Smoking FAQs

Why should I quit smoking?

Smoking is as addictive as taking drugs like heroine and cocaine. It is also associated with many serious health problems. Smokers are at a significantly higher risk of getting many types of cancers and other serious illnesses. Examples include lung cancer, heart diseases and chronic bronchitis (acute inflammation of the bronchial tubes).

There are immediate health benefits when you quit, your body begins to repair the damage done by the tobacco, your lung function will improve up to 30% within three months of quitting, and your risks of getting heart attack and cancer decrease significantly. With improved health, you will also save on medical expenditure.

Why is stopping smoking so hard?

Understanding the source of your physical and emotion reactions can help get you through those difficult early days. Quitting smoking will be one of the hardest things that you will ever do. This is because smoking is actually a three-fold problem: you have developed psychological, social, and physical needs for the drug nicotine.

As a smoker, all your emotions were medicated with a nicotine packed cigarette: you relaxed with nicotine; you laughed with nicotine, wept with nicotine, digested with nicotine. You used smoking to pass the time, ready yourself for a crisis, calm yourself after one, even (ironically) to catch your breath during a difficult task. You began your day by dosing with nicotine, your drug of choice (perhaps one among others), and ended it the same way. No wonder that, suddenly deprived of all that, your mind and body go wonky for a little while.

I’ve smoked for many years, surely the damage has already done so would quitting be of any benefit to me?

It is never too late to quit as there are positive health benefits at any stage of your life regardless of how long you’ve been a smoker. These benefits include a reduction in blood pressure, improved circulation and a lesser risk of heart attack.

Will I put on weight if I stop smoking?

Unfortunately yes, around 80% of smoker will gain some weight when they stop smoking. The reason for this is that nicotine works as an appetite suppressant and once taken away you should find yourself feeling hungry and eating more frequently. The average weight gain that you can expect to see is somewhere between 6-8 pounds which can be managed and controlled quite easily with slight changes in your lifestyle and diet, such as additional exercise so is nothing to be concerned about.

Am I at less risk as a social smoker?

No, the level of risk associated with smoking is not reduced when cigarettes are used on this basis. A social smoker, or someone who only smokes in a situation such as on a night out with friends also known as a binge smoker, will often smoke a high quantity of cigarettes in a night then not smoke again for a week or so. Although it is true that it is less harmful to smoke like this instead of smoking as little as 1 or 2 a day, there are also effects which are more detrimental to health from binge smoking than regular smoking. One of these is that binge smoking can temporarily damage and weaken the immune system which can make people far more susceptible to mouth ulcers, throat infections as well as temporary coughing as the body tries to rid itself of tar and poisons. In the long term many of the same risks which regular smokers expose them selves to, such as heart disease and lung cancer, can also develop within those who engage in this habit socially.

Aren’t light cigarettes less harmful than those of regular strength?

It is a common myth that light cigarettes are less harmful than their full strength counterparts, this is simply false. Smokers who have previously used regular cigarettes before deciding to smoke lighter brands tend to make up for this lack of nicotine by taking deeper breaths with each inhalation. This can result in higher levels of tar and other poisons found in cigarettes entering the body making the dangers of these the same if not more so than regular cigarettes.