Reporter inquiry by: Amy Hillenburg
Tuesday, December 26, 2006 5:29 PM

We are doing a story on the focus targets of the Healthier Morgan County Community Initiative committee. Our paper is in Martinsville, but we cover Mooresville, Ind., Bloomington and areas in between.

I would like to use some of your statistics - especially for teen smoking. I wanted to know:

Are youth the largest group becoming addicted to cigarettes each year? For awhile, it was women. Is that still the case?

A - The majority of smokers start smoking while they are under 18 years old. Each day 4,400, or nearly 1,600,000 a year, children as young as 8 years old start smoking in America alone with one in three becoming daily smokers. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 90% of all adult smokers begin while in their teens, or earlier, and nearly two-thirds become regular, daily smokers before they reach the age of 19.3.

Also, besides the addiction to nicotine, what makes quitting smoking one of the hardest things people will ever have to do? Attitude? lifestyle? problem solving, economic status, stress levels? Do you have any statistics on how those things affect people's ability to quit smoking?

A - Smoking is both physical and psychological. Giving up the addiction (the physical aspect) is easy for most people. It’s the psychological dependency and association that makes quitting so difficult. According to Professor Leonard L. Rosenbaum, Ph.D., Psychology, Maryland and SFSC, PARC Committee Member : “Only eliminating the physical need for nicotine may not result in the smoker’s quitting if the psychological dependency is not addressed. Smoking is often associated with, or linked with daily activities such as having a cup of coffee, finishing a meal, socializing, etc. It is very much possible to break the psychological dependency of smokers by modifying the smoker’s usual behavior pattern thereby breaking the associations that have been reinforced in the past. New associations, more healthy substitutes for smoking, can be developed with the help of modern smoking cessation programs.”

Many smokers believe smoking relieves their stress. Quitting smoking actually reduces stress by improving blood circulation, pressure and dependency to nicotine – a very powerful drug. The best way to quit is to properly prepare your mindset through education so you totally understand what is happening to your body and your mind due to the physical addiction and psychological association.

Education and awareness prevalence show smoking is highest among those with a 9th-11th grade and GED education level, where as those with a college education is much lower. For example, according to the CDC, in 2001, smoking prevalence was higher among women with 9-11 years of education (29.2%) than women with some college of education (22.1%) and three times higher than women with a graduate degree (10%).

What do successful quitters have in common?

A - Most successful quitters have had many (on average, about 8) prior unsuccessful attempts to quit. And less than 1 in 10 smokers can quit without some help.

Out of nearly 50 million American smokers, over 32 million of them desperately want to quit every day but they fail due to their physical and psychological dependencies to smoking and nicotine. Cigarettes are made to be very addictive and even harder to quit.

The common desires of smokers are to improve their health, save their hard-earned money, their job and the health of their loved ones around them.

Although quitting smoking and staying smoke free is difficult, the good news is that smokers can quit because smoking is a learned behavior and can be unlearned. Smoke Free Society’s three-step process of: education/preparation, help with quitting and support is an effective way to quit and stay quit without use of any substance or drug. The process effectively addresses the physical and psychological aspects of smoking at the same time through education, awareness, encouragement and support that empowers our loved ones to want to quit and stay quit.

Sincerely,

Amy Hillenburg, feature writer, Reporter-Times,
Martinsville, Ind.

Thanks so much for your input - I appreciate it. And it will heighten interest in the story. We have a lot of smokers in our area and some businesses still allow smokers.
Amy Hillenburg

Back to Top

_______________________________________________________

For more information on quitting techniques and free download of its "Proven Stop Smoking Technique" (a $40.00 value) the entire month of November, go to its website at www.SmokeFreeSociety.org or email them at CustomerCare@smokefreesociety.org

Please use your browser's back button to return to the previous page, or go directly to the SmokeFreeSociety.org Home Page.