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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
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Smoking and Tobacco |
Length of Time to Quit03/18/1997 |
How long does it generally take to quit smoking? Is it harder the longer you have been smoking?
There is no standard length for successful smoking cessation. Every individual is different and there are several factors associated with lower cessation rates.The longer an individual smokes, the harder it is to quit. This is because nicotine dependence is related to years of smoking.
The environment in which you live and/or work also plays an important role in cessation. If there are other smokers in your house or workplace, it will be harder to quit. On the other hand, if your household and workplace are smoke-free, your environment will be an advantage.
High levels of stress can also influence cessation rates. Recent major life changes, such as a job change or divorce will typically increase stress level. If this is your case, find an alternative to manage stress before you attempt to quit.
Other factors that influence success include motivation, readiness to quit, and perceived ability to quit. Motivation and believing in your success will outweigh any of the other risk factors.
Some research indicates that it takes an average of 3 successful quit attempts in order to be smoke-free for life. A successful attempt is remaining smoke-free for at least 6 months. Although this varies with each individual, it does carry an important message.
Do not get discouraged if your quit attempt is initially unsuccessful. This is more a typical response than untypical. However, it is important to learn from your failures and take that into consideration with your next attempt.
In order to increase your success rate there are several things to keep in mind when choosing a cessation format. Programs that have individual or group counseling sessions have a higher success rate than self-help programs. Also, the longer the program lasts, the higher the success. It appears that an 8 week program is an ideal length. Also, the use of the nicotine patch approximately doubles 6 to 12 month abstinence rates over those who do not use the patch. Most treatments last 8 weeks. There are many factors that affect the type of smoking cessation program that is right for you. Gather more information about the different types of programs available from other sites available thru NetWellness. You may also want to talk to your physician or other health care specialist in order to decide which program would be best for you. The most important thing is to keep reinforcing why it is important for you to become smoke-free.
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Margaret C Sweeney, MD Formerly, Associate Professor of Clinical Family Medicine Department of Family Medicine College of Medicine University of Cincinnati |
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Please note: only your personal physician or other health professional you consult can best advise you on matters of your health based on your medical history, your family medical history, your medication history, and how information from any of these databases may apply to you. Neither University of Cincinnati (NetWellness) nor any party involved in creating, producing or delivering this web site shall be liable for any damages arising out of access to or use of this web site, or any errors or omissions in the content thereof. (More) 
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