General News

Smokers’ Helpline increases chance of success

January 26, 2016

Setting yourself up to fail is a lousy way to start the year yet countless smokers do exactly that when they resolve to quit cold turkey. But free help that will greatly increase your odds is just a call or a website away.
Quitting smoking is one of the top resolutions – right up there with exercising and eating better. By mid-January the crowds at the gym start thinning out while the ashtrays outside of buildings start overflowing again.
The majority of people who smoke – three out of five – say they want to quit within the next six months and half will try. Only four per cent succeed without help. But a new federal government study shows that 28 per cent Ontarians who turn to the Smokers’ Helpline, a free service that offers one-on-one coaching and support with zero judgement or guilt, manage to quit successfully. If you don’t want to contact this helpline though, you could look at other ways to stop smoking. You can purchase an amazing e-cigarettes if you’d like to quit, as vaping is famously known to be better for your health than smoking cigarettes because of the lack of combustion, tar or ash in vapes. You can get vapes and nicotine juice from online stores, if you wanted. However, it’s always advised to ask for help if you’re struggling with stopping smoking.

Smokers’ Helpline, funded by the Ontario government and run by the Canadian Cancer Society, is celebrating its 15th anniversary. Expert quit coaches are easy to call – their number is printed right on every package of cigarettes. Interpreters are available for more than 100 languages, including First Nations, Inuit and Metis languages. You can even get text messages to provide encouragement at key times during the day to overcome cravings.
And as a little extra nudge for smokers to act on the urge to quit, Smokers’ Helpline runs the First Week Challenge Contest, a monthly contest where you can win cash prizes for attempting to quit smoking. You may want to look here for more ideas to help you out with this on the line.
Elana Trainoff, a smoker since 15, turned to Smokers’ Helpline after having a heart attack last year at 40. She had no choice – she needed to start living a healthy life, and the essential first step was quitting smoking
“I knew how hard it is to overcome the addiction to tobacco. I tried going it alone then quickly realized I needed to get help,” Trainoff says. “The people at Smokers’ Helpline knew exactly what I was going through and provided the experience, expertise and encouragement to quit for good.”
Feb. 1 marks one year of being smoke-free for Trainoff. For some like Trainoff, going cold-turkey is the only route to take, otherwise, they could be looking at serious health implications or death if they were to ignore advice and carry on smoking, others that may not yet be so far down the hole may be able to then use the likes of a cigarette électronique to satisfy their nicotine intake, without consuming other harmful chemicals that are found in tobacco.
In addition to providing phone, online and texting support, quit coaches can also refer smokers to quitting services in their community. For example, many public health units offer free nicotine replacement therapy like patches or gum that double someone’s chances of successfully quitting.
To learn more and connect with a Quit Coach, call 1-877-513-5333, or the number on cigarette packages, and visit www.SmokersHelpline.ca.
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