Smokers encouraged to quit for No Smoking Day on 12 March

Medical Specialists Pharmacy is proudly supporting the next annual No Smoking Day, which will be taking place on 12 March 2014. Whether it is for this yearly awareness day, month-long campaigns such as ‘Stoptober’, for a New Year’s Resolution, or any other particular occasion, basically there is always a good reason to quit smoking today, not way in the future.

No Smoking Day is being pioneered by the British Heart Foundation, who understand not everybody can go ‘cold turkey’ and suddenly quit smoking for good instantly, but they are encouraging smokers to quit at least just for this one day to prove to themselves they can do it. It is hoped this one day smoke free will increase their motivation to quit for good in the long-run; this can be achieved with the help of smoking cessation medication such as Champix.

Now is the perfect time to quit as Medical Specialists Pharmacy have just drastically reduced the price of Champix to its lowest ever price! Prices have been reduced by as much as a whopping 50%. For instance, an online consultation for the Champix starter pack was £75, but this has now come down to just £38.95! For those already with a private prescription, the price is even lower, at a mere £27.48.

Everyone may have their own personal reasons for wanting to give up smoking. In the current financial climate, paying almost £10 for a packet of cigarettes is simply not feasible, with food and bills obviously much more important. For others, quitting could be part of a much wider plan to become healthier and include increasing exercise, eating better, etc.

A packet of 20 cigarettes can set you back around £7-£8, so the average 20-a-day smoker could suddenly have an extra £56 in their pocket each week. Wondering what to spend all that extra cash on? If you are spending £7 each day on your smoking habit, here’s what else you could be spending your money on:

1 day (£7): Two movie rentals or a new lipstick.
1 week (£49): A family cinema trip or a meal for two.
1 month (£210): A shopping spree or premiership football tickets.
3 months (£630): A new laptop or the latest flat screen TV.
6 months (£1,260): A leather suite or a home cinema.
1 year (£2,555): A new kitchen or a holiday of a lifetime.

If all that wasn’t music to your ears, you will feel extra money in your pocket in other ways. You will now suddenly find that life, home and car insurance will now be cheaper because you are a non-smoker.

It is worth remembering that you and everybody around you will reap the massive benefits from you stopping smoking. Your friends and family will no longer be inhaling second-hand smoke and having their health badly impacted too and for you personally, this is what you can look forward to in the forthcoming 12 months after stopping smoking:

20 minutes

Your heart rate and blood pressure return to a normal level.

8 hours

Oxygen levels return to normal as the nicotine and carbon monoxide begin to leave your body.

24 hours

Mucus and other smoking debris is cleared from the lungs.

48 hours

Nicotine should have been removed from your body by this stage and your sense of smell and taste are boosted.

2 – 12 weeks

Breathing improves and you find exercising is easier.

3 – 9 months

Any coughs, wheezing and breathing problems are reduced as your lungs repair.

1 year

You now have half the risk of coronary heart disease than that of a smoker.

If you want to get involved with No Smoking Day you can visit here or here to download the huge and informative campaign handbook which has details about the history of the day, what is included in the ‘V for Victory’ kit and advice for schools, employers and much more. On the downloads page of the British Heart Foundation website you can even see the smoking percentage statistics for your specific town and compare this against other regions within the United Kingdom.

Stoptober begins as thousands try to stop smoking for 28 days

You may not be aware but today is the first day of the Stoptober challenge, a 28-day challenge aimed at getting as many of the 10 million adults who smoke in Britain to stop smoking for this time period as health experts believe you are five times more likely to stay smokefree if you have successfully managed to stop for 28 days.

One way or another, smoking can and usually does impact all of us. There is a good chance that one or more of your family members smoke, and you are friends with people who smoke. Even if you yourself do not smoke, you could still be impacted by passive smoking. What smokers may not realise is that for each 28 days abstaining from cigarettes for the rest of your life, you can actually save a whole week in life.

Of course, some benefits you may notice in the short-term. Following 48 hours of not smoking, your body will now be free of nicotine and this will boost your sense of taste and smell. After 72 hours, your breathing will be improved and within 9 months of quitting you will probably notice a dramatic reduction in coughing, wheezing and breathing problems.

Last year’s Stoptober challenge saw an incredible 160,000 smokers complete the 28-day challenge and it is hoped that even more will get involved this year. Helping them along the way will be a free Stoptober pack containing support tools to help get through the 28 days, a mobile app available on iPhone and Android smartphones, as well as regular text and email support which will offer tips and advice to keep you focused in reaching your goal.

