Request Demo
Webinars On-Demand
Press
Events


By

X

Great American Smokeout - November 18

Quitting smoking isn’t easy. It takes time. And a plan. You don’t have to stop smoking in one day. Start with day one. Let the Great American Smokeout every third Thursday in November be your day to start your journey toward a smoke-free life. You’ll be joining thousands of people who smoke across the country in taking an important step toward a healthier life and reducing your cancer risk.

 

History of Great American Smokeout

The inception of the Great American Smokeout stems from a 1970 event in Randolph, Massachusetts. High school guidance counselor Arthur P. Mullaney asked people to give up cigarettes for one day and donate the money they would have spent on buying cigarettes to a high school scholarship fund. 

A few years later in 1974, newspaper editor Lynn R. Smith led Minnesota’s first Don’t Smoke Day. The two efforts caught on and on November 18, 1976, the California Division of the American Cancer Society got 1 million people to quit smoking for the day. This marked the first official Smokeout before the American Cancer Society took it nationwide in 1977. As a result, there was a dramatic change in the public view of tobacco advertising and use. Many public establishments and workplaces are now smoke-free to protect non-smokers and support people trying to quit.

For more than 40 years, the American Cancer Society has hosted the Great American Smokeout on the third Thursday of November.  The Great American Smokeout is an opportunity for people who smoke to commit to healthy, smoke-free lives – not just for a day, but year-round. The Great American Smokeout provides an opportunity for individuals, community groups, businesses, health care providers, and others to encourage people to use the date to make a plan to quit, or plan in advance and initiate a smoking cessation plan on the day of the event. The Great American Smokeout event challenges people to stop smoking and helps people learn about the many tools they can use to help them quit and stay quit.

 

Why is this Event Important?

About 34 million American adults still smoke cigarettes, and smoking remains the single largest preventable cause of death and illness in the world. Smoking causes an estimated 480,000 deaths every year, or about 1 in 5 deaths.

While the rates of cigarette smoking have declined over the past several decades, from 42% in 1965 to 14% in 2019, the gains have been inconsistent. Some groups smoke more heavily or at higher rates and suffer disproportionately from smoking-related cancer and other diseases. These populations tend to be those who experience inequities in multiple areas of their lives, including those at lower socioeconomic levels, those without college degrees, American Indians/Alaska natives, African American/Black communities, LGBTQ communities, those in the military, those with behavioral health conditions, and others. 

No matter your age or how long you’ve been smoking, quitting improves health both immediately and over the long term. Giving up smoking is a journey, and it can be hard, but you can increase your chances of success with a good plan and support. Getting help through counseling and medications doubles or even triples your chances of quitting successfully. 


Smoking Facts

Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body

  • More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking.
  • For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.
  • Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
  • Smoking also increases the risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Smoking is a known cause of erectile dysfunction in males.

 

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death.

  • Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 7 million deaths per year.2 If the pattern of smoking all over the globe doesn’t change, more than 8 million people a year will die from diseases related to tobacco use by 2030.3
  • Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day.
  • On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.
  • If smoking continues at the current rate among U.S. youth, 5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than 18 years of age are expected to die prematurely from a smoking-related illness. This represents about one in every 13 Americans aged 17 years or younger who are alive today.


Health Benefits of Quitting Smoking Over Time

Kicking the tobacco habit offers some other rewards that you’ll notice right away and some that will show up over time.

Right away you’ll save the money you spent on tobacco. And here are just a few other benefits you may notice:

  • Food tastes better.
  • Your sense of smell returns to normal.
  • Your breath, hair, and clothes smell better.
  • Your teeth and fingernails stop yellowing.
  • Ordinary activities (for example, climbing stairs or light housework) leave you less out of breath.
  • You can be in smoke-free buildings without having to go outside to smoke.
  • Quitting also helps stop the damaging effects of tobacco on how you look, including premature wrinkling of your skin, gum disease, and tooth loss.

It’s never too late to quit using tobacco. The sooner you quit, the more you can reduce your chances of getting cancer and other diseases.

 

Within minutes of smoking your last cigarette, your body begins to recover:

  • 20 minutes after quitting, your heart rate and blood pressure drop.
  • A few days after, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.
  • 2 to 3 months after quitting, your circulation improves and your lung function increases.
  • 1 to 12 months after quitting, coughing and shortness of breath decrease. Tiny hair-like structures (called cilia) that move mucus out of the lungs start to regain normal function, increasing their ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce the risk of infection.
  • In 1 to 2 years, your risk of heart attack drops dramatically.
  • 5 to 10 years after quitting, your risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, and voice box (larynx) is cut in half. Your stroke risk decreases.
  • 10 years after quitting, your risk of lung cancer is about half that of a person who is still smoking (after 10 to 15 years). Your risk of cancer of the bladder, esophagus, and kidney decreases.
  • In 15 years, your risk of coronary heart disease is close to that of a non-smoker.

