With the new year approaching, many people will be considering making a New Year’s resolution. If you are one of England’s 5 million smokers, why not make 2024 your year to quit.
Every year 64,000 people in England die from smoking, with many more living with debilitating smoking-related illnesses, making smoking the biggest behavioural cause of preventable death and illness in the country. Quitting is one of the best things a smoker can do for their health. Quit smoking for 28 days and you’re five times more likely to quit for good.
When you stop smoking good things start to happen, after 8 hours your oxygen levels are recovering and the harmful carbon monoxide level in your blood will have halved, after 48 hours all carbon monoxide is flushed out and after 72 hours you will notice breathing feels easier and your energy is increasing. As you remain smoke free the benefits continue, you start moving better, your circulation improves, your lung function increases, and you have more money to spend or save.
Councillor Janine Lewis, Executive Portfolio Holder for Public Health in West Berkshire said, ‘quitting smoking not only has significant health benefits for you, it has benefits for those within your household whose heath can also be negatively impacted through the breathing in of second-hand smoke, or who may choose to smoke themselves owing to the witnessing of a parent or carer who smokes. I therefore encourage anyone who is considering quitting smoking in 2024 to do so. In addition to the health benefits there are other benefits to be achieved. If you smoke a packet of cigarettes a week and each packet costs around £13 you could save around £676 pounds a year which could go towards nice holiday perhaps?’
For help, support and encouragement with quitting smoking, visit the Better Health Quit Smoking website Quit smoking this January - Better Health - NHS (www.nhs.uk) or for our free local Berkshire service, Solutions4Helath, visit their website Stop Smoking Berkshire | Smokefreelife Berkshire .
