There are more than five million smokers in England. Quitting smoking isn’t easy but there’s local and national support to help smokers across England, including mid and south Essex, make stop smoking a resolution they can keep this New Year and beyond.
Stopping smoking is the best thing to protect your health – and attempts are more likely to be successful with support. Local residents can get help with free support services:
- Essex Stop Smoking Service: Call 0300 303 9988 or visit the Essex Wellbeing Service
- Local Smoking cessation services: Find out more on them on Mid and South Essex ICS’s website.
- The Better Health Quit Smoking website: This includes the free Personal Quit Plan, which provides advice on managing triggers and cravings, how much money can be saved by stopping smoking and staying focused.
- The NHS Quit Smoking App: The app allows you to; track your progress, see how much you’re saving, get daily support and get inspired by others. You can download the NHS Quit Smoking App via the Apple App Store and on Google Play.
The impact of smoking
Smoking is the leading cause of health inequalities in England. Health inequalities are unfair and avoidable differences in people’s health across the population and between specific population groups. These occur due to different issues including education, housing and employment (socioeconomic factors).
Smoking is also the single biggest cause of preventable ill health and death. Data from Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) shows that annually within the NHS Mid and South Essex area smoking causes more than 9,000 hospital admissions and nearly 1,500 premature deaths.
Boosting your health and wellbeing
Stopping smoking can improve your physical and mental health – as well as the health of family and friends, regardless of how long you have smoked for.
Within days or weeks of quitting, you’ll notice:
- you’ll have more energy as the oxygen levels in your blood start to get better
- your senses of taste and smell improve
- you’ll get better, more restful sleep.
This can all help to reduce your risk of serious health conditions including stroke, heart disease and several types of cancer, as well as respiratory problems such as asthma.
Stopping smoking can boost mental wellbeing, too. Many think that smoking helps with stress and helps them to relax. But evidence shows after the withdrawal stage of quitting people have reduced stress, anxiety and depression.
Family and friends will also no longer be exposed to harmful second-hand smoke (passive smoking). Breathing in second-hand smoke can damage other people’s health, especially children, and mean they are more likely to have breathing problems or develop serious health conditions.