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Are you thinking of stopping smoking or have you already tried before and want to try stopping again?
If so – listen on and we can help you make the move to live life smoke-free.
You may already know some facts about smoking but here are some particular ones
that may make you think twice about continuing.
For a start it keeps you out in the cold while your non-smoking mates are
enjoying themselves in the pub or nightclub.
It ruins your good looks because the poisons in the cigarettes dry out your skin and
cause wrinkles around your eyes and mouth.
Higher rates of gum disease and tooth loss also mean that smoking spoils your smile.
Later on, smoking reduces fertility in both men and women, of note it causes impotence in men.
You may be thinking that it takes ages for all the bad stuff to happen, so why bother now. Well,
if you skip your next cigarette, within 20 minutes your body starts to become healthier
your blood pressure and pulse return to normal and your circulation already starts to improve.
After 8 hours, the oxygen level in your system, which was previously lowered by smoking,
will return to normal.
By the end of 24 hours smoke-free, the carbon monoxide from your previous cigarettes
leave your body and your lungs start to clear out all the mucus and debris.
Keeping up the good work means that over the following weeks your circulation continues to improve
and you can exercise easier.
And after all this, the health benefits still keep coming!
The sooner you give up smoking the more years you’ll add to your life after university.
As well as the health benefits, you’ll be better off in your pocket as well
The current cost of smoking 10 cigarettes per day for a year costs on average over a thousand pounds.
If you quit smoking, think of how this amount could subsidise your
debts or free up your finances to afford the stuff you’ve wanted.
Some cigarettes and roll-ups may cost less but they all have the same health risks.
Here’s one of our smoking cessation advisors, Sue Westgate to tell us more about
how we can help you at the University Health Service Smoking Cessation clinic
Sue – what can you offer to people who come to you wanting to quit smoking?
(SUE) We’re friendly for a start and we’re trained specifically for this.
We offer a one-to-one tailored service to students.
With the help of a simple questionnaire and our smokalyser we can figure out what method
of quitting would suit you best.
Here’s a picture of a smokalyser – it’s a machine similar to a breathlyser
only this one tells you how much smoke you’re actually inhaling by measuring
your carbon monoxide levels.
With this information, we can then advise you best on how to quit
we can offer you advice if you just want to go cold turkey, but if you want,
there are lots of forms of nicotine replacement therapy (called NRT) like chewing gum,
lozenges and patches that we can sort our for you.
We also have tablets that help some people quit (although these aren’t suitable to all people).
(Presenter) So what are the time and money costs involved in stopping smoking, Sue?
(Sue) All our consultations are free for a start.
The only thing you’ll have to shell out for is the prescription charge for the NRT
but you can talk to the pharmacist to see if you qualify for help with this
on the NHS low income scheme.
If you do have to pay, then we’ll keep the prescriptions you need down to a minimum.
The time commitment is pretty low too. We’ll need to see you initially to set out a plan of action.
Then we’ll see you again the week after to check that you getting on O.K.
and finally one more time to wrap things up.
The rest of the time you can stay in contact by phone or e-mail
so you won’t have to take much time away from your commitments.
(Presenter) So what should you do next?
You can book an appointment with our smoking cessation advisors Monday to Friday
by ringing our switchboard
Here are some other ways you can get help.
This is the end of the University Health Service screencast on living life smoke free.