Quitting smoking will top many people’s New Year’s resolutions, but going cold turkey can be tricky, particularly during the festive season.
The New Daily spoke with an expert to find out how to set yourself up to successfully quit smoking.
“A lot of people think that all they need to quit is willpower,” Professor in Public Health at Flinders University, Billie Bonevski, told TND.
“And after many, many attempts, some people might eventually get there. But trying to quit cold turkey is one of the least effective ways to quit.”
Data shows that regardless of the time of year, people can attempt quitting 20 times before successfully giving up the habit.
The struggle to give up cigarettes or e-cigarettes can be made all the more complicated if people also face challenges that trigger them to smoke.
“This might be a difficult time of year for some people,” Professor Bonevski said.
“They might be particularly lonely. It might trigger mental health concerns this time of year, undermining any quit attempt.”
Financial stress and a busy social calendar could be other barriers to quitting, Professor Bonevski said.
How to quit
Evidence shows that using stop-smoking medicines and counselling or behavioural support increases the chances of giving up cigarettes.
“Stop-smoking medicines work on those physical aspects of nicotine dependency,” Professor Bonevski said.
Nicotine replacement therapies, such as nicotine gum or patches, are typically available over the counter at pharmacies or supermarkets.
GPs can prescribe medications, such as Champix, which is scientifically proven as the most effective stop-smoking medicine available.
Champix reduces the cravings for nicotine and helps with the withdrawal symptoms, such as depression and irritability.
Professor Bonevski said counselling also played a vital role.
“Counselling provides a way for people to talk through any struggles that they might be going through in trying to quit or stay quit.
“Many people try to quit and might make it for a day or a few days. But most people then relapse back to smoking within six months.
“It’s useful to understand what might be undermining your quit attempt and have someone to talk with and provide you with tips and advice.”
Every state and territory has a telephone Quitline staffed by trained counsellors who can provide personalised advice and support for people trying to quit.
For more information about your local service, visit:
Aboriginal Quitline is also available to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who smoke.
Caution over vaping to quit smokes
There is some evidence to suggest that vaping can help people quit smoking.
E-cigarettes heat liquids with nicotine and flavourings, allowing users to ‘vape’ nicotine instead of smoking.
Health researchers at Cochrane found that if six in 100 people quit by using nicotine replacement therapy, eight to 12 would quit by using electronic cigarettes containing nicotine.
This means an additional two to six people in 100 could potentially quit smoking with nicotine containing electronic cigarettes.
Dr Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, editor of the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group said: “Electronic cigarettes have generated a lot of misunderstanding in both the public health community and the popular press since their introduction over a decade ago.
“These misunderstandings discourage some people from using e-cigarettes as a stop smoking tool. Fortunately, more and more evidence is emerging and provides further clarity.
“With support from Cancer Research UK, we search for new evidence every month as part of a living systematic review. We identify and combine the strongest evidence from the most reliable scientific studies currently available.
“For the first time, this has given us high-certainty evidence that e-cigarettes are even more effective at helping people to quit smoking than traditional nicotine replacement therapies, like patches or gums.”
Professor Bonevski said some studies had found vaping was as effective as nicotine replacement therapies. For some people, it might even be a little bit more effective.
“The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners recommend people try vaping as a second-line treatment for smoking,” she said.
“That means if you’ve tried everything else first … nicotine replacement therapies, Champix, you’ve spoken to either your GP or the Quitline, and none of that has worked … then you can try vaping.
“What we don’t want is people to take up vaping and continue smoking cigarettes as well … that’s sort of a worst-case scenario.”
Professor Bonevski said that while the long-term health effects of vaping remained unclear, the “dual use” of cigarettes and e-cigarettes was “undesirable”.
“Best strategies [for adults who want to quit vaping] are to see a GP for assistance or call the telephone Quitline in their state or territory.
“Vaping by youth is an emerging concern. We are watching closely what is happening in countries where vapes are readily available.”
She said the Lung Foundation had evidence-based resources to help parents worried about their teenage children vaping.
They include factsheets and webinars that help dispel any misconceptions parents might have about vaping, such as accuracy of labelling and nicotine content.
“It is important to emphasise that tobacco cigarettes are the most harmful product available to people. They are the leading cause of burden of disease in Australia causing chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease, cancers, respiratory diseases,” Professor Bonevski said.
“Also, a lot more Australians regularly smoke than regularly vape (about 2.7 million versus about 500,000) – we must prioritise helping people quit smoking.”
Daily smokers
Tobacco smoking is the single most important preventable cause of ill health and death in Australia.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data shows that in 2021 Australia had the ninth-lowest proportion of daily smokers among people aged 15 and over (11.2 per cent).
This was lower than the OECD average of 16.1 per cent.
The proportions of both female and male daily smokers were also below the OECD average.
