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Smoking Cessation – Important Tips for Quitting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 04, 2002

Contact:
Adam Lee
American Academy of Family Physicians
(800) 274-2237 Ext. 5221
alee@aafp.org

LEAWOOD, Kan. — Tobacco use (cigarettes, cigars, snuff, chewing tobacco, and other tobacco products) causes more than 400,000 deaths each year – that’s one out of every five deaths in the United States. The number of deaths caused by tobacco use is greater than the combined number of deaths due to AIDS, alcohol, automobile accidents, murders, suicides, drugs and fires.

Scientific evidence demonstrates that tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and illness in our country. Rather than become a statistic, individuals should act now to kick this life-threatening habit.

Smoking is the most common form of tobacco use. Quitting can be difficult, but it’s never too late to make a lifestyle change. Individuals will have the best chance of stopping smoking if they do the following:

make the decision to quit smoking — choose a date two to four weeks away to quit;
get ready to quit — once a person has decided to quit, make a plan with the help of a family physician. A family physician can identify ways to make quitting easier, including nicotine replacement methods, prescription medicine, and identifying other activities to replace smoking;
make a list of the reasons why it is important to quit — keep this list handy and refer to it often;
keep track of where, when and why a person smokes — this will help identify smoking triggers;
throw away all tobacco — throw away ash trays, lighters, and anything else associated with the smoking habit;
put the plan into action — stop smoking! Do things other than smoke. For example, individuals can take a walk when they feel the urge to smoke, or chew sunflower seeds, or sugarless gum.

The first few days after stopping smoking will be the hardest. Individuals may feel edgy, irritable, have trouble concentrating, feel hungrier than usual, and have headaches and coughs as their lungs are clearing out. All of these can be symptoms of withdrawal from nicotine. Keep in mind that the worst symptoms will be over in a few days. However, a person might still have cravings for tobacco. Those cravings have less to do with nicotine addiction and more to do with the habit of smoking.

Most people try to quit more than once before they succeed. Individuals shouldn’t give up if they slip. They should call their family physician to talk about what happened, and discuss what they can do to keep from smoking when trying to quit again. Individuals should think about what happened to make them slip, and figure out how to handle the situation differently next time, then recommit themselves to quitting.

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Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Nearly one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is 215 million office visits each year – nearly 48 million more than the next medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide the majority of care for America’s underserved and rural populations.

In the increasingly fragmented world of health care where many medical specialties limit their practice to a particular organ, disease, age or sex, family physicians are dedicated to treating the whole person across the full spectrum of ages. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

To learn more about the American Academy of Family Physicians and about the specialty of family medicine, please visit www.aafp.org.

For more information about the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care and downloadable multi-media on family medicine and health care, visit the AAFP Media Center.

For more information about health care, health conditions, and wellness, please visit familydoctor.org.

The AAFP sponsors a program titled Tar Wars. The mission of Tar Wars is to educate children about being tobacco-free, thereby providing them with the tools to make positive decision regarding their health and to promote personal responsibility for their well-being. Please visit www.tarwars.org for more information about the Tar Wars program.