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If you want to quit smoking, it is better to quit all at once, NBC Health reports.
A study by Oxford University “randomly assigned almost 700 adult smokers to either an abrupt quitting or gradual reduction group. Each person set a ‘quit day’ of two weeks after they entered the study, and saw a research nurse once a week until then.”
After 4 weeks of tracking 700 adults, researchers found that 40% of the gradual group were not smoking compared to 49% of the abrupt quit group.
“However, with smoking, the norm is to advise people to stop all at once and our study found evidence to support that,” Nicola Lindson-Hawley, lead study author told Reuters Health by email. “What we found was that more people managed to quit when they stopped smoking all in one go than when they gradually reduced before quitting.”
Need help to kick the smoking habit?
Quitxt can help!
Quitxt is a bilingual service from the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas that sends texts messages to smartphones to help South Texas adults quit smoking.
Messages help with motivation to quit, setting a quit date, handling stress, and using nicotine replacement, if needed.
To join Quitxt in English, text “iquit” to 844-332-2058.
For Spanish, text “lodejo” to 844-332-2058.
More than 1 in 5 Quitxt users fully quit smoking after completing the English version of the program, according to a 2017 study.
“There’s no better time than now to stop smoking with help from Quitxt,” said Dr. Amelie Ramirez of the IHPR at UT Health San Antonio. “Quitting smoking is proven to improve your health, increase your life span, and save money.”
By The Numbers
24
percent
of Mexican American-nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke
