Nationwide every November, millions of tobacco users quit for the Great American Smokeout. They prove they can go smoke-free and give up cigarettes, cigars, pipes, snuff, chewing tobacco and those new spitless” tobacco packets. The tobacco industry loses billions of dollars and hates that day. But we in the medical community are proud to promote the Great American Smokeout and to encourage the public to take that smoke-free day a step further. This is the ideal opportunity to QUIT FOR GOOD … to QUIT FOR LIFE … to give yourself and your loved ones the ideal holiday gift of better health and longer lifespan.
But we recognize that you (or a smoker you love) will need help breaking away from the insidiously addictive power of tobacco. You’ll need information that motivates you to quit and to stick with your goal. First, it helps to know some startling facts:
* According to the World Health Organization, 1 billion people will DIE from smoking in this century (That’s billion with a ‘B’). The World Health Organization has also found that 17% of all 13 to 15 year olds on our planet currently use some form of tobacco. So who will YOUR family lose?
* Even if you don’t smoke, your yearly household tax burden from smoking is about $1,600. The yearly national burden from smoking is $250 billion!
Now, the good news: Tobacco users CAN quit, and start reversing years of tobacco harm that leads to cancer, lung disease, heart disease, stroke, countless other physical ailments and early death.
Here’s a sample from Dr. Mike’s Top 10 Tips to Quit Smoking:
1. Have a “big enough why.” What are your personal reasons to quit? Write them down, post them on your refrigerator and elsewhere, and let the list remind you every day.
2. Throw away anything to do with smoking: all cigarettes, matches, ashtrays, lighters, rolling papers, cigars, hookahs, logo clothing, and other items tobacco companies use to brand you as a smoker. Don’t allow any of that stuff at home, at work, or in your car.
3. Set a definite quit date, or when you’ll start a gradual scheduled reduction program. For more information see pages 341-343 in the book Ending The Tobacco Holocaust.
4. Change your identity and self image to “I am a non-smoker.” You are no longer a smoker having a problem with quitting. Change your identity to that of a non-smoker so that smoking isn’t congruent with who you are. Visualize yourself as smoke-free, happily breathing fresh healthy air, and feeling relaxed and refreshed.
For the complete Dr. Mike’s Top Ten Tips To Quit Smoking, visit his website.
Michael Rabinoff, D.O., PhD.– Dr. Mike”– an expert in smoking cessation, is a board certified psychiatrist on the research faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA, and is also a Senior Partner in the Kaiser Permanente Medical Group. In addition, he is the C.E.O. and President of Biogenesys, Inc., a biomedical research and development corporation. He has spent more than a decade researching, speaking on and writing about the devastating effects of tobacco on our health, economy and nation’s politics.