Quit Smoking During Stoptober
“Quit smoking in Stoptober” says the NHS. Well, some of it. Other bits of it didn’t get the message and told this author that smoking is safer than vaping!
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by Dave Cross
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Stoptober 2024 is underway, and the NHS has released a range of assets to be used by cessation practitioners and everyone else involved in promoting good health to encourage smokers to quit nicotine use or make the switch to vaping. Almost everyone is on board – but a conversation with a Registrar in the emergency department of a provincial hospital proves that the NHS still has work to do with its employees.
“A huge thanks to everyone who has already downloaded and used our campaign toolkit and assets over the last few weeks - it’s great to see so many examples of local activity from organisations across the country,” says Stoptober’s organisers.
“If you have yet to download the campaign resources there is still time to get involved in Stoptober and help encourage smokers to make a quit attempt. Remember - if they can make it to 28 days smoke-free, they’re five times more likely to quit for good. We have lots of campaign resources available including digital posters, graphics for digital screens and a suite of social media assets.”
The NHS says that anyone promoting Stoptober does so throughout the whole of the month. It suggests sharing successful quit stories and offering tips to manage cravings. It also says that signposting to local support will also help smokers transition away from tobacco.
Stoptober links:
- Stoptober campaign resources
- Better Health quit smoking website
- NHS: Quit Smoking
- Cochrane UK: The latest evidence about what works
- NHS: Vaping to quit smoking
- Nicotine vaping in England: 2022 evidence update
- UK Health Security Agency's video: smoking versus vaping
- Vaping myths and the facts
The NHS says: “Nicotine vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking. It's also one of the most effective tools for quitting smoking.
“Nicotine itself is not very harmful and has been used safely for many years in medicines to help people stop smoking.
“You're roughly twice as likely to quit smoking if you use a nicotine vape compared with other nicotine replacement products, like patches or gum.
“Vaping exposes users to far fewer toxins and at lower levels than smoking cigarettes. Switching to vaping significantly reduces your exposure to toxins that can cause cancer, lung disease, and diseases of the heart and circulation like heart attack and stroke. These diseases are not caused by nicotine, which is relatively harmless to health.”
A doctor who spoke to this author during a pre-op interview was concerned about vapes being more dangerous than smoking because “people can vape all day”.
He was informed that the NHS says smokers should vape as often as they want to alleviate the cravings for a cigarette. Called self-titration, vapers will only vape until they have sufficient nicotine in their blood system – exceeding this will lead to the vaper feeling sick and dizzy. Hopefully the doctor will go on to read the suggested list of websites!
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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