counsellor in the vicinity, so that you can arrange a few sittings with him.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy
If you look at the most harmful component in the cigarette, it is unhesitatingly nicotine. The nicotine actually creates a lot of physical dependence, which has been found to lead one to various unpleasant symptoms when a person has tried to quit or even after the quitting stage. “Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) provides nicotine – in the form of gums, patches, sprays and inhalers – without the other harmful side effects of tobacco”.
This may be noted that it is not a complete eradication, rather compromises a level of harmfulness. It actually helps in relieving some of these symptoms to give a breathing space to that person, so that he can leave the physical aspect to some extent and focus more on the psychological aspects of quitting.
Gradually many alternatives are coming up. Nicotine nasal spray, inhaler (Zyban) and nicotine-free tablet (Chantix) are also available today. How do they work? They try to formulate nicotine in the body at a slower rate. Like the nicotine patch arranges to release nicotine in the body at a very specific rate. The key difference is that nicotine in cigarettes intrudes the lungs and blood instantly while the patch takes a couple of hours. So, in reality, the consumption becomes less and the body reacts to a slower effect, rather than sudden withdrawal.
Homoeopathic Treatment
Homoeopathic quit smoking products contain compounds that become highly useful at the stage after having quit. We will definitely advise you to visit a doctor before choosing any such product because the proportion may cause a toxic effect on some people.
Boiron Quit Smoking Care Kit and Nico-Free are two such homoeopathic products available in the market. A very generic suggestion is to increase your water intake and regularize your meal habits at the time of using such products.
Initiatives from the Governments
Iron Hands of laws
As the top-notch people have realized the prolonged impact of smoking, the Government at all levels has started fighting against this dreaded scourge. Most varieties of cancer are routed through smoking with an exempla nary exception of mesothelioma. Various efforts undertaken by different Governments have taken place including some token celebrations like the non-smoking day.
The issue has been even discussed in the summit at the highest level and common platforms have also been floated. There is no question of taking the issue casually; rather people at all levels have started cautioning smokers including the young generation against this dreadful addiction. The awareness has gone up to such a level when sponsors like ITC (a world-renowned Cigarette Company) has been withdrawn from sponsoring international cricket matches.
Smoking has been banned in most public places around the world; smoking has been strictly prohibited in long-distance trains; most of the restaurants and entertainment halls have become smoking-free. Remember it’s not only the self, who is affected by smoking, but it includes the associates including children on whose tender shoulders lie the future of mankind. Here we want to list out some of the salient news/ decisions from the Government around the world as steps towards the Quit smoking Campaign.
Efforts in America
Listed below are some desperate efforts by the Federal, State and local government agencies and numerous health organizations to reduce tobacco use by focusing on mass-based approaches and their immediate effects.
Prevention of initiation to smoking by restricting access to tobacco mainly among the youth.
Policy changes in health care systems to promote smoking cessation.
Implementing programs that can be effective in reducing average cigarette consumption per person. California and Massachusetts increased cigarette excise taxes while having allotted a quota of revenue for tobacco control programs.
Educational programs creating awareness for school-aged youth for preventing initiation and initiating cessation in quality health education curricula at the grade level. In-depth knowledge about effective cessation methods and a staunch comprehension of the health effects of tobacco use.
Aiding individuals to quit using tobacco thereby reducing chances of passive smokers to viscous smoke.
Effective evaluation techniques to monitor program impact resulting in modification of older versions to create newer powerful editions of the implemented programs.
Treating nicotine addiction to rehabilitate individuals giving their lives a new focus.
School-based tobacco prevention programs identify the social influences that promote tobacco use among youth and teach skills to resist these influences. These programs have demonstrated consistent and significant reductions or delays in adolescent smoking.
Some immediate Yield
In the US, a downward trend has been shown by plunging lung and oral cancer deaths. This has set into motion several States to follow suit in implementing tobacco control plans with more vigour and zest. Unfortunately, though showing progress, many objectives are far from their targets as 13 States have laws limiting smoking in public places and worksites but few bars it or limit it to private workplaces or restaurants. Though all 50 States and the District of Columbia have laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors its implementation has been almost next to null.