Stopping smoking can be an incredibly difficult challenge however and unless you have experienced it yourself, it can be hard to understand what it is like to try and give up cigarettes. If you think you may struggle to complete Stoptober, or even completely stop smoking after completing Stoptober, here are some tips to help you through the next month and hopefully beyond:

. Understand your reasons for quitting

Writing down a list of the reasons why you want to quit smoking may provide the necessary motivation to power through when things get difficult and you find the temptation to smoke is increasing. Who will benefit from you stopping? How much money each week/month will you save? How will your health and appearance benefit? Write down all these positives and know your reasons for quitting smoking – it will drive you on to persevere.

. Social media can connect you to fellow quitters

Facebook and Twitter can provide a useful outlet for describing your trials and tribulations during the next 28 days and reaching out to friends, family and fellow quitters you may not even know, could prove a huge morale-boosting motivation to quit. During last year’s Stoptober challenge, 50,000 people joined the Facebook Stoptober page. That’s like a football stadium full of people all cheering you on to the finish line!

. Stay active

Exercise may not be the first thing you feel like doing whilst trying not to smoke, but there is research to suggest that exercise actually helps to reduce cravings. It is thought that exercise helps the brain to produce chemicals which can suppress cravings. Even if you don’t fancy joining a gym just yet, try walking the dog or going for a brisk walk around the block, or just playing badminton perhaps with a friend.

. Get rid of cigarettes and other tobacco products from your home, car and work place.

If you don’t want the temptation there to smoke and want a feeling of liberation, then throw away all your packets of cigarettes. This means keeping absolutely no ‘emergency’ packs on standby! Next, bin any lighters, ashtrays, and matches you have cluttering up your house, car, or at work as you don’t need reminding of the habit you are benefitting from stopping. Then vigorously wash anything that still has the disgusting odour of cigarettes on it, whether this be clothes, curtains, furniture, bedding, etc.

. Reward yourself

Keep a jar handy and all the money you would usually spend (waste) on cigarettes can be put into the jar. Then at the end of the month you can treat yourself to something nice such as clothes, new shoes, or even more…depending on how many cigarettes you were previously buying!

Hospital blasted for proposed smoking shelter next to cancer ward

Bosses at The University of North Staffordshire hospital have caused a huge outpouring of anger after its plans to construct a smoking shelter outside a cancer ward were made public.

The hospital initially spoke of their proposed planning permission for five smoking shelters on-site in October of last year after staff, patients and visitors complained that smokers were repeatedly ignoring the rules regarding the strict no-smoking policy for directly outside the entrances to the hospital. However, further complaints were also made because of the fact that smokers would often convene in large groups on the A34, which is close by.

At the time, The hospital’s chief nurse Liz Rix said: “We want to encourage people not to smoke because of their health, but it’s become very difficult [to enforce the smoking ban].We have had so many complaints from staff, patients and visitors to the hospital about what you can see outside the grounds that we thought we had to try something different.” She also added that the hospital ‘absolutely do not condone’ smoking and would be ‘encouraging and supporting’ patients to stop smoking altogether.

If Stoke-on-Trent City Council give the go-ahead for the planning application (a decision is expected in February), then the five smoking shelters are to be erected next to two main entrances, the hospital’s maternity block, the accident and emergency unit and what has maybe caused the most fury – outside of the hospital’s cancer ward.

Cancer charities and people who have suffered with the deadly disease – commonly attributed to smoking – have now spoke out and blasted the prospect of a smoking shelter right beside a place where people are being treated for cancer, arguing it is a thoughtless and insensitive move from the hospital.

Cancer survivor Harry Larkins, 70, from Cheadle, Staffs, successfully managed to overcome cancer back in 2009 but still attends a check-up each year at the hospital. He hit out at the plans and said: “I know they have to accommodate smokers, but a lot of people in the cancer ward have smoked throughout their lives and don’t need reminding that could be the reason they are there. It’s just plain insensitive. It is a huge site and they could put them somewhere a lot more discreet. I think it’s a terrible error of judgement.”

Councillor Colin Eastwood, chairman of Newcastle Borough Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee, gave a scathing verdict of the hospital’s smoking shelters, saying: “I don’t feel the shelters are really addressing the problem of smoking. It is almost like condoning smoking. Smoking is a real issue in the local area and it concerns me that the hospital is providing for them. What they should be doing is supporting smokers who are admitted to hospital to quit the habit.”

