QUIT SMOKING!
No Smoking Day is an annual health awareness day in the United Kingdom which is intended to help smokers who want to quit smoking. The first No Smoking Day was in 1984, and it now takes place on the second Wednesday in March every year. It is very important to quit smoking for various health reasons.
If you don’t feel you can stop smoking right now, there are steps you can take to protect others.

Take your smoke outside. Experts advise that you take at least seven steps from your home to prevent smoke from drifting back into the house. Please be mindful of others and, as far as possible, stay away from other people’s open windows, doorways, balconies etc. People are anxious about being exposed to tobacco smoke and your smoke drifting into their home could be upsetting.

Use other sources of nicotine. To reduce the amount you smoke, use nicotine replacement therapy or vaping products. There are many different kinds of nicotine products out there. People often find it helpful to combine a slower acting nicotine product (such as a patch) with a faster acting product (like the nasal spray or gum). You can ask a pharmacist for advice.

Here are ways you can get support to quit:
Stop smoking services – support from friendly trained professionals can triple your chances of successfully stopping smoking.
Medications and vaping – using other sources of nicotine such as e-cigarettes and stop smoking medicines can double your chances of successfully stopping smoking.
NHS remote support – good online advice from NHS Smokefree and the free Smokefree app can also help improve your chances of successfully stopping smoking.

Free National Smokefree Helpline
0300 123 1044

There are always health and financial benefits to quitting smoking, but quitting now will help you:
1. Reduce your risk of diseases caused by smoking such as cancer, diabetes, heart attack, emphysema, bronchitis and stroke. Quitting will improve your health, and reduce pressure on the NHS.
2. Stopping smoking allows your body to repair itself – after 8 hours oxygen levels return to normal, after 2 days, your lungs start clearing out smoking debris, after 3 days breathing becomes easier and within weeks, your heart attack risk begins to drop.
3. Protect the health of others. Exposure to secondhand smoke also increases the risk of complications from respiratory infections, especially in children. It also increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and cancer.