Sanjay Bandu: “The best way to quit smoking is at once”

Smoking causes 7 million deaths around the world every year, according to figures released by the World Health Organisation on May 30. Despite sensitisation campaigns across the world and locally with the set up of Smoke Cessation Clinics, kicking the habit still lags behind. One good sign thought is the reduction in the number of cigarette sticks imported over the years, which went down by nearly 200 million units from 2010 to 2016 with a staggering 1,052,497,000 sticks (one billion) and 857,960,000 sticks imported respectively. Sanjay Bandu, vice-president of non governmental organisation “Ligue Vie et Santé” talks about the prevailing situation.

Why do people still smoke?

People smoke for a variety of reasons, mostly social and psychological, and have reinforced their habits over time. The intense physical desire to smoke in association with the range of life events and personal experiences lead to psychological addiction to tobacco. Were it not for the latter, and the medical problems that it causes, smoking really would be the pleasure that smokers claim. Nobody sets out to become physically addicted. It is a subtle process. As the Chinese proverb has it: ‘Habits are cobwebs at first, cables at last’.

How to quit smoking for life?

No matter how convincing all the facts against smoking may be, it is not mere facts and statistics that you need, but rather a program to help you quit smoking. The desire to stop smoking is good, as far as it goes; but many people make the mistake of confusing mere desire with willpower. Along with the desire to quit smoking, you will need to mobilize your willpower into positive, forceful action. This is how we have been helping smokers here in Mauritius to quit smoking with a 5-Day Plan. We feel the best way to quit smoking is to stop all at once – none of this tapering-off business. The reason is:

It is better to have a few rough days and be through with it than to drag it out for weeks and months. Slow torture is no fun. You can make a clean sweep of this thing do it easier than you think. It is our purpose to help you get over the craving as rapidly as possible - in fact, in five days' time.

After quitting, the hardest part comes in the first three days, but by the end of five days, the majority of individuals find the craving definitely less or gone. Stay by it for ten days, and you make it. Say to yourself, "I choose not to smoke." Keep repeating your decision throughout the day from morning eye-opening through the final yawn of the night. As you repeat it, be sure to mean it! In repeating the decision, "I choose not to smoke," many people discover within themselves a positive, growing resistance to the physical craving for tobacco.

Right now is the time for you to accept fully the fact that how you think, how you use your willpower, has an actual effect, an immediate effect, on your body's craving for tobacco. By all means remember this basic relationship between mind and body, because you can utilise this principle in breaking the smoking habit. Each day, as you decide in a more forceful way, "I choose not to smoke," remember that this strong positive decision exerts an immediate effect on your physical craving to smoke – to the extent that in many people it at once perceptibly weakens the urge. Through a correct use of your will, you not only weaken a craving, but better still you gradually help to bring your habits under the control of reason. Develop your own personal motivations for quitting.

Is willpower enough?

Despite all the scientific evidence about the dangers of smoking, most people who quit do so for more personal reasons. A man may quit because he witnessed a loved one die from a smoking-related disease. A woman may quit because she is pregnant and concerned about the health of her unborn child. A retired man quits because his energy level was getting lower and lower. “Knowing your own reasons for quitting – and remembering them when times get tough – will be a big help to you in becoming a non-smoker. Other reasons for quitting can be as follows:

• I will have more control over my life.
• I will be healthier.
• My heart rate and blood pressure will be lower.
• I will save a lot of money.
• I am tired of smoky-smelling breath and clothes.
• I will be a better example for my kids.
• I will have more energy.
• The chance of fire in my home will decrease.
• I lessen my chances of death from heart disease, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and cancer.

“Once you have made your list, study it for two minutes a day, every day.” “Keep adding to it as new reasons occur to you. Make this an active process, not just a crumpled list lost in a drawer. Continue to collect reasons to quit. When you have an urge to smoke, ask someone for a reason to quit. Every time you hear one you like, add it to your list.” 

Exercise. Fortify your decision to quit by exercising regularly. Researchers in smoking cessation believe that exercise significantly aids in the effort to stop smoking by:

• boosting confidence;
• reducing nicotine cravings, especially in the early weeks;
• cutting stress and promoting relaxation;
• improving moods that, in turn, reduce depressive feelings;
• and assisting in weight management, a concern for many who quit smoking.

You can do it!

Breaking an addiction to tobacco requires positive commitment. Some reasons that have convinced many smokers to quit.

1. Quitting is the single most important thing you can do to your health and longevity.
2. Reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer of the lungs, mouth, throat, pancreas, bladder, kidneys, and cervix.
3. Reduced risk of emphysema and osteoporosis.
4. Elimination of the risk posed to the smoker’s family from second-hand smoke.
5. Less chance of a smoker’s children and grandchildren smoking.
6. Better breath, whiter teeth, and fewer wrinkles.
7. Less time spent sick: more physical endurance.
8. Lower medical and insurance costs.

The list goes on, and it grows every year as we learn more about the harmful effects of tobacco. You have everything to gain by kicking the habit-longer life, better health, more vitality, fewer medical expenses… and the air is fresher, food tastes better, wallets are fatter, age is longer, life is sweeter!

For more details and advice contact: Ligue Vie et Santé – Tel: 5732 9247.