 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Indicates premium content |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
E-mail your letter to the editor
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| How To Quit |
 |
|
|
|
|
Stopping smoking isn't for the fainthearted |
|
|
|
|
|
By Chaim Estulin |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Posted Monday, February 28, 2005; 20:00 HKT
Breaking the Habit
"Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world," Mark Twain said. "I know because I've done it thousands of times." Twain was being facetious, but his point was on target. The average smoker tries to quit 10.8 times over a period of 18.6 years before finally breaking the habit permanently, according to a 1998 U.S. study by the Hazelden Foundation, an addiction-treatment organization. Those dismal stats are testament to a powerful habit that is not merely nicotine dependence, but "a whole set of small behaviors such as hand-to-mouth gestures and characteristic times of the day when you don't feel comfortable unless you are smoking," says Simon Chapman, a public-health professor at the University of Sydney. To quit, he says, "people have got to unlearn all those behaviors."
Getting Help
Plenty is available, in the form of books (Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking is a popular guide), local seminars and self-help groups in a growing number of Asian cities, and websites (try quitnet.com). Most offer step-by-step strategies for quitting and staying quit.
Trial by Turkey
We all know the boor who insists that abstinence is just a matter of willpower. But the success rate for those who go cold turkey is as low as 5%—and according to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, only 7% of people who quit without aids or outside support stay clean for more than a year.
Alternative Therapies
Given that most quitters need a boost, what works and what doesn't? A 2003 report in the Dutch medical weekly Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde tried to sort fact from fiction by pooling piles of studies on smoking cessation compiled by the Cochrane Library, which collects global health-care information. Among the findings: acupuncture works no better than a placebo, and results for hypnotherapy were inconclusive.
Drugs and Hugs
Stop-smoking aids are a multibillion-dollar market. But so far, only three types have been proved to help, according to the World Health Organization. The first is nicotine replacement therapy (NRT): using a patch, gum, lozenge, nasal spray or inhaler to deliver nicotine to the brain in declining doses over a two- to three-month period. The second is the use of antidepressant pills such as bupropion and nortriptyline (studies suggest that people who are prone to depression are also inclined to smoke). The 2003 Dutch medical-weekly report concluded that NRT or antidepressants more than doubled 12-month abstinence rates. Thirdly, counseling, ranging from coaching over the phone to full-blown psychoanalysis, has been shown to be beneficial, whether used alone or in tandem with medication.
Staying Quit
It takes about 15 smoke-free years before mortality rates of ex-smokers roughly match those of lifelong nonsmokers. But palpable health effects show up almost immediately: blood pressure is lowered within 20 minutes of the last puff, and lung function increases by up to 30% after about three months. If you need more motivation to stay off cigarettes, regular exercise can reinforce the benefits, and stress-reduction techniques such as yoga can help you cope with cravings.
A Silver Bullet
Isn't there an easier way? British drug company Xenova and U.S.-based Nabi Biopharmaceuticals are testing nicotine "vaccines" that may block the chemical's ability to create pleasurable feelings in the brain. But even if the treatments prove successful, the companies say it will take at least four years before the vaccines reach the market. If you've been smoking for a long time already, what makes you so sure you'll live that long?
|
|
