Thursday, 19 November 2009
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Encourage Smokers to Quit with the Great American Smokeout!
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This post was submitted by truebritt@xanga, and is from www.Cancer.org.Today marks The American Cancer Society's 34th Great American Smokeout®!
"As the official sponsor of birthdays, the American Cancer Society marks the 34th Great American Smokeout, today! - November 19 - by encouraging smokers to use the date to make a plan to quit, or to plan in advance and quit smoking that day. By doing so, smokers will be taking an important step towards a healthier life – one that can lead to reducing cancer risk and creating more birthdays. Researchers say that quitting smoking can increase life expectancy – smokers who quit at age 35 gain an average of eight years of life expectancy; those who quit at age 55 gain about five years; and even long term smokers who quit at 65 gain three years.
Research shows that people who stop smoking before age 50 can cut their risk of dying in the next 15 years in half compared with those who continue to smoke. Smokers who quit also reduce their risk of lung cancer – ten years after quitting, the lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker’s. Some of the health effects of quitting are almost instant, too – heart rate and blood pressure drop 20 minutes after quitting.
“We know that quitting smoking is tough and that most smokers have to try several times before quitting for good,” said Colby Bower, Government Relations Director for Arizona with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. “The American Cancer Society offers a variety of effective resources ranging from online tips and tools to personalized telephone coaching by trained specialists. We hope that smokers will use the Great American Smokeout to map out a course of action that will help them to quit, and in turn to stay well and celebrate more birthdays.”
The Great American Smokeout Web site (www.cancer.org/GreatAmericans) contains user-friendly tips and tools towards a smoke-free life. In addition to tip sheets and calculators, the site also offers downloadable desktop helpers to assist with planning to quit and succeeding in staying tobacco-free. The Quit Clock allows users to pick a quit day within 30 days, then counts down the selected day with tips for each day; and the Craving Stopper helps smokers beat cravings by offering a fun distraction.
The American Cancer Society created the trademarked concept for and held its first Great American Smokeout in 1976 as a way to inspire and encourage smokers to quit for a day. One million people quit smoking for a day at the 1976 event in California. The Great American Smokeout encourages smokers to commit to making a long-term plan to quit smoking for good.
Important facts about tobacco use: o Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the U.S.- Cigarette smoking accounts for about 443,000 premature deaths – including 49,400 in nonsmokers.
- 30% of cancer deaths, including 87% of lung cancer deaths, can be attributed to tobacco.
- Smoking also accounts for $193 billion in health care expenditures and productivity losses.
- Great progress is being made in reducing tobacco use in the U.S., with adult smoking rates in 2007 declining among all adults to 19.8%."
Please- if you smoke, quit. No time like the present. You have no idea what you are doing to your body!!! It's poison you are inhaling. And it doesn't just affect your lungs. The oxygenated blood that goes throughout your body can spread disease to other organs if your lungs are damaged. Smokers are the highest at risk not only for cancer like lung, throat and mouth, but also for heart disease and stroke. I cannot express it enough. YOU MUST QUIT BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. You don't really get a 2nd chance when the diagnosis comes down. Quit now.There are people and places to help!
It's LUNG CANCER AWARENESS MONTH. Who in your life will you save?Smokers who want to quit can call the American Cancer Society Quit For Life® Program operated and managed by Free & Clear® at 1-800-227-2345 for tobacco cessation and coaching services that can help increase their chances of quitting for good.
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- From: TrueBritt@xanga
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Comments (8)
I dont get the point of this blog... smokers are aware, our generation DO have an education you know, doesn't take more than an hour of television or reading the newspaper, or even a walk down the street to find some sign of the negative effects of smoking.
Quiting smoking, increases life expectancy! OMG I seriously didn't know because I lived my life under a rock. >.>''' Sorry for the sarcasm, I will be serious now.
Btw I am not a smoker and I don't plan to ever smoke, but I do not like biased information where you only point out all the negative effects of smoking, but don't give a damn about why.. WHY do people smoke? Is it ONLY because it is addictive? They know they are harming their bodies, what sort of pleasure can smoking possibly provide that they would lower their life span for it?
There is only one way to make someone quit smoking and that is to convince them that their longevity is important . Smokers who realize the importance of their lives either from family or loved ones, or friends will "attempt" to quit. As you know withdrawal effects increases the urge for a smoke, the pleasure of satisfaction when taking a smoke during withdrawal symptoms is much greater than smoking on a daily basis, thus the scale of importance will tip. If the need for such satisfaction once again topples the importance of life, they will give up on quitting. Which is why you must constantly remind how important this person's life is, its a battle of attrition. People who attempt to quit without supporters or a great motive will likely fail.
Smokers will not quit smoking until their doctor inform them that it is a matter of live or die.
i believe smokers smoke cigarettes to kill themselves faster.
I know that's why I smoke them.
The fuck I want to be alive at an age when all I do is wear diapers and tell kids to turn their loud music down?
@ThisUserNameIsAvaliable@xanga - i agree 100%. i started smoking when i was actually really depressed or like had a bad day and it was the only thing that would make me feel good, and now i still do, even on the good days. its those times when im like "fuck it" that i smoke the most you know? when longevity seems like a burdon or a bore, not something to look forward too
@ThisUserNameIsAvaliable@xanga - hey "usernamenotavailable" interesting. Biased info about negative effects? There are no positive effects. Since you've never been a smoker perhaps you don't know that while smokers HEAR the information, they don't KNOW it. No one thinks it will kill them. Do you get in a car everyday & drive? You know it can be dangerous, and yet you do it anyway. You don't think it will be you.
You are correct when you say that people need to desire to quit, and they need supporters. I hope that you will be that person for a smoker someday.
@TheFloater@xanga -
@TheFloater@xanga -
you both say that now, that why be alive later in life when you're a burden, but 56 isn't old. And that's how old my mom was when I lost her.
You never know what's going to happen. But I know you don't want to die. And you don't want to die a painful death. And yet, without quitting, that is your fate. I've seen it. And I'm a former smoker who's just trying to point this out to you.
@TrueBritt@xanga - No positive effects? Is everything skin deep to you? do people only throw money away for physical pleasure? Emotional and physiological effects, smokers, and other drug abusers, spend money for these pleasures. What is positive is relevant, if the pleasure out weights our well being, then that individual will see the effects as positive.
@ThisUserNameIsAvaliable@xanga - so it's a positive social outlet? and so how does that outweigh not only the harmful effects of smoking on a smoker and others around them? trust me, as a former smoker, smoking is something you DO, it's not something you necessarily love, and once you're addicted, something you sometimes don't want to do
@TrueBritt@xanga - It seems we're looking at this from a different perspective but kinda agree with eachother, how the positive effects out weights the negative effects isn't up to you to decide, its for the individual.
Someone being tortured as a POW for information that would get 2000 people killed if he/she were to squeal. While he/she would prefer to suicide than give up the information but is striped of free will, the mind would not stop screaming for the pain to stop, whether it be physical or emotional pain. Surely common sense and logic will tell you that it is not worth it to relieve oneself of pain, to bring upon satisfaction at the expense of hurting so many lives, but sometimes we lose consciousness in our actions and let emotion take over.
We've all experienced it, whether it was a sudden outburst or a action driven by emotion that we later regret because our logic could not stop our actions quick enough.
An individual's body and mind is a large effector of the balancing of importance, one in so much pain that they would see a moment's relief becomes more important than their well being, and others' well being.
Do you understand now what I'm trying to say? I would never see smoking as a good thing, but I do not like how society does not try to sympathize with a smoker's perspective when trying to get people to quit.