 

These are just a few of the health benefits of quitting smoking for good, but there are others, too.

Quitting smoking lowers your risk of other cancers over time as well, including cancers of the stomach, pancreas, liver, cervix, and colon and rectum, as well as acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Quitting also lowers your risk of diabetes, helps your blood vessels work better, and helps your heart and lungs.

Quitting smoking can also add as much as 10 years to your life, compared to if you continued to smoke. Quitting while you're younger can reduce your health risks more (for example, quitting before the age of 40 reduces the risk of dying from smoking-related disease by about 90%), but quitting at any age can give back years of life that would be lost by continuing to smoke.

 

How to Help Someone Quit Smoking

  • Respect that the person trying to quit is in charge. This is their lifestyle change and their challenge, not yours.
  • Ask the person whether they want you to ask regularly how they’re doing. Ask how they’re feeling – not just whether they’ve stayed quit.
  • Let the person know that it’s OK to talk to you whenever they need to hear encouraging words.
  • Help the person who's quitting to get what they need, such as hard candy to suck on, straws to chew on, and fresh veggies cut up and kept in the refrigerator.
  • Spend time doing things with the person who's quitting to keep their mind off smoking – go to the movies, take a walk to get past a craving (what many call a “nicotine fit”), or take a bike ride together.
  • Try to see it from the point of view of the person who's quitting – their habit may feel like an old friend who's always been there when times were tough. It’s hard to give that up.
  • Make your home smoke-free, meaning that no one can smoke in any part of the house.
  • Remove all lighters and ashtrays from your home. Remove anything that reminds them of smoking.
  • Wash clothes that smell like smoke. Clean carpets and drapes. Use air fresheners to help get rid of the tobacco smells – and don’t forget the car, too.
  • Help the person who's quitting with a few chores, some child care, cooking, running errands – whatever will help lighten the stress of quitting.
  • Do thank the person who's quitting for not exposing others to harmful secondhand smoke. Don’t doubt their ability to quit. Your faith in the person who's quitting helps remind them they can do it.
  • Don’t judge, nag, preach, tease, or scold. This may make the person who's quitting feel worse. You don’t want your loved one to turn to a cigarette to soothe hurt feelings. Don’t take grumpiness personally when the person who's quitting is having nicotine withdrawal. Tell them you understand the symptoms are real and remind them that they won’t last forever. The symptoms usually get better in a few weeks.
  • Don’t offer advice. Just ask how you can help with the plan or program they are using.

Research shows that most people try to quit smoking several times before they succeed. (It’s called a relapse when people trying to quit go back to smoking like they were before they tried to quit.) If a relapse happens, think of it as practice for the next time. Don’t give up your efforts to encourage and support your loved one. If the person you care about fails to quit or starts smoking again:

  • Praise them for trying to quit, and for whatever length of time (days, weeks, or months) of not smoking.
  • Remind them that they didn’t fail – they are learning how to quit – and you’re going to be there for them the next time and as many times as it takes.
  • Encourage them to try again. Don’t say, “If you try again...” Say, “When you try again...” Studies show that most people who don’t succeed in quitting are ready to try again in the near future.
  • Encourage them to learn from the attempt. Things a person learns from a failed attempt to quit may help them quit for good next time. It takes time and skills to learn to how to be a person who doesn't smoke.
  • Do say, “It’s normal to not succeed the first few times you try to quit. You didn’t smoke for (length of time) this time. Now you know you can do that much. You can get even further next time.” Most people understand this and know that they have to try to quit again.

 

Observing the Great American Smokeout

 

Make a Plan

Learn about options to curb cravings and get your support system ready to help you through hard times. If you're trying to help someone else quit, check out some ways to ensure you're doing it the right way.

 

Get rid of anything smoking-related

It's the perfect day to remove all smoking-related items from your home. Remove all cigarettes, ashtrays, and lighters from your car and workplace as well. Also consider stocking up on substitutes like gum and crunchy snacks.

 

Reflect on your smoking past

If you've tried to quit before, the Great American Smokeout is a good time to reflect on your past attempts. Think about why those attempts didn't work, and go back to the drawing board for the next time around. 




Sources:

https://www.cancer.org/healthy/stay-away-from-tobacco/great-american-smokeout.html

https://nationaltoday.com/great-american-smokeout/

https://www.cancer.org/healthy/stay-away-from-tobacco/helping-a-smoker-quit.html

Filed Under: Events, awareness, Lungs, Smoking