Stopping smoking is one of the best things you can do for your health and thousands of people are quitting throughout October as part of national campaign Stoptober.
The month might be nearly over but there’s still plenty of free stop smoking support available locally.
Smoking is still one of the biggest causes of death and illness in the UK. In Derbyshire alone around 4,000 deaths each year and over 8,000 hospital dmissions are related to smoking.
Smoking increases your risk of developing more than 50 serious health conditions. Some may be fatal and others can cause irreversible long-term damage to health.
It causes about 90% of lung cancers. It also causes cancer in many other parts of the body, including the:
l Mouth/lips/throat/voice box
l Kidney
l Liver
l Stomach
l Pancreas
Lighting up damages your heart and your blood circulation, increasing your risk of developing conditions such as coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke.
Smoking also damages your lungs, leading to conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD and pneumonia.
But the good news is that as soon as you stop smoking your health can improve.
Within weeks of stopping smoking, your blood circulation improves. This makes physical activity including walking and running, much easier.
You can breathe more easily and cough less because your lung capacity will improve by up to 10% within nine months of quitting.
Stopping smoking has also been found to slow facial ageing so it can delay the appearance of wrinkles.
Your sense of taste and smell will improve, you’ll save money and you’ll reduce your risk of suffering from heart disease, heart attacks and lung cancer.
With all that to look forward to, why not take the first steps to quitting for good and get in touch with your local stop smoking service.
Live Life Better Derbyshire is a free, healthy lifestyles service which offers a wide range of support including stop smoking advice, weight management and help to get more active.
The service offers a 12- week programme of stop smoking support with a variety of advice and support as well as:
l One to one support
l Free Nicotine Replacement Therapy including patches, lozenges and gum
l Access to Champix stop smoking medication on prescription
l Advice on other stop smoking medications
Derbyshire residents can take part in the service by filling in a short form online at www.livelifebetterderbyshire.org.uk alternatively you can call 0800 085 2299.
