Smoke free in 2016

Will your New Year's Resolution be to stop smoking?

Breaking a cigarette

Every year around seven million people in the UK make a New Year’s Resolution to stop smoking as part of their personal campaign to improve their health.

As well as support available from a wide range of sources, including the NHS and charities, legislation is making its mark, tightening up on smoking tobacco products. 

The most recent ban, on smoking in cars with children, came into effect on 1 October 2015. From May 2016, all tobacco products have to be sold in standard, drab packaging to make them less appealing to young people.

The benefits aren’t just health-related but are also good for your pocket. According to the NHS, giving up 10 cigarettes a day could save you £91 a month. Over five years that adds up to almost £5,500 and over 10 years you would have saved almost £11,000 – and that’s at today’s prices.

If you smoke 20 cigarettes a day, over 10 years you would save almost £22,000 – more than the equivalent of two years’ mortgage repayments!

 

Evidence suggests that smokers are four times more likely to quit using a stop smoking service than going it alone and there is plenty of advice and support available to them.

New Year is a good time, with the goal of helping yourself, your family and your finances. There are other key times too, such as during the Stoptober Challenge, when you are pregnant, on No Smoking Day, when you become a grandparent, or if you are ill or have to go into hospital. There is no such thing as the wrong time and the best thing a smoker can do is to quit completely, now and forever. There’s an awful lot of help available and I’d encourage smokers to make good use of it

 

Working out the financial benefits is fairly easy. When it comes to health, how do you work out the real cost to smokers and non-smokers?

For a smoker, the physical benefits of stopping can include:

  • Skin – reduced appearance of wrinkles on the skin due to increased oxygen
  • Mouth – improved senses of taste and smell
  • Throat – reduced chances of developing a cough
  • Heart – reduced risk of heart attack
  • Lungs – improved lung capacity, by up to 10% in nine months
  • Fertility – reduced threat to conception and likelihood of miscarriage, improved likelihood of giving birth to a healthy baby
  • Sex – improved blood flow and sensitivity
  • Fitness – improved circulation and boost to immune system

The health risks for non-smokers are also greatly increased, which is why legislation around smoking in cars and in public has been introduced recently.

People who breathe in second-hand smoke regularly are more likely to get the same diseases as smokers – including lung cancer and heart disease. Children are even more vulnerable, particularly when it comes to developing allergies and breathing problems, including asthma.

For pregnant women, being exposed to passive smoke puts them at risk of premature birth and, possibly, giving birth to a low birthweight baby. There is also increased risk of cot death.

QuitReady is the local stop smoking service in Leicestershire. Contact them in a number of ways:

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