Cauldron

Issue date: 1/29/08 Section: A & E

Quitting smoking is one of the most popular New Year's resolutions, and it is also one of the most difficult. Almost 90 percent of college students who are daily smokers and 50 percent of occasional smokers will still be smoking four years later, and 86.8 percent of students who smoke nicotine at least once daily are chemically dependent under DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) mental health standards. Here are some tips to kick the habit.

Facts:
• "Studies have shown that tobacco can be harder to quit than heroin or cocaine." -Required Canadian cigarette warning.
• Nicotine is the tobacco plant's natural insecticide and is more lethal, drop by drop, than rattlesnake venom and arsenic.
• There are more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke. Some of them are also in wood varnish, the insect poison DDT, arsenic, nail polish remover, and rat poison.
• More than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. each year are from smoking-related illnesses.

Tips:
• Think of reasons to quit that will have an immediate effect, such as having more money and coughing less. Write the list down and keep it somewhere you'll see frequently.
• Tell your family, friends and co-workers about you decision to quit. Ask them for encouragement and to not smoke around you, and warn them that you may be a little moody at first.
• Remove all tobacco products, including lighters and matches, from your home, car, backpack, etc. Don't keep an emergency pack! Just one puff of a cigarette begins the 72-hour detox process over again.
• Change your smoking routines: Keep your cigarettes in a different place. Smoke with your other hand. Don't do anything else when smoking. Think about how you feel when you smoke. Smoke only in certain places, such as outdoors.
• When you want a cigarette, wait a few minutes. Try to think of something to do instead of smoking; you might chew gum or drink a glass of water.
• Buy one pack of cigarettes at a time. Switch to a brand of cigarettes you don't like.
• Nicotine replacement products such as patches and gum are made with the same nicotine found in cigarettes, so use with caution. If you're not really serious about quitting, a product like the patch could cause you to be even more addicted.
• It is easier for college students to quit than adults, so get out now while you can!
• Don't start smoking at all!

Sources:
•www.winternet.com/~terrym/quitsmoke.html
•www.news.wisc.edu/9676
•www.smokefree.gov/

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