The following content is a guest post. All content and opinions offered in guest posts are solely those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the views of this site. Sometimes I get jealous of guest posts from the UK since they seem to be a bit more positive :)
An annual, nationwide campaign to push people to stop smoking and get healthy is currently underway in the United Kingdom. Called Stoptober and run by the much-loved National Health Service, its message is clear: give up now to not only protect your life and those around you, but to save substantial amounts of money too. This year, the campaign is pinning its hopes on e-cigarettes as one of the main ways to help people stub out for good.
As of today, there are nearly 3.2 million active vapers in the UK, many of whom were former smokers and were able to give up by vaping instead. E-cigarettes and the e-liquid they contain have varying levels of nicotine, and sometimes none at all — just fruity and other flavors — and the single most important factor in terms of human health is that they don’t contain any of the many thousands of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals found in burning tobacco.
There are still around 9.4 million smokers in Britain, however, and the health authorities are doing all they can to coax them to use different cessation methods to try and quit. In recent times, vaping has emerged as one of the leading and most effective ways to stop smoking. Last year, and for the first time, Stoptober recommended that smokers take up vaping as a sure-fire way to quit; this time around the campaign has expanded its advisory on e-cigarettes and is promoting them harder than ever in its stop-smoking drive.
Quitting the E-Cigarette Way
“E-cigarettes are a great way to fight cravings — and they carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes,” says this year’s Stoptober campaign, which offers “expert face-to-face” support to smokers and also promotes its message online, including across various social media channels.
“Thousands of people in England have already stopped smoking with the help of an e-cigarette,” the campaign says. “Plus, those who combine an e-cigarette with help from their local Stop Smoking Service have a high chance of success. In 2017-18, two-thirds of smokers who did so managed to stop smoking.” It adds that smokers should properly manage their cigarette cravings and, to do so, they should ensure they have the strength of nicotine in their e-liquid refills that’s right for them. Heavy smokers, for instance, should choose high-strength nicotine or they might not be satisfied with their e-cigarettes and return to smoking.
Smokers looking for vapes for sale can easily get them from a physical store or, as many are increasingly doing, order them online. Stoptober also has a word about nicotine, as it is often mistaken as one of the ills of smoking. “Many people think nicotine is very harmful to health,” it says. “In fact, although it is addictive, nicotine is relatively harmless — it’s the thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke that cause almost all the harm from smoking.”
Top Reasons for Stubbing Out
Stoptober, which also provides a free app that smokers can use to keep them motivated on their quitting journey, lists the top three reasons that people should give up smoking right now. The first is that people immediately feel healthier after their last drag on a cigarette — their blood pressure improves almost immediately; the senses of taste and smell, once dulled by tobacco, start to return; and energy levels shoot right up because they’re getting more oxygen, which was partially blocked by toxic chemicals clinging on to life-giving red blood cells in the body.
Secondly, smokers who give up for good stand to reap big financial rewards — calculated by Stoptober at around $330 a month. The adds up to a hefty almost $4,000 a year, enough to have an even better summer vacation than last year, and one during which former smokers will feel so much better and not be running off every few minutes to sneak in a cigarette. Instead, they can enjoy some of the best vape flavours with their e-cigarette, and even wean themselves off nicotine entirely and vape for the great tastes alone.
Finally, says Stoptober: “Quitting helps protect your loved ones from harmful secondhand smoke — reducing their risk of developing asthma, meningitis and some cancers.” Perhaps by the time Stoptober rolls around next year, there will be far fewer smokers and many more vapers.
