Stop smoking in Stoptober!

October is Stoptober, so the Public Health Agency (PHA) is urging all smokers in Northern Ireland to use this as an opportunity to quit for good.

Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness, premature death and health inequality throughout Northern Ireland and sadly one in every two smokers will die of a tobacco-related disease.

David Tumilty, Senior Health and Social Wellbeing Improvement Officer at the PHA, said: “Stopping smoking is the single most important thing you can do for your health. Stoptober provides a perfect opportunity to give up your habit and enjoy both the health and financial benefits that stopping will bring.”

Research has shown that people who go without smoking for 28 days are five times more likely to stop for good, so use Stoptober as the first step on your path to better health.

David continued: “While we know that stopping smoking can be very difficult, help is at hand – there are over 650 free stop smoking specialist services available across Northern Ireland. Studies have found that smokers are four times more likely to succeed in quitting with help from stop smoking services than if they go it alone.

“To stand an even better chance of quitting, you could join forces with a friend or family member who smokes and stop together, as evidence reveals that this type of 'social quitting' can dramatically improve your chances of successfully stopping. People could also get involved in the ‘Workplace 28 day stop smoking challenge’ which encourages businesses to sign up and help employees who smoke to give up their habit.”

Smoke breaks and additional sick leave taken by smokers are costing UK businesses £8.7 billion annually in lost productivity, so helping staff to stop smoking makes sense both economically and in terms of health, and shows that a business is committed to improving the wellbeing of its staff.

“Giving up smoking is often tough and different approaches will work for different people. While some people might be able to do it with very little support, others find that planning ahead and making use of the stop smoking support services that are available can really help make their decision permanent. That’s why it is good to plan an approach to stopping that is most likely to work for you.

“If you quit and then relapse, accept it, work out why it happened, and focus on how you can avoid it in the future. It takes several efforts for many people to quit for good, but if you are determined, you will do it. Sign up and start your journey to a healthier you,” concluded David.

For more information and useful tips to stop smoking, to order a quit kit or to find your local stop smoking service, visit the PHA's Stop Smoking (stopsmokingni.info) website.