A few centuries after dinosaurs became extinct, somewhere in the 1960’s, my fifth-grade science teacher turned his entire class against smoking in the most effective way I’ve seen to date. Every day, for the entire school year, he fed one cigarette to a glass jar filled with cotton balls. Within a week, those cotton balls weren’t white anymore. By June, all we ten-year-olds saw was a sickening black muck. Point made. That’s what would happen to our lungs after 9 months if we only smoked one cigarette a day. Leaving to our imaginations what could happen if we smoked more. Not one friend from the fifth grade ever smoked cigarettes.
On November 2, 200, Carolyn Clancy, M.D., Director of the United States Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ), made available a release for consumers aimed at helping cigarette smokers end that habit. Dr. Clancy’s article, “Quitting Smoking, You Can Do It,” offers many resources for smokers who have tried to quit, and just couldn’t. Call it an addiction or habit, smoking cessation is not easy.
Though no easy endeavor, Dr. Clancy reports that chances of succeeding, to actually quit smoking, improve when you have help. As her article reports, “[t]obacco users who get counseling, combined with medication and other support, have a much better chance of quitting and staying tobacco-free.”
In this post-dinosaur era, support is growing. In fact, many medical and health plans, including Medicare, cover counseling for smoking cessation. In addition, several resources, including the AHRQ, make helpful information and resources available for smokers who want to kick the habit.
Dr. Clancy offers the following additional resource available on the Internet and by telephone: Smokefree.gov (real-time text messaging with a National Cancer Institute Counselor) or call 1-877-448-7848 to talk with a counselor.
In just a few days, November 18, the United States Great American Smokeout takes place – making this an opportune time to jump on the “no smoking” bandwagon and take advantage of the many resources intended to help smokers shed the costly habit. Dr. Clancy says that now is the best time to quit. Imagine that cotton jar. What do you think your lungs look like?
Imagine your pocketbook in this recession. Instead of running for a cigarette to calm recession-related stress, save that money, and inhale a long deep breath to soothe your anxiety. People who smoke a pack a day will save $1,800 a year.
Dr. Clancy reiterates fairly common knowledge. “Smoking is not only dangerous to your health, but also deadly. Almost one in every five deaths in the United States every year is from tobacco-related diseases. This equals an estimated 443,000 people, and thousands of nonsmokers die annually as a result of secondhand smoke.“
Here’s a daunting question? Which do you think kills more people each year, tobacco, car accidents, suicide, HIV, homicide or illegal drug use? The answer? Tobacco kills more people than all the rest combined – every year.
Set a date to quit. Let your family, friends and colleagues know your plans and ask for their support. Dispose of your cigarettes, and all the accompaniments, such as ashtrays. Create a smoke-free environment at home and do not let others smoke there either.
Medicines such as gum, patches, and lozenges help can help you fight the urge to smoke. Remember that your doctor also can prescribe supportive medications that enable you to step away from that cigarette. Many health insurance plans will cover these medications.
The new health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act requires new health plans to offer improved access to counseling aimed at smoking cessation. Medicare now covers 5.5 million smokers. As of January 1, 2011, Medicare will be required to cover counseling to help those smokers quit at no cost to the smoker, regardless of whether they have been diagnosed with a tobacco-related illness.
As the proven number one cause of disease and death, smokers are learning that their actions affect not only themselves, but those around them, including damaging the health of non-smokers. My grandmother died of emphysema and she never smoked a day in her life. I’ll admit that I’ve been tempted, and then I picture those black, mucky, sticky-gunk of formerly perfectly white cotton balls, after only one cigarette a day, for nine months.
My fifth grade teacher, Mr. Williams, is a hero. It’s not too late to ask for help and be your own hero. No one in their right mind says it’s easy to walk away from that cigarette with your name on it, but it can be easier if you ask for help. And if you know someone who plans to stop smoking, you too can make a big difference by offering support.
“It’s never too late to quit,” says Dr. Clancy. Not as long as you have the breath to do so.
"Quitting Smoking: You Can Do It." Navigating the Health Care System: Advice Columns from Dr. Carolyn Clancy, November 2, 2010. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/cc/cc110210.htm
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