How To Quit Smoking

Learn how to quit smoking at Rockcastle Regional Hospital. Cigarette smoking is a difficult habit to break, just ask the one in five Kentuckians who smoke cigarettes. The good news is that smokers who get support have a greater chance of quitting smoking. Take advantage of some of Rockcastle Regional Hospital’s support services.

If you’re a current smoker, you can greatly reduce your risk of lung cancer and other diseases by choosing to quit smoking.

• Within 20 minutes of quitting, your blood pressure and heart rate are reduced to almost normal.
• Within 12 hours of quitting, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.
• Within 2 weeks to 2 months, your circulation improves and your lung function increases.
• Within 10 years of quitting smoking, the risk of dying from lung cancer is about half of a person who is still smoking. The risk of cancer of the larynx (voice box) and pancreas decreases.
• Smoking can reduce your good cholesterol (HDL) and your lung capacity, making it difficult to get the physical activity you need to stay healthy.
• Quitting smoking today will lower your risk of heart disease, aneurysms, blood cloths, stroke and peripheral artery disease (PAD).

Quitting smoking is hard and we want to help at Rockcastle Regional Hospital. Our smoking cessation programs are designed to provide counseling and support for those people who are interested in quitting smoking. Our smoking cessation program shows you how to quit smoking in a safe, supportive environment. You’ll be given the tools and resources to overcome your tobacco addiction so you can enjoy the benefits of better health, extra money in your pocket and healthier relationships. There is no safe way to smoke. All forms of tobacco use can cause damage to the body, even in small amounts. Stopping smoking will help your heart do its job delivering blood to the rest of the body.

Why you should quit smoking:

• Reduces your chance of heart attack, stroke and cancer
• Improves your health
• Improves your sense of smell and the taste of food
• Your home, car and breath will smell better
• Saves money
• Those around you will be healthier
• Freedom from addiction

Few lifestyle decisions have as positive an impact on your health and sense of well-being as the decision to quit smoking. As devastating as continued smoking can be to critical organs like the heart and lungs, the good news is that improvements can start to happen relatively quickly once smoking stops. Rockcastle Regional Hospital’s smoking cessation program can help you every step of the way.

Millions of Americans have health problems caused by smoking. Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health, but knowing the many ways it affects your body may increase your resolve to quit smoking. Life expectancy for smokers is at least 10 years shorter than that of non-smokers. About half of the people who don’t quit smoking will die of problems related to smoking. Quitting before the age of 40 reduces the risk of dying from a smoking-related disease by about 90%.

For individuals ready to live a tobacco-free life, Rockcastle Regional Hospital offers smoking cessation, e-cigarette cessation and smokeless tobacco cessation clinics that will guide participants in the steps involved in successfully quitting smoking. The program includes:

• Building motivation by weighing the pros and cons of smoking
• Discovering personal and health-related reasons to quit
• Studying the complexity of the smoking habit
• Forming a plan for quitting based on observed patterns
• Learning about approaches for dealing with the urges to smoke
• Explore long-term strategies to stay smoke-free

E-cigarettes, vapor cigarettes and other electronic delivery systems (ENDS) are hot-button, often controversial topics in health care today. Electronic cigarettes are not ‘safe’ cigarettes, they have very little regulation and are especially not safe for children or teenagers. While some claim to have zero nicotine, controlled lab testing proves otherwise. If you are considering switching from a traditional cigarette to an electronic cigarette, this suggests that you are no longer satisfied with continuing to smoke. Also, if you are using both traditional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes, it is important to be aware of overdosing on nicotine as dual-use is very unsafe. At Rockcastle Regional Hospital, we are happy to discuss safe, evidence-based methods to help you along the journey of quitting electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The phrase, “smokeless doesn’t mean harmless” is true. Smokeless tobacco products are not a suitable alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes and use of this product comes with great risks. You should quit using smokeless tobacco products like dip, snuff, chew, snus, sticks, strips, bidis and orbs. Continued use of these products carries a risk of cancer of the mouth, decay of the exposed tooth roots, white patches or red sores in the mouth that can lead to cancer, heart disease and stroke. Smokeless tobacco contains more nicotine than cigarettes. Nicotine is a highly addictive drug that makes it hard to stop using tobacco. If you are interested in quitting smokeless tobacco, Rockcastle Regional Hospital is happy to help you formulate a safe quit plan.

Quitting smoking is the single most important action you can take to protect your health and your family’s health. To learn how to quit smoking, contact Rockcastle Regional Hospital.