For more than five decades, we've actually and educationally knew that smoking can kill you. It is still the leading cause of preventable death in the United States and yet 42.1 million people light up a cigarette and new smokers start every day.
"Smoking is my daily buddy," Atlantan Barry Blackwell said. "It's always with me long after other friends have left and have gone, but they are always here (cigar)."
To help who do want to quit, scientists have looked with great interest into what science works. Since the studies have shown that 90 percent of those who try to quit, will start smoking again notwithstanding their best efforts.
Financial Incentives
A new study that runs in the New England Journal of Medicine shows some hopeful results. Looking at 2,500 people enrolled in a CVS Caremark program, the study found individuals who had a financial incentive to quit had some amazingly successful, at least after 12 months of frustrating.
The successful program was one in which a person deposited $150 first. The person would get that plus $650 more if they positively abstained from smoking. People in that program also got advice on abandoning, access to a free counseling sessions and were offered nicotine-like replacements like gum or the patch. And of those participants, 52.3 percent quit.
Cold Turkey
The most disciplined can quit without any help. Studies show only about 4 to 7 percent can do it without any help. If you want to try this technique, what works best is to be mentally set, the experts say, you need really commit to it. Also, get ready for the withdrawal syndromes.
One other thing that could help is to ask for encouragement. Let your friends and family know that you are quitting. They can give emotional and spiritual support.
Find Company
Love can help you through, per a study that ran in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. Just less than half of the men in that study were fruitful in their attempt to quit if their partner or groupmates also quit, compared to 8 percent success if their partner did not stop. Likewise, half of women quit if their male partners also quit. Positive peer-to-peer pressure seems to help in backing out smoking.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy
Inhalers, nasal sprays, lozenges, gum, and skin patches that deliver nicotine slowly are designed to help smokers get over the initial cigar cravings and symptoms of withdrawal. And they seem to help in amazing way.
A scientific review that looked at more than 150 different tests of these strategies showed that the likelihood someone would quit when using them increased by 50 to 70 percent. No one method seemed to work better than the other, nor did these devices work any better with counseling.
Prescription Drugs
Talk to your doctor if you want to take the prescription base program. This technique works by targeting the nicotine receptors in your brain. That means you don't get as much choice from smoking and it lowers your feelings of withdrawal. Some studies have shown taking this drug can more than double your chances of quitting associated to taking no drugs at all.
E-Cigarettes
The jury is still hands off on this approach. In 2014, a study that ran in the British journal the Lancet found of the 657-people trying to quit over a period of six months, with e-cigarettes help about 7.3 percent to quit. That was more than the 5.8 percent of the people in the study who used a medical patch. What stood out most to the study's authors was that so few the people were effectively quitting using any method. They resolved more research is urgently needed.
Something To Keep In Mind - Health Benefits Of Quitting The Habit
Quitting smoking is well-thought-out, a hardest bad health habits to break. The American Cancer Society cautions, "The truth is that quit smoking agendas, like other programs that treat drug addictions, often have honestly low success rates. But that doesn't mean they're not useful or that you should be downcast."
If you do want to quit, it vividly lowers your chances of getting lung cancer and many other types of cancer. It decreases your risk of heart disease and stroke suggestively, and reduces your chances of getting involve with lung problems. Smoking fasten aged skin and in social survey an increasing number of women say they won't date smokers, so quitting could improve your social life, too.