Are You Ready to Start Your Smoke-Free Life?
There are many resources available to assist you on your journey to quit smoking. The most important question to be successful is: are YOU ready?
Since January 2020, more than 1,700 Vermonters have taken steps to stop smoking for good. This is a 70% increase from January to May 2020. Contributing factors to this increase in people quitting include the lung injury outbreak in the fall of 2019 and COVID-19.
When you decide to stop smoking, you’re taking an important step toward gaining back control of your health and future. Our lungs and bodies are incredibly efficient at healing from the damage smoking can cause, even if you have been smoking for many years. The following quit smoking infographic shows the stages of healing after you stub out your last cigarette:
Alongside the physical benefits to going smoke free there are many psychological pros too. According to the NHS, the mental health benefits of quitting smoking include:
- anxiety, depression, and stress levels are lower
- quality of life and positive mood improve
- the dosage of some medicines used to treat mental health problems can be reduced
What’s the best way to quit?
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to quitting smoking. Every person’s needs are unique, and what works for someone else might not be what works best for you. Some people will quit on the first attempt but most others make several attempts to quit along the path to becoming smoke free; in fact, recent research shows that smokers may make 30 attempts before making it a full year smoke-free. Do not be deterred by the process—just keep trying! According to the FDA, each attempt quit brings you closer to success.
Ready to get started?
There are a variety of resources to help Vermonters quit smoking.
- 802 Quits offers free customized advice any point along your journey to quit smoking and stay smoke-free.
- Smoke Free offers a number of free stop smoking resources from ‘I want to quit’ to ‘Staying quit’ Smoke Free also offer bespoke programs and resources to Veterans.
- The Center For Disease Control offers extensive tips and tools to help In your smoke-free journey, including a quit smoking app available for download in the Google Play Store and the Apple Store.
