For World No Tobacco Day we’re re-sharing NHS England’s Quit Smoking Start Saving campaign resources.
There are many physical benefits of stopping smoking and quitting can significantly improve your health in ways you might not expect. Once you stop smoking, some of the benefits are immediate and some are longer-term.
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. For symptoms of anxiety and depression, stopping smoking is as effective as taking antidepressants.
And the financial benefits of stopping smoking can be huge. Over the last ten years, the cost of tobacco in the UK has increased by 73.9%
The average smoker in Great Britain smokes around 9 cigarettes a day which works out at about 270 cigarettes a month (based on 30 days in a month). Quitting smoking can save around £1800 a year!
If you want to share any of the NHS Better Health Quit Smoking campaign resources, you can find them here:
- Social media images: Quit Smoking App social media
- Poster: Quit Smoking Poster
Information from the World Health Organisation (WHO):
WHO has a bunch of campaign resources for World No Tobacco Day which you can find here.
World No Tobacco Day – Key messages
Tobacco harms the environment
Tobacco growing, manufacturing, and use poison our water, soil, beaches, and city streets with chemicals, toxic waste, cigarette butts, including microplastics, and e-cigarette waste. Don’t fall for the tobacco industry’s attempt to try and distract from its environmental harms by greenwashing their products through donations to sustainability initiatives and reporting on environmental “standards” they often set themselves.
Make the tobacco industry clean up their mess
The tobacco industry is making a profit by destroying the environment and needs to be held accountable for the environmental destruction and made to pay for the waste and damages, including recovering the cost of collecting these wastes.
Quit tobacco to save our planet
Every cigarette smoked or tobacco product used wastes precious resources that our existence depends on. Quit tobacco for your health and the health of our planet. Tobacco smoke contributes to higher air pollution levels and contains three kinds of greenhouse gases.
Help tobacco farmers switch to sustainable crops
Governments and policymakers should support tobacco farmers to switch to alternative, more sustainable livelihoods to reduce the environmental impact of tobacco growing, curing and manufacturing while continuing to implement tobacco control measures.