Commit to quit this year. You can do it.
Thursday was Great American Smokeout Day, a a day specifically set aside to urge tobacco users to put down those cigarettes, cigars or pipes, or don't put a pinch between their cheeks and gums.
But any day can be a smokeout day and your first day toward kicking the smoking habit for good.
It's not so hard, if you consider the alternatives: Lung cancer, lip cancer, cancers of the mouth, throat and digestive tract.
The American Cancer Society has a list of benefits of ending smoking, including:
- A drop in carbon monoxide levels in the blood to normal in 12 hours.
- An increase in lung function within three months.
- A reduction in coughing and shortness of breath and a gain in the body's natural defenses against lung infections within nine months.
- In a year, the risk of coronary heart disease is dropped to half that of a smoker.
If the health statistics aren't enough, calculate the cost of your particular form of tobacco on your weekly, monthly and annual budget.
The cancer society has scheduled the smokeout for the third Thursday of November for decades, dating back to an event in California in 1974.
If cold turkey quitting is too much for you, consider the availability of counseling, nicotine replacement products, group support, telephone hotline support, guidebooks and encouragement, including nagging, from friends and family. Several local sessions are coming up in December.
It's about making a commitment. Trying to stay away from tobacco for a day is the first step on what is a quick road to a healthier lifestyle.
When you're breathing better, when your heart is functioning better, you can be more active, which puts you in better health overall, which leads to a change in mood.
To learn more about the solution to your tobacco problem, visitwww.cancer.org to learn about resources.
Also, through the Washington County Tobacco Prevention Program, people can access the Ohio Tobacco Quit Line and participate in free cessation classes. Classes are scheduled for 1 to 2 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Barlow Library and 4 to 6 p.m. Dec. 7 at Selby General Hospital in Marietta.
Please, for your own health, make a commitment to quit.
