The Kentucky Department for Public Health wants to encourage Kentuckians to consider stopping or reducing their smoking.  According to the latest federal government report, Kentucky’s tobacco use rates are the highest in the nation. The incidence of lung cancer takes the lives of nearly 8,000 Kentuckians annually.

There are many great reasons to quit. They include:

• If you stop smoking you will send a strong message to our young people that it is important to stop smoking.

·        If you stop smoking, in the first year you will reduce your risk for heart disease by 50 percent and you will improve your ability to participate in physical activities.

·        In the long term, quitting smoking reduces your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and lung diseases like emphysema or bronchitis, and reduces wrinkling and aging of the skin and eyes.

·        In the short term, when you stop smoking you improve your overall health—reducing respiratory problems, dental problems, nervousness and depression, and a tendency toward other health-damaging behavior.

·        When you quit smoking, you set a good example for your children to follow and your home, car, clothing, and breath will smell better; food will taste better.

·        At $3 per pack, quitting smoking could mean a savings of  $1,000 or more each year.

If you think kicking the smoking habit sounds like a New Year’s resolution worth pursuing–Kentucky’s Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program wants to help.  First, be determined to make a full commitment to cessation.  Commit to quit because you want to, not because someone else wants you to quit.  If you want to break the nicotine addiction, here are some things to consider.

Assess your tobacco use.

·        Why do you smoke?  Think about the reasons you use tobacco, is there something healthier you can do to get that type pleasure?

·        When do you smoke?  What can you do at that time or in those situations to break the habit of reaching for a cigarette?

·        Who can help you?  Find family and friends who will be supportive and compassionate in your endeavor.  Orchestrate a plan so that someone will have contact with you often in the early days of cessation.  You will need positive encouragement and lots of it. 

Find activities that will assist you in quitting.

·        Drink lots of water; water helps remove nicotine from your body.

·        Begin an exercise program.  Becoming more active will help keep your mind off wanting a cigarette and the exercise is good for your entire body.

·        Make a list of the reasons you want to be a non-smoker, read it often to remind yourself why you are doing this.

·        Plan a celebration for your first week without smoking, then your first month.  These are major milestones – reward yourself.

·        Get your teeth cleaned; your mouth will feel and taste better.

It is important to remember that if you do smoke a cigarette, you have not failed. Look at what transpired for you to reach for a cigarette.  What can you do in the future to change the outcome of a similar situation?

For more information and ideas for quitting smoking, contact the Tobacco Control Coordinator in your local health department.  They have resources and contacts to help you reach your goal.  Programs like Cooper-Clayton combine nicotine replacement therapy with behavioral modification over a 13-week period to help smokers quit.  Your physician can provide prescription medications to help you reach your goal.  Nicotine Replacement Therapy includes patches and gum – either can be used to help you reach your goal.

Log on to www.lungusa.org/ffs/index.html for a web based smoking cessation program provided by the American Lung Association. Logging on will give you something to do with your hands and the site is available 24 hours a day – whenever your cravings hit.

            Several toll-free quit lines are also available to provide brief intervention when the conviction to quit may waiver.  For free assistance and information call:

• Cancer Information Service (877) 448-7848
• Great Start                                         (866) 667-8278
• American Cancer Society                (800) 227-2345

Current Kentucky statistics indicate that 32 percent of the state’s adults smoke.  Thirty-four percent of Kentucky’s high school students use cigarettes, and 15 percent of the state’s middle school students smoke.  It is estimated that roughly 23 percent of Kentucky women smoke during their pregnancy.  To help combat the toll that tobacco takes on the health of Kentuckians, the states Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program has adopted the four Centers for Disease Control (CDC) goals of:

• Preventing the initiation of tobacco use among young people
• Promote cessation among tobacco users
• Eliminating non-smokers exposure to environmental tobacco smoke
• Identifying and eliminating the disparities related to tobacco and its effects on different population group

For more information about the Kentucky Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program, log onto http://chs.ky.gov/publichealth/tobacco.htm or contact Irene Centers at 502-564-7996, extension 3808.

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