Tobacco Consumption - How To End It?

Everyone would have heard that tobacco consumption can lead to various health risks such as hypertension, cancer, cardiovascular and other serious chronic diseases. But unfortunately, despite knowing all this, people find it almost impossible to quit.

Quitting tobacco at any stage of life can bring positive impacts on your health. The earlier you quit, the more you benefit. If you quit before the age of 50, you bring down your risk of dying from smoking-related diseases by 50%. But if you are above 60 and suffering from heart disease or hypertension, you can manage these diseases better through tobacco cessation. 

Here are a few health risks of smoking: 

1. Heart disease, cancer especially lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) 
2. Impotence due to erectile dysfunction in men and fertility problems in women 
3. Optic neuropathy affects the optic nerve that conducts visual signals from the eyes to the brain 
4. Cataract Macular degeneration is a breakdown of the tissue at the back of the eye 
5. Psoriasis 
6. Gum disease 
7. Losing teeth early 
8. Osteoporosis or spongy, thin bones 
9. Complications in pregnancy i.e., women who smoke have more complications during pregnancy and have low-birth babies

Your food and drink taste better once you kick the tobacco habit. So, how can you stop smoking? Are there any medications and strategies available? The answer is definitely ‘Yes’.

Few strategies to quit smoking are mentioned below:

1. Clinics: There are tobacco cessation clinics that help you with tobacco cessation. These are manned by psychiatrists, who can provide detailed information, encouragement and tips to stop smoking.
    
2. Medications: You can use many medicines while you’re trying to stop smoking. This increases your chance of quitting and including nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). NRT can be in the form of gums, sprays, patches, tablets, lozenges, and inhalers. NRT is even available without a prescription. Medicines called bupropion and varenicline are also very useful. 
    
3. Electronic cigarettes: Electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes are designed to look and feel like normal cigarettes. These contain a heating element that vapourises a solution and looks like smoke. Some may also contain low levels of nicotine. There is currently controversial evidence on their efficacy.
    
4. Counselling and behavioural therapy: They are both very effective too, especially if you are being guided by a cessation expert. He or she can help you with a personalised quit plan, including ways to cope with nicotine withdrawal. Apart from this, online support is also available for those who don’t have time or money to engage in personal, face-to-face counselling.

Therefore, various medications, counselling and therapies are available to help you quit smoking. Thus, by adopting any of these strategies, you can easily get rid of smoking habit.