HOW TO STOP SMOKING

Smoking cessation (commonly known as quitting, or kicking the habit) is the effort to stop smoking tobacco products. Nicotine is a psychologically and physically addictive substance, and quitting smoking is commonly considered to be difficult.

Psychological and pharmacological aids are available to help people quit smoking, although success rates are relatively low.

As part of the wider tobacco control movement, there have been numerous advertising campaigns, smoking restriction policies, tobacco taxes, and other strategies to encourage people to quit smoking.

Tobacco use is a major cause of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Statistics

* 7% of over-the-counter nicotine patch and gum quitters quit for at least six months

* A physician's advice to quit can increase quitting rate by 30% to 10% at six months

* High intensity counseling of greater than 10 minutes can increase six month quitting rates to when added to any quitting method, cold turkey or NRT (nicotine replacement therapy).

* Quitting programs involving 91 to 300 minutes of contact time can increase six month quitting rates to 28%, regardless of quitting method.

* Quitting programs involving 8 or more treatment sessions can increase six month quitting rates.

* Bupropion (Zyban) can generate quitting rates 13 percentage points above placebo rates at 6 months. This fact is stated as such in that all bupropion studies to date have included counseling or support elements (having their own proven efficacy) and bupropion has not been tested in an over-the-counter type setting.

* Allen Carr method - Easyway. Carr's clinic claims a 53 per cent success rate in helping smokers stop for at least one year.

Source: wikipedia GFDL