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What is No Smoking Day and how can it help Londoners quit?
Quitting smoking is one of the best ways to improve your health, and reduce the risk of developing dementia, heart disease, cancer or strokes.
Quitting for at least six weeks is proven to boost mental health and wellbeing, by relieving stress, anxiety, and depression.
However, it’s notoriously difficult to stop, because nicotine is a highly addictive drug.
One way to tackle it is to be surrounded by others attempting to do the same - which is where No Smoking Day comes in.
No Smoking Day is an annual awareness day which encourages smokers to attempt to quit the habit.
This year’s theme is “stopping smoking protects your brain health”.
People over the age of 55 most fear getting dementia, more than any other life-threatening disease, such as cancer or diabetes, according to Alzheimer’s Research UK.
However, YouGov data commissioned by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) revealed that fewer than one in five (17 per cent) of people in London who smoke understand that smoking increases the risk of dementia, compared to 77 per cent who know that smoking causes lung diseases or cancers.
Dr Chi Udeh-Momoh, a neuroscientist and dementia-prevention expert based at Imperial College London, said: “If you smoke, quitting is perhaps the most important step you can take to protect both your heart and your brain. It really can be life-changing.
“Many people know that smoking affects the heart and blood vessels, increasing the risk of conditions like high blood pressure and stroke.
But fewer realise that these conditions, in turn, increase the risk of dementia, or that the chemicals in cigarette smoke can speed up the natural ageing of the brain.”
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, who is helping to co-ordinate this year’s No Smoking Day, explained that: “No Smoking Day is the perfect time to quit smoking when thousands of other people are stopping, too.
“There are many ways to stop, from nicotine-replacement therapy to vaping and free local support to stop smoking. Smokers are three times more likely to succeed in quitting with help from a trained professional than with willpower alone.”
Source: The Evening Standard, 22 February 2023
See also: Today is the day- No smoking day
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Opinion: ‘There are many myths about e-cigarettes and vaping’
Writing in the Nursing Times, John Waldron (Policy Manager at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Debbie Robson (Senior lecturer in tobacco harm reduction at King’s College London) and Ann McNeill (Professor of tobacco addiction at King’s College London), discuss the measures needed to address youth vaping while maximising the use of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation among adult smokers.
The authors state that vaping is the most popular aid used to quit in England and is used by around 4.3 million adults in Great Britain. They highlight evidence from a recent Cochrane review which found that vaping is a more effective quitting aid than nicotine patches or gum and the latest OHID review of vaping safety which found vaping was found to pose “a small fraction of the health risks of smoking”.
The authors go on to write that vaping is not risk free and should not be taken up by children or those who do not smoke. They point out that the number of children vaping rose between 2021 and 2022 but that this increase was overwhelmingly among current and former smokers, with “only 1.7% of never smokers vaping at least monthly”.
Although use of e-cigarettes among children remains low, the authors argue that there is still a need to implement policies which help prevent further youth uptake. They call for an excise tax on single-use vapes to make them less affordable to children, more regulation on the way these products are marketed by prohibiting the use of bright colours and cartoonish characters, and better enforcement of current regulations to prevent the sale of e-cigarettes to under 18s.
The authors add that there are many misconceptions about vaping, which risk “undermining the use of these products as cessation aids for adults”. It is important that health professionals are given evidence-based information on vaping so they can provide accurate advice on smoking cessation.
The authors conclude that whilst action to limit the appeal of vaping to children is needed, smoking remains the biggest threat to child health.
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Keir Starmer unveils Labour's five missions for the country
Sir Keir Starmer has outlined the five "missions" he will put at the centre of his party's offer to voters at the next election in a speech in Manchester.
He vowed to make the UK the fastest growing major economy by the end of a first Labour term in government.
Making the country a "clean energy superpower" and cutting health inequalities will be other key priorities if the party wins power.
The Labour leader claimed his plan would give Britain "its future back".
The five missions, which Sir Keir said would form "the backbone of the Labour manifesto and the pillars of the next Labour government", include:
• Securing the highest growth in the G7
• Making Britain a “clean energy superpower”
• Improving the NHS
• Reforming the justice system
• Raising education standards
Source: BBC news, 23 February 2023
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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