How to quit smoking (a simple guide)
Unlike the 1940s (when most people smoked), today just 11% of people in England smoke cigarettes. Not just a health risk, but can harm marine creatures and wildlife when butts are littered, or even fires and wildfires when dropped on dry land.
Smoking is the world’s leading cause of premature death (killing half its users and more from passive smoking). It causes lung/oral cancer, heart disease, stroke, blood clots, tooth and gum decay, and wrinkled skin.
If you smoke, invest in a pocket ashtray to extinguish butts until you find a bin. Charcoal purifying bags can absorb and remove odours from homes and cars (best not to smoke within enclosed environments anyway, for the benefit of others, including pets).
Vets say to also keep vaping items away from pets. All shops that sell vapes must take back old ones for recycling (fire hazards when littered).
Worldwide, there are 1.3 billion smokers (mostly in the South Pacific, Jordan and parts of Eastern Europe). Countries that smoke least are Scandinavia, Iceland and Luxembourg. So it’s interesting to see that it’s the lowest-income countries that smoke more, the highest-income that smoke less.
Practical tips to help quit smoking
- Cook healthy meals, and take a supplement to ensure you have vitamins and minerals to help your nerves and rebalance your nutrition.
- Exercise can release endorphins for good mood.
- Stay away from smoke-filled environments. Instead of pubs with smokers outside, go for a run or take an evening class.
- Open a savings account and save ‘cigarette money’ to buy something else. Someone who smokes 20 cigarettes a day spends £5K a year.
Chewing gum has its own issues like littered xylitol on streets (lethal to pets). If you chew gum, use a gumdrop bin (councils can install them too). Or better, eat organic mints!
It only takes a few weeks for your body to recover from quitting smoking. Most coughs improve within months, heart attack risk is halved in a year. And lung cancer risk halved in 10 years.
Why Allen Carr’s EasyWay Method works
Many people take courses using Allen Carr’s Easyway. Way more successful than nicotine patches (which are tested on animals), after a long campaign, finally it’s available on the NHS, so ask your GP to fund a course, if you can’t afford private.
Allen smoked three to five packs a day while doing National Service in 1952. He realised that smoking is not a physical nicotine addiction, it’s a mental addiction, and his methods work (newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy gave up smoking in four hours!) He also offers a method to give up vaping.
Nicotine patches ‘double your chance of success’. But that’s 6.2% (instead of 3.4%). Whereas Allen Carr method is far more effective and cheaper too.
You don’t smoke due to stress. Many people on earth have incredibly stressful lives – yet don’t smoke, vape, drink or take drugs.
Who profits from the cigarette industry?
Smoking is like paying someone to kill you. They’re rich, you’re dead. Anonymous
The cigarette industry is worth billions (the industry also tests on rats, mice and dogs who are forced to inhale smoke and have tar applied to their skin).
Despite high taxes, these are dwarfed by profits, and NHS then pays a huge amount of money to help people with smoking-related diseases. It’s the leading cause of death and disability in the UK.
ALDI and LIDL supermarkets refuse to stock cigarettes. So why don’t other supermarkets follow suit? People who smoke could still buy from newsagents and tobacconists, proving that supermarkets put profits before public health.
If you don’t wish to quit smoking right now, Smokey Treats at least use filters made from unbleached wood pulp, unbleached paper and with compostable outer wrap. Presently sold in Germany and South Africa, but soon elsewhere. Greenbutts make biodegradable cigarette filters.
