Stoptober – When you stop smoking, good things start to happen

Stoptober is back and is calling on the over 5 million smokers in England to join the thousands of smokers who are committing to quitting this October. Quit smoking for 28 days and you are five times more likely to quit for good! (1) This year’s Stoptober mass quit attempt is as important as ever, with quitting being one of the best things a smoker can do for their health. When you stop smoking good things start to happen – quitting will allow you to start moving better, breathe more easily and give you more money to spend. Mental health benefits to stopping smoking:

• Evidence shows that once people have got past the short-term withdrawal stage of quitting, they have reduced anxiety, depression and stress and increased positive mood compared with people who continue to smoke. (2)
• For symptoms of anxiety and depression, stopping smoking is as effective as taking antidepressants. Just 6 weeks after quitting, people start feeling happier as well as healthier. (3) Financial benefits to stopping smoking:
• On average, smokers in England can save £38 a week by quitting smoking. That’s £167 per month and £2,000 per year from quitting smoking. (4)

Stoptober offers a range of free quitting tools. Just search ‘Stoptober’ for more information or visit the Better Health Quit Smoking Website.

NHS.UK Quit Smoking
Smoke Free Hampshire

Sources of info:

(1) 12 West & Stapleton, 2008, Clinical and public health significance of treatments to aid smoking cessation, European Respiratory Review, Volume 17, number 210, P201

(2) https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD013522.pub2/full#CD013522-abs-0002

(3) https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD013522.pub2/full#CD013522-abs-0002

(4) HM Revenue and Customs, 2019. Disaggregation of HMRC tax receipts: methodological note. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/disaggregation-of-hmrc-tax-receipts.