Smoking
Smoking increases the risk of cancer and causes the early death of around 4,700 New Zealanders each year.
Did You Know?
- Smoking causes one in four of all cancer deaths in New Zealand.
- Around 350 New Zealanders die each year because of exposure to other people’s tobacco smoke.
- Non-smokers who breathe second-hand smoke suffer many of the same diseases as regular smokers.
- When you smoke you inhale more than 4000 chemicals including acetone (paint stripper), ammonia (toilet cleaner), cyanide (rat killer), DDT (insecticide) and carbon monoxide (car exhaust fumes).
- It can take more than one attempt to give up smoking. The more attempts you make the better your chance of being smokefree
- If you give up smoking your health will improve and you will save money (over $300 a month if you regularly smoke 20 cigarettes a day). Click here to see the Quit Groups Quit Calculator.
What Can You Do?
- Start by making your home and car smokefree.
- Start thinking about quitting.
- Set a quit date, get support from whānau/family and friends.
- Talk to a quit provider:
- Quitline is a free quit smoking telephone help line. You can request a quit pack from them,which has practical advice and information on quitting smoking, talk to a quit advisor for one-on-one support or get exchange cards for subsidised nicotine patches or gum where suitable. Call 0800 778 778 to speak to a quit adviser.
- Aukati Kai Paipa is a cessation programme run in around 37 sites around the country. The programme, which primarily targets Māori women and their whānau, provides one-on-one counselling to help people quit smoking. The programme has a high success rate and you might prefer face-to-face support to telephone counselling. To find out more, check out
http://www.aukatikaipaipa.co.nz/contact.htmis - Text2Quit: Sign up for Txt2Quit and get TXT message support sent straight to your mobile. Getting TXT messages can help keep your motivation up and give you some advice and support along the way as you quit. Text QUIT to 3111.
- Other places who can offer you face-to-face' services are medical centres, the Asthma Society and the, Heart Foundation.
- You can get other cessation advice/treatment from pharmacists, hypnotherapists, acupuncturists, natural therapists.
