THE statistics around the effects of smoking terrify. Half of all smokers will die of tobacco related causes – that’s 5.5million around the world each year.
But how do we break from such a pernicious habit, often begun in young years or adopted as a crutch in hard times if we are an older devotee of the ash?
Attend to the miracle website www.quit.ie managed by the HSE to boost interest and efficacy in cutting out cigarettes and other smokes. It will help you specifically and interactively, according to your gender, age, experience of smoking, triggers and other supports you may opt for such as patches.
There’s an app to download for 24/7 smartphone availability.
Under the banner of ‘deep breath and dive in, it only takes 5 minutes’, register and engage with this personal and rapid exploration of motives and your hoped-for outcomes. Bear in mind that surrendering any habit successfully has a lot to do with the quality of the decision you make.
Re-inforce that with ww.quit.ie’s programme that works minutely with your Q&A responses.
Tools used?
There’s a savings calculator to place a monetary value on your habit. 20 cigarettes x 5 times weekly = €52.50 which tops at €2,730 annually. That’s every year on a modest enough habit. Another adult would get four week-long overseas holidays with B&B in a first class hotel on the Med for that.
What do you want out of life?
The budget buster is followed by an exploration of how often you reach for a puff, which time of day matters more or most. There’s another grid that tests for a host of triggers – in traffic while driving; to keep weight down; when annoyed.
On to gender, age, how many years of smoking, your preference for rollies or pipe.
The point to this finetuning is that the more support the addict has to cut loose, the more likely he or she succeeds – and finally.
This intelligent, clear website will also (optionally) email you daily, or text or even put in a support call from the cigarette-swatting team. Naturally, there’s a Quit Pack to order.
Log in to health now at www.quit.ie
