Join Stoptober and Stop Smoking

stoptober

Why Stoptober?

  • Over 160,000 people stopped smoking for 28 days last Stoptober (2012)
  • To date, 141,893 people have joined Stoptober this year (2013)
  • Smokers who give up for 4 weeks are 5 times more likely to give up smoking for good

Why Stop?

  • Those who stop around the age of 30, reduce their risk of premature death by 97%
  • Smoking is the biggest killer in the UK
  • Half of all long-term smokers die from smoke-related disease

Why Stop Now?

  • After 12 hours, heart-rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels return to normal
  • After 24 hours carbon monoxide is removed and lungs start to clear and risk of heart attack decreases
  • After 48 hours nicotine has left your body, nerve-endings start to re-grow and sense of taste and smell improves

Why Continue to Stop?

  • After a year without smoking, your risk for heart disease is lowered to 50% compared to when you were still smoking
  • After 5-15 years of being smoke-free, your risk of having a stroke is the same as someone who doesn’t smoke
  • 10 years after quitting, your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas also decreases

Why EVERYONE Should Stop

  • By the age of 15, around 20% of children are active smokers, based on cotinine levels in saliva
  • Approximately 40% of smokers started smoking before the age of 16
  • The risk of lung cancer increases by about 25% in non-smokers exposed to passive smoke

Why the country should stop

  • Treating smoke-related diseases costs the NHS approximately £2.7 billion a year
  • A 20-a-day smoker spends around £2,000 a year on smoking
  • Reduced smoking in the UK has a net benefit of £1.7 billion a year

Convinced yet? Join Stoptober and give up smoking this October.

See our resources for more reasons to give up, to calculate how much money you would save or help quitting for good.

Resources

Related

Photo of Dr Tony Steele

Posted on by Dr Tony Steele in Stop smoking.