Stoptober: The Quit Smoking in 28 Days Challenge

The Essex Wellbeing Service is urging more people to quit smoking as part of their annual Stoptober campaign.

It offers weekly supplies of free nicotine replacement therapy for up to eight weeks and training from support staff. This is in partnership with pharmacies across Essex to help smokers quit.

This combination makes it four times more likely for a smoker to successfully quit than go cold turkey. 

According to the data from the UCL Smoking Toolkit Study, the quitting success rate in England this 2020 has increased by two-thirds, rising from 14 percent to 23 percent, which is the highest since 2007. Smokers in England who are trying to quit also increased by 22 percent from 2019.

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Based on the data from Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), more than 1 million people in the UK have stopped smoking, with experts saying this attitude could be attributed to the coronavirus pandemic, as most of them quit smoking during the lockdown period. 

Scott Crosby, a tobacco control program manager at Public Health England, said that being locked down with family and friends has many people concerned about their personal health choices and more aware of how the pandemic has affected their lives. This may be why people wanted to build their immune system and make the cessation of smoking the top of their to-do list.

Jo Churchill, public health minister, is urging all smokers to take part in the Stoptober campaign to improve their health and help achieve a smoke-free England by the year 2030. Crosby said that the best thing for your health right now, especially with coronavirus, is to boost your immune system. Quitting smoking is the most significant thing your health can benefit from even without the presence of a global viral respiratory disease.

Stoptober Challenge

The Stoptober Challenge is a 28-day challenge for smokers to give up cigarettes for October. Although it may take a 12-week journey to quit successfully, a person who quits smoking for 28 days is five times more likely to stay smokefree. The ultimate goal of Stoptober's campaign is to help smokers achieve this.

What happens when you quit smoking?

The benefits of quitting smoking are dramatic and almost instant, the blood pressure and heart rate return slowly to normal immediately after finishing a cigarette. There is a timeline on what happens to your body after that last puff of cigarette smoke.

By quitting smoking, you reduce your risk of acquiring various illnesses such as cancer, heart, or lung disease. It will also protect the people around you as you are reducing their exposure to secondhand smoke. It can also benefit your pockets as the average smoker saves £150 a month once they quit.

Pregnant women reduce the risk of pregnancy complications such as premature delivery, increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, and sudden infant death once they quit smoking.

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