Nearly 70 per cent of current smokers resolve to quit smoking out of which at least 45 per cent quit for a period or even a day but give in and surrender themselves back into its deadly clutches. Only about 2.5 per cent of current smokers can climb upon the summit and QUIT permanently each year. Smoking cessation has major and immediate health benefits for men and women of all ages. Smokers quitting before 50 have just about half the risk of dying in the following 15 years when compared with people who continue to smoke.
Steps were undertaken by AHCPR
The Awareness through Mass Communication and Rectification (AHCPR), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s expert panel concluded that a variety of interventions are effective towards motivating individuals.
Simple advice to quit by a clinician induces 30 per cent to forcefully undergo the thought of giving up this injurious habit.
Individual and group counselling almost doubles cessation rates.
Telephone hotlines and helplines contribute about 40 per cent amongst the total number approached.
Nicotine replacement therapy does the rest of the trick. Pharmacotherapy and counselling are provided as add-on paid services towards treating addiction and ultimate cure and freedom from being a slave to smoking.
Apprehension of National Cancer Institute
Blue-collared, food and other service occupation workers endured smoke-filled workplaces that considerably exposed an overall 46 per cent to the risks of passive smoking.
Out of the total 5.5 million workers, 22 per cent are teenagers who thus have a 50 per cent increased risk of dying from lung cancer compared to the general population.
Correct policies, planning, implementation of procedures and educational and clinical measures can reduce this unwanted secondhand smoke exposure among the population. Policy approaches like voluntary adoption of worksite restrictions, strict clean indoor air laws and enforcement of restrictions for public health.
The induction of public education campaigns and local community efforts to limit smoking in public places to reduce exposure of both adults and children to secondhand smoke has yielded significantly.
Eliminating passive smoke can only lead to a lessening of respiratory disorders and associated illness in children and can considerably bring down their 500,000 visits to physicians each year due to worsening asthma.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has in turn recommended paediatricians to create the requisite awareness among parents about the pitfalls of passive smoke upon the tender lungs and to provide guidance on safeguarding them against this fatal health hazard.
Prohibition for the future generation
Restricting minors’ access to tobacco products is one of the main controlling tags in the multilevel approach to preventing tobacco usage.
Students or adolescents who try to purchase cigarettes or other tobacco forms are to be asked for proof of age to curb their tendency. Self-service tobacco displays were erased as they provided easier access to minors to purchase or steal tobacco products. In a 1995 survey, stores with self-service displays were
Although all states prohibit the sale of tobacco products to minors, proper enforcement of laws had been grossly overlooked leading to a splurge of malpractices that have been corroding the tender saplings even before they have begun to blossom.
States and localities have taken to enforcement activities, compliance checks and retailer education to fulfil their stringent measures to keep the minors at bay. States have banned tobacco vending machines except in areas where they are inaccessible to minors.
Federal policy initiatives require ensuring that all States revoke licenses for State minors’ access laws. Participation of State and local communities to ensure effective implementation is the core element in the efforts to address the issue of curbing the purchase of tobacco products by minors. Their initiative must also target social sources of procuring tobacco for young people, including friends, siblings, and parents.
Adolescent perceptions that increase their susceptibility to tobacco use are:
1. Tobacco use is the norm as they have peer and sibling approval for consumption of tobacco products.
2. The staunch notion that it benefits one by lifting one's spirits in times of stress by sharply enhancing clarity of thought.
3. Spit tobacco use and its resultant health hazards are generally beyond the scope of their immature brains.
The silver lining!
A strong anti-tobacco campaign combined with a tax increase on tobacco products has remarkably reduced the number of smoking individuals in California and Massachusetts in a limited span when compared to other states around the US.
The Minnesota Heart Health Program reduced approximately 40 per cent of the community smokers it came in contact with at various organized meets. A combined school-based curriculum was also the focal point of these quit smoking agendas. Later on, a preliminary report by the American Stop Smoking Intervention Study (ASSIST) indicated that per capita cigarette consumption was 7 per cent less in the 17 ASSIST States. Limiting the appeal of tobacco products to young people involves both restricting tobacco advertising and promotions and effective countering of pro-tobacco messages to reach large segments of the population quickly and efficiently.
