Cold Turkey is So, So Good!

Just around the corner is the America Cancer Society’s “Great American Smoke-Out,” a day that Americans are encouraged to go “cold turkey” in an effort to quit smoking.  A timely new piece of research from UCLA details the hazards of smoking to nurses who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study, an important epidemiologic research study that has been ongoing for several decades.  The results convey both the good news and bad news about smoking:

• First, the good news.  Smoking rates declined from 33.2% in 1976 to 8.4% in 2003.

• On the other hand, when compared with non-smokers, death rates among women in their 70's were 2.3 times higher for current smokers and 1.5 times higher for former smokers.

Do you or someone you care about smoke?  Have you given any thought to quitting?  What would be important enough to for you to consider quitting?  Consider these positive changes that take place following the last cigarette.  According to the Surgeon General, in

• 20 minutes – the heart rate and blood pressure drop

• 12 hours – the carbon monoxide level in the bloodstream drops to normal

• 2 weeks to 3 months – circulation improves and lung function increases

• 1 to 9 months – coughing and shortness of breath decrease and lungs regain normal or near normal ability to handle mucus and fight infection

• 1 year – excess risk of coronary artery disease drops to half that of a continuing smoker

• 10 years – lung cancer death rate is half that of a continuing smoker, and the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas are reduced, too

If you have quit before or know someone who has been successful, what do you think was the key to success?  And what advice would you have for others?

Jan