Smokeout Helps Users Quit

---

Photo By Katy Murray

Bag That Habit - Junior Nursing majors (left to right) Christie White, Trisha Shaffer, Shea Dempsey, Amanda White and Cindy Lewis man the Great American Smokeout table in the Green Room of the Gibson University Center to record pledges to quit smoking for the day and provide Survival Kits filled with goodies and information.

  The University of Arkansas-Monticello Wellness Committee sponsored the Great American Smokeout, which took place across the United States Nov. 17. The annual event helps smokers quit cigarettes for at least one day, in hopes they will quit forever.

   Research shows smokers to be more successful in kicking the habit permanently when they have some means of support such as counseling, guide books and the encouragement of friends and family. More people quit smoking on this day than any other day of the year. Survival kits were available in the Gibson University Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 16 and 17. The kits were filled with goodies and information to help get through the day.

   Nearly 30 people pledged to quit cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco, according to Director of Intramurals Julie Gentry and Director of Student Programs and Activities Robin Barker. The concept dates from the early 1970s when Lynn Smith, editor of the Monticello Times in Minnesota, announced the first observance and called it "D-Day" or Don’t Smoke Day. The idea gained predominance state by state until 1977, when it went nationwide under the sponsorship of the American Cancer Society.

   The Great American Smokeout traditionally takes place on the third Thursday in November and each year the American Cancer Society promotes local and nationwide activities that focus in a light-hearted way on the benefits of not smoking. Currently, 46 million American adults smoke. But for the first time, more ex-smokers exist in the United States than active smokers. Lung cancer, the deadliest cancer, kills more people than breast, colon and prostate cancer combined and can be largely preventable. However about 44,000 Americans will die from smoking related illnesses this year and of them at least 160,000 will be from lung cancer alone.

   People who plan a quit attempt in advance double their odds of succeeding, according to the American Cancer Society. The Surgeon General reported the following conclusions in 2004 about the health consequences of smoking:

• Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causing many diseases and reducing the health of smokers in general.
  
• Quitting smoking has immediate as well as long-term benefits, reducing risks for diseases caused by smoking and improving health in general.
  
• Smoking cigarettes with lower machine-measured yields of tar and nicotine provides no clear benefit to health.
  
• The list of diseases caused by smoking has been expanded to include abdominal aortic aneurysm, acute myebid leukemia, cataract, cervical cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, pneumonia, periodontitis and stomach cancer. These exist in addition to diseases previously known to be caused by smoking, including bladder, esophageal, laryngeal, lung, oral and throat cancers, chronic lung diseases, coronary heart and cardiovascular diseases, as well as reproductive efforts and sudden infant death syndrome.

Have a comment? Please e-mail us.