A SMOKER deciding to kick their habit in the new year is not unusual, but the reasons why they want to give up are changing. Reporter NINA MASSEY finds out more.
PEOPLE are four times more likely to quit smoking with help from their local NHS stop smoking service than if they try to do it on their own.
Lewisham Stop Smoking Service’s joint manager Alison Hooper talks to News Shopper about why people are giving up.
Legal and social changes
In 2007 new legislation was introduced in England to make virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces smoke free.
Ms Hooper said: “When the legal measures came in, we saw a reduction in the number of people smoking.
“People are giving up because they don’t want to stand in the cold on their own and they feel like they have become social pariahs.
“They feel like the oppressed minority.”
Increased public awareness that smoking is an addiction has meant more people are willing to accept help.
Talking about this Ms Hooper said: “People sometimes feel the cigarettes are controlling them rather than the other way around.
“Quite a lot of young people don’t believe they’re addicted. Most older smokers understand they are and they understand that is the reason it is so difficult to give up.
"Nicotine is a very addictive substance.”
Financial reasons
Ms Hooper told News Shopper there has been an increase in the number of people quitting because they simply cannot afford to smoke any more.
She said: “What smokers have to spend is being squeezed, especially with the prices of cigarettes going up, it is an extremely expensive habit.
"Where people’s salaries have been reduced, £30 a week out of £80 is suddenly is a lot more than £30 out of £100.”
Other than the obvious health reasons such as irreversible lung damage and daily breathlessness, other reasons people cite as wanting to give up include, pregnancy, pressure from family members and often the shock of seeing someone close to them suffering from the effects of smoking.
Lewisham Stop Smoking Service
The Lewisham Stop Smoking Service is run by the Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust. It is free and can help people give up with weekly appointments, free advice and support and Nicotine replacement therapy.
Around half of the smokers who sign up to the Lewisham Stop Smoking service go on to quit. In the year 2010-2011, 3,600 people visited the service and set a quit date.
Contact the service on 0800 0820 388 or visit smokefreelewisham.co.uk.
Case study
Nathalie Celestin
Nathalie Celestin, an administrator who lives just off Bromley Road, Catford had smoked 20 cigarettes a day for 32 years.
She tried a number of methods to quit before finding out about the Lewisham Stop Smoking Service. She has now been smoke free for nine months.
The 47-year-old said: “I had increasingly found that cigarettes were controlling my life and I wanted to take the control back.
“Obviously, the major benefit is the fact that I feel so much healthier now.
She added: “I also find that I spend more time with my family and friends, as I no longer keep popping outside to have a cigarette.
“Financially I have also noticed a massive difference and have been able to enjoy a number of holidays with the money I have saved.”
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