To try and defend the plans, the chief nurse Lisa Rix commented: “We do not condone smoking on our premises by patients, visitors or staff. However, a degree of pragmatism has been adopted to keep the hospital clean and tidy and smokers away from building entrances. The beautiful main entrance has become a particular problem area with a large number of smokers congregating and at times it has been difficult to keep the area clean. We accept this has caused problems for neighbouring residential areas and are working with unions to see what actions can be taken to alleviate this. We enforce a blanket ban on staff smoking on our property and staff will not be allowed to use the shelters.”

Smoking is without doubt the most avoidable cause of many cancers and is often directly linked to throat, mouth, cervix, stomach, bowel and kidney cancer. The biggest killer though in regards to smoking-related cancers is lung cancer – responsible for over four out of every five cancer cases. Unfortunately lung cancer has one of the worst survival rates of any type of cancer but it is preventable with swift action that involves quitting smoking as soon as possible before it is too late.

Many people are able to give up smoking through the aid of the smoking cessation medication Champix, which works by replicating the effect of nicotine on the body. Therefore, it both reduces the urge to smoke and relieves withdrawal symptoms. Although you are not recommended to smoke after your quit date, Champix can also reduce the enjoyment of cigarettes if you do smoke when on treatment. It is available today from Medical Specialists Pharmacy from as little as just £75.00 per pack.

Just one cigarette a day doubles the risk of sudden death in women

Previously it was thought that heavy smokers are most at risk from such health problems as heart disease, cancer, etc. However, a new study has emerged showing that women who smoke just a single cigarette each day and believe they are avoiding such dangers, are still at massive risk.

Researchers from the University of Alberta, Canada, tracked 101,018 women over a period of thirty years, examining the effects of both cigarette smoking and smoking cessation. In particularly, researchers were curious how many instances of sudden cardiac death (SCD) there would be. All study participants were between 30 to 55 years old and on average it was found that those who smoked, began in their later teenager years.

SCD is a where a sudden expected non-violent/non-traumatic death happens as a result of the loss of heart function. This is usually due to fatty deposits blocking arteries in the heart within older people, and in younger people under 35 years old, it is more than likely because of an inherited condition running in their family. The incidence of sudden cardiac death is approximately 1 in 1,000 per year, more common in males than females which make the findings of the Canadian study all the more intriguing.

The risk of heart problems was found to be double for women smoking just one cigarette each day compared to those who do not smoke, and the risk is a lot higher for long term smokers. The dangers are even greater than first thought and provide even more evidence that smokers should try and quit cigarettes altogether instead of limiting them to one or two a day, believing this to be healthier. Clearly even one cigarette is one too many, although the researchers do point out that the risk can be reversed and maybe eliminated within half a decade if women manage to stop smoking.

Roopinder K. Sandhu, M.D., M.P.H., the study’s lead author and a cardiac electrophysiologist at the University of Alberta’s Mazankowski Heart Institute in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, says: “Cigarette smoking is a known risk factor for sudden cardiac death, but until now, we didn’t know how the quantity and duration of smoking effected the risk among apparently healthy women, nor did we have long-term follow-up.”

During their three-decade long study, there were 351 occurrences of SCD according to the report in Circulation: Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology, an American Heart Association journal. Proving just how damaging cigarettes are to the human body, it was discovered that Women with no previous history of cancer, heart disease, or stroke and who smoked were at two and a half times the risk of sudden cardiac death in comparison to healthy non-smoking women. For each additional five years of smoking, the risk shot-up by 8%. There was some positive findings however. Researchers ascertained that if women with heart disease decide to quit smoking, they will see their risk of sudden cardiac death falling to levels of a non-smoker after a period of 15 to 20 years of kicking the habit.

Upon viewing the alarming findings from the study, Ellen Mason, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), commented: “This study shows that smoking just a couple of cigarettes a day could still seriously affect your future health. As we approach the New Year, many of us will be making resolutions and giving up smoking will be top of the list for lots of people. If you’re thinking of quitting and need a nudge, this research adds to the wealth of evidence that stopping smoking is the single best thing you can do for your heart health.”

Quitting smoking should be something considered all year-round though and not just as a New Year’s resolution, that often people will give-up on.  If this study alone will not persuade you to quit, perhaps many of the other countless serious health risks could tempt you to finally stop.

If you require a little extra help, why not try effective smoking cessation medication from Medical Specialists Pharmacy. Champix is a prescription medication that works out from as little as just £75.00 per pack, an incredibly small price when it comes to your long-term health. Champix mimics the effect of nicotine on the body, reducing the urge to smoke and relieving withdrawal symptoms. It can also decrease the enjoyment you experience of smoking if you are still smoking whilst on the treatment. In fact, many people argue than Champix is much better than nicotine patches at helping you to stop smoking.