The UK has announced a massive quit smoking attempt this month – with experts urging smokers to switch to vaping rather than going “cold turkey” if they want to quit for good.
Stoptober is a national campaign by Public Health England (PHE)that suggests if participants switch to e-cigarettes (or other nicotine-replacement therapies) for 28 days, they are 5x more likely to ditch their deadly smoking habit forever.
As the awareness month launched yesterday, health bosses have warned that only four percent of people who quit with no replacement therapy in place will be successful in quitting tobacco.
Last year, Stoptober helped over one million people kick their cigarette addiction. The campaign also helps quitters with a dedicated mobile app, daily emails, and community via Facebook page and Stoptober online.
Dr. Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical director of Patient.info, said of the campaign: “I see many people…who want to quit smoking but far too many try without support, and they end up going back to smoking after a short period.” She adds that, “stop smoking aids and face-to-face support from local stop smoking services are proven methods of support that help many thousands of people to quit each year.”
An NHS page on the Stoptober campaign’s website reads: “E-cigarettes, also known as vapes, are one of the more recent stops smoking aids to become available and they can help you quit smoking for good. An estimated 2.9 million adults in Great Britain use an e-cigarette, known as vaping. They can be particularly effective as a stop smoking aid when combined with expert face-to-face support.”
The website also explains that vaping is 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes and while it does contain nicotine, that ingredient poses little danger in and of itself.
“Many people think nicotine is very harmful to health. In fact, although it is addictive, nicotine is relatively harmless – it’s the thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke that cause almost all the harm from smoking.”
