Advice for Polish Londoners
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We know that stopping smoking can be hard, but you don’t have to do this on your own. Stop Smoking London is here to help Polish Londoners stop smoking.
Quitting smoking is the single best thing you can do for your health, with benefits starting almost immediately. It’s also proven to boost mental health and wellbeing by relieving stress, anxiety and depression.
Smoking and your health
Smokers will lose, on average, 10 years of life compared to non-smokers, but the sooner you quit smoking, the sooner your body can begin recovering.
The good news is that by quitting smoking you will reduce your risk of serious conditions such as:
- Cancer
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) – respiratory disease that includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
When you smoke you also inhale carbon monoxide – a poisonous gas found in tobacco smoke, which reduces your blood’s ability to carry oxygen around the body, raising your blood pressure and increasing your heart rate.
However, when you stop smoking this carbon monoxide can return to normal levels within a day, meaning you will have more energy and feel healthier.
When you give up cigarettes for good, you’ll find that your body and brain go through a series of positive changes, day by day, week by week. You can find out more about the benefits to quitting smoking here.
Services to help
You do not need to do this on your own and there are services across London that can help. The good news is that there isn’t a one-sized fits all way to stop smoking, you can choose options that work best for you.
You are three times more likely to successfully stop smoking when you combine stop smoking aids, such as NRT, with behavioural support (counselling and advice) offered by a stop smoking service.
A stop smoking service gives guidance, support and advice to help you quit smoking. Stop smoking advisors are experts and will ask you about how much you smoke, when you smoke and your lifestyle. This information will be used to create a personalised plan to help you overcome cravings and make changes to your routine that help you avoid triggers to smoke.
Advisors will be able to help you break habits that you have formed and give advice on effective NRT, such as patches and gum, prescribed medication or vapes.
You can find your local stop smoking service here.
You can also sign up to our free text messaging service and receive 28 days of messages to help motivate your through your quitting journey.
Stop Smoking Tools
Nicotine is also found in cigarettes and is very addictive but is not harmful in the body. Nicotine replacement products, like patches, chewing gum, inhalators and mouthsprays, are clean sources of nicotine. These products are called Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). That means that they give you the relief you need, without the thousands of life-threatening chemicals and tar that are in tobacco.
People have used NRT including patches for many years to help them stop smoking. NRT helps people deal with cravings and nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Many people also get a similar benefit from using nicotine vapes, sometimes called E-cigarettes, which are significantly less harmful than continuing to smoke.
There are also prescribed medications that can help people with managing nicotine withdrawal symptoms, while reducing the urge and the enjoyment of smoking.
Being prepared for triggers
Triggers are the things that make you want to smoke. Think about what your smoking triggers are, and how you will manage these. Two common triggers that the Polish community often talk about are social situations, where connecting with other smokers can trigger old habits, or when stress or anxiety can be a reason for some people to smoke.
The good news is that there are lots of ways to manage situations like these and other triggers. For further information on how to deal with cravings and triggers, from what to do during work breaks, how to manage situations in which a family member or partner smokes, or tips on dealing with social situations and stress, check out our Hints and Tips, available in Polish, as well as our Practical Guide to Quitting.
Download Hints and Tips (Polish)
Download Practical Guide (English)
Never quit quitting
Everyone’s journey to quitting is different but free help is available for anyone in London who wants to stop. Stopping smoking isn’t easy, and that’s why Stop Smoking London is here, to help you find the support you need. So never quit quitting.