Mass media being the definite and ultimate tool for tobacco control, television, radio, magazines and other media tools are used to propagate information and educational messages to large targeted audiences, build up public support for tobacco control programs and policies, reinforce social norms supporting the nonuse of tobacco, and counteract the pro-use messages and images of tobacco marketing and public relations campaigns.
Reducing the appeal of Smoking
An essential element for reducing tobacco’s appeal to youth is to change the current social trend that accepts tobacco use. This change requires countering the campaigns worth billions of dollars for tobacco advertising and promotion that lure young pre-mature minds with misleading images about tobacco. Arizona, California, and Massachusetts have paid counter-advertising campaigns to vaporize such glorified appeal generated for tobacco use to bring to the fore the lurking dangers just beneath the sheath of an inhaled puff.
They correctly spread among young people messages about the negative effects of tobacco use on health, performance, and appearance. Preliminary results reveal that the media programs have reached youth, adults, and multicultural populations in those States and have achieved their program objectives.
Over the past several years, new technology has acknowledged that there is no such thing as a “safe cigarette.” Proposed and debated issues have contemplated the reduction of tar and nicotine levels in tobacco products, even considered varying the proportions of tobacco-specific nitrosamines and specific additives used in other tobacco products.
Whenever the demand for cigarettes decreases its price increases. An increase in the excise tax on tobacco products reduces the rate of use of both cigarettes and spit tobacco among adults and youth. A 10 per cent increase in the price of cigarettes reduces overall smoking among adults by a dramatic 4 per cent.
For every 10 per cent increase in the price of cigarettes, there is a 7.6 to 12 per cent decrease in teen smoking participation rates as youth participation responds more strongly to price.
And some more…
March 2006: Smoking Ban - Smoking in Public Places in Saskatchewan and public places and Workplaces in New Brunswick and Manitoba
Health Canada's Tobacco Control Programme invites stakeholders engaged in tobacco control issues in Canada to share their views comprising the second phase of the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy (FTCS).
The World Conference on Tobacco or Health was held from July 12-15, 2006 in Washington DC
Released in May 2004, a report reveals that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body. It expands on the list of illnesses and conditions linked to cigarette smoking that was discussed in the 1964 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking.
NIDA InfoFacts: Findings for high school youth indicate that 25.9 per cent of 8th-graders, 38.9 per cent of 10th-graders, and 50.0 per cent of 12th-graders had already smoked cigarettes when asked in 2005. These figures were lower for all three grades from 2004 data, and for 8th-graders and 12th-graders, the decreases were statistically significant.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Tobacco use is the single largest cause of preventable premature mortality in the United States. It also represents an enormous cost burden to the nation.
A series of advertisements made by Contract Advertising also appeared in Indian Express and Loksatta regarding Passive Smoking. Too often, smokers endanger the lives of non-smokers by smoking in their presence. Recently, studies have shown that such second-hand smoke can also raise the risk of contracting cancer significantly. The danger is especially grave for children of parents who smoke. They are more likely to suffer from pneumonia or bronchitis in the first two years of life than children who live in smoke-free households. Several studies have also established a link with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Children of parents who smoke have a twofold increased risk of dying of SIDS.
Australia's National Tobacco Strategy [Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing] is a policy framework for the Australian Government and State and Territory Governments to work together and in collaboration with non-government agencies to improve health and to reduce the social costs caused by tobacco. The links below provide information on how to quit and the effectiveness of various ways to stop smoking.
Ontario smokers need more government help to quit smoking - Public awareness campaigns, raising tobacco taxes, workplace and indoor public smoking ban are keys to butting out
Tobacco use is the biggest preventable cause of death and disease in Ontario. It kills 16,000 Ontarians each year. The government is investing in a comprehensive tobacco-control strategy to improve the health of Ontarians.
“Should there be a total ban on smoking cigarettes? A forum in India witnesses most of the replies in favour of the total ban
Smoking is known to be the principal avoidable cause of premature deaths in the UK.
Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness and premature death in the UK. Just over a quarter - 26 per cent - of adults in Wales are smokers. But 27 per cent of adults in Wales are ex-smokers.
Statement on Release of U.S. Surgeon General Report on Health Consequences of Secondhand Smoke
