The decline in tobacco use over the past decade has been dramatic, but current smoking rates remain unacceptable. About 30.8 million people in the United States in 2020, or 13% of all adults, continued to use conventional tobacco products.
It was roughly the same in the United Kingdom, with a slightly more detailed breakdown showing that 15.9% of men and 12.5% of women were still smoking (collectively about 6.9 million).
More than fifty years have passed since the discovery that tobacco use increases one’s risk of developing lung cancer. Still, young people continue to pick up packets and start down the path to this harmful habit, generation after generation. The number of deaths it causes is greater than that of obesity, drug abuse, infectious diseases, firearms, and automobile accidents combined, making it the leading preventable cause of death in many developed nations.
I don’t understand why people keep lighting up.
- Tobacco use persistence can be attributed to a variety of factors.
- They’ve been duped into thinking their addiction is physical. Too much time without a cigarette causes them irritability, fatigue, jitteriness, stress, and anxiety.
- A lack of self-control: putting an end to something pleasurable is difficult, especially if there is no obvious reason to do so. Even if someone is aware that quitting smoking permanently is the healthiest option, they might think that having just one cigarette won’t hurt them using Disposable vapes.
- Giving in to peer pressure – have you seen how smokers tend to congregate with other smokers?
- One of the most widespread myths about smoking is that it helps people relax. But if you ask smokers, they light up to unwind, to distress, to celebrate, to mourn, to pass the time, to relieve boredom, to take a break from their busy schedules, etc. Smokers are experts at rationalizing their habit despite their awareness of its negative effects.
- How do people typically go about kicking the habit of smoking?
There are a variety of resources available to help people quit smoking today.
- The market for vaping products, such as electronic cigarettes, has grown exponentially over the past decade. Vaping has evolved into its own hobby category due to the wide availability of starter kits, disposable vapes, coils, pods, tanks, and mods. It’s likely that vaping has contributed significantly to the decline in tobacco use.
- Zyban, a rebranded antidepressant also known as Wellbutrin, is recommended in conjunction with counselling to help people quit smoking. Its usefulness is open to debate.
- Hypnotherapy is a nice, gentle way to quit smoking, with success rates ranging from 25% to 90%, depending on who you ask.
- Health and Social Care Act (NHS): The NHS Stop Smoking service use Disposable vapes is available to anyone living in the United Kingdom. As disappointing as it may be, the success rate drops to 8% after a year.
- Again, nicotine patches have a wide range of success rates, from 25% to 94%.
What none of these approaches emphasize is that the desire to quit is the driving force behind any success in quitting smoking. If you put all your faith in one approach instead of another, you’re setting yourself up for failure by expecting some outside force to provide you with the motivation and fortitude to give up.
When it comes to kicking the habit of smoking and embracing a healthier lifestyle, your mindset is the single most important factor. Rather than adopting a “ex-smoker” mindset, where you are constantly at odds with yourself, work on developing a “non-smoker” mindset that convinces you there is no need to smoke.
