If you are a tobacco user, chances are you have thought about quitting at one time or another. Maybe you are beginning to see and feel the health effects of tobacco use. Maybe you realize your family is suffering from your addiction, or your children are at risk of becoming tobacco users themselves.
Whatever the reason, quitting is a good idea.
Tobacco use is the No. 1 cause of preventable death and disease in this country. That is why the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit continues to work hard to prevent youths from becoming addicted to tobacco, to protect people from secondhand smoke and to support tobacco users trying to quit.
Many local councils, sports teams and private businesses are encouraging youths to stay tobacco free. These groups have developed smoke-free policies for their community gathering places, playing fields and properties, and tobacco-free policies for their sports teams. By making tobacco use an unacceptable behaviour and removing tobacco from the places families play, live and work, children are encouraged to choose a tobacco-free life.
Anyone who has been addicted to tobacco will tell you how hard it is to quit – hard, but not impossible. Be encouraged that there are more quitters than smokers in our area and, in fact, across the country.
There are also many types of support available that help to deal with the physical, social and psychological addiction to tobacco. These include Smokers’ Helpline telephone counselling, online self-help and texting support, and nicotine replacement therapies in the form of patches, gum, inhalers, lozenges and prescription drugs.
But the one mandatory ingredient for success is a true desire to quit. In 2008, a survey of Simcoe Muskoka tobacco users 18 years of age and older found more than half (56 per cent) were considering or prepared to make a quit attempt.
In 2009, our health unit area had the second-highest number of adult smokers in the province commit to make a quit attempt in the annual Driven to Quit Challenge. In total, more than 22,000 people in Ontario used the challenge to make a quit attempt last year.
This year, we are hoping even more people will take that all-important step. Start by signing up for the Driven to Quit Challenge at www.driventoquit.ca. The deadline is Feb. 28, and the quit month is March.
Everyone who stays tobacco free for the month of March becomes eligible to win a 2010 Ford Escape hybrid, one of two $5,000 vacation getaways, or one of seven regional prizes of a $2,000 gift card.
But winning a prize is just an added bonus. All quitters are winners. Quitting is the single best thing you can do to protect and improve your health.
For more information and support, call 721-7520 or 1-877-721-7520, or visit www.simcoemuskokahealth.org.
Dr. Gardner is Simcoe Muskoka’s medical officer of health.
