May - Tobacco

Tobacco is a plant based product which contains naturally occurring chemicals. When tobacco is made into a product for sale, many additional chemicals are added which are known to be dangerous to our health. One naturally occurring chemical is nicotine. Nicotine is the addictive chemical within tobacco and what makes people carry on using it.

Tobacco is used in many forms. These include cigarettes (pre-made and hand rolled), waterpipe or Shisha and chewing tobacco.

Tobacco affects us from the moment we first come into contact with it. Whether used while you were in your mother’s womb, or your first cigarette.

Nicotine is very addictive and causes intense cravings. The need to get this nicotine and use tobacco has huge impacts on each person. These impacts are broad, from hurting your finances due to the cost of cigarettes, to reducing your general quality of life and your wellbeing.

Tobacco use leads to worse health, like breathing problems and a higher risk of many different types of cancer. Half of tobacco users die earlier than they should because of tobacco.

This video by the NHS has more information about the harms of tobacco.

Quitting tobacco benefits your health straight away. Immediately your heart is not having to work as hard, reducing the strain it is under. Within a few weeks, your breathing becomes easier and you can taste food and drinks better.

Over time, your body is able to recover from the effects tobacco has had, which reduces the risk of worse health and boosts your quality of life.

Find more information about the benefits of quitting tobacco.

Stopping is hard. It is not merely a decision to change your lifestyle, but overcoming a chronic addition. Simply thinking that you could stop is important. Many people will try a “Cold turkey” approach where they try and stop with no support. This is hard, and the body will suffer withdrawal from nicotine, which is uncomfortable and difficult to manage.

Stopping takes time. It takes a lot to ask for help, and even more for this help to work for you. Many people do not manage to stop for good the first time, it can take several goes. But each time you learn more about yourself and how to cope for when you try again. This learning and experience will finally pay off, and you will stop using tobacco.

Free support is available to anyone who lives, works, studies or has a GP in Harrow and is provided by the charity Via. This support is shown to increase your chances of successfully quitting.

It focuses on helping you to understand how to manage cravings, with tips and tricks to help maintain your quit. This support will also provide you with the right choice of approach to help you stop, which include:

• Nicotine replacement therapy: Provides nicotine without the other harmful chemicals from tobacco.
• Prescribed medication: A drug which blocks some of the nicotine receptors in our brain which reduces the need to smoke.
• Vaping: A device which heats a liquid which contains nicotine which is inhaled.

Find more information at the VIA smoking cessation website.

To get support, you can text “ThinkQuit” to 80800

Vaping has helped over 3 million people in the UK to stop smoking. This is the most popular way to stop smoking, but this is not risk free. Compared to tobacco, vaping is significantly safer. But if someone has never smoked, they should not vape as it may harm their health.

There are a number of awareness dates in 2025 about tobacco and the benefits of quitting. These are:

• World No Tobacco Day – 31st May 2025
• Stoptober – October 2025
• No Smoking Day – 12th March 2025