Stoptober Is Back

Stoptober is back for 2020, and Public Health England (PHE) says it is pushing a primary aim of encouraging the nation’s smokers to make a quit attempt for the month of October and beyond. Organisers say that if a smoker can quit for 28 days, they are five times more likely to quit for good. The campaign is promoting vaping as one of the ways smokers can try.

PHE says: “This year’s Stoptober will look and feel quite different to previous campaigns. Firstly, it will carry the new ‘Better Health’ branding which has been created to support a national health reset moment that launched at the end of July with a focus on obesity. This new branding approach responds to new challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it’s had on people’s health behaviours. Secondly, this year we will focus on two distinct audiences who we know from our research have different views and motivations toward making a quit attempt: a primary audience of smokers aged 35 to 60 and a secondary audience of younger smokers aged 18 to 34 (both focusing on C2DE socio-economic groups).

“The campaign will comprise two key phases of activity: a ‘rally’ phase which will take place towards the end of September and aims to encourage and prepare smokers to make a quit attempt on 1 October, followed by a ‘support’ phase designed to help them sustain their quit attempt throughout the month.”

After you quit:

• After 20 minutes – Check your pulse rate, it will already be starting to return to normal
• After 8 hours – Your oxygen levels are recovering, and the harmful carbon monoxide level in your blood will have reduced by half
• After 48 hours – All carbon monoxide is flushed out. Your lungs are clearing out mucus and your senses of taste and smell are improving
• After 72 hours – If you notice that breathing feels easier, it’s because your bronchial tubes have started to relax. Also your energy will be increasing
• After 2 to 12 weeks – Blood will be pumping through to your heart and muscles much better because your circulation will have improved
• After 3 to 9 months – Any coughs, wheezing or breathing problems will be improving as your lung function increases by up to 10%
• After 1 year – Great news! Your risk of heart attack will have halved compared with a smoker’s

The campaign pages state that vaping “allows you to inhale nicotine without most of the harmful effects of smoking, as the vapour contains no tar or carbon monoxide.”

It adds that “research has found that e-cigarettes can help you give up smoking, so you may want to try them rather than the medications listed above.”

It goes on to refer people interested in further information to the NHS website, which states:

• They’re not completely risk free, but they carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes
• The liquid and vapour contain some potentially harmful chemicals also found in cigarette smoke, but at much lower levels
• They’re likely to be much less harmful to a pregnant woman and her baby than cigarettes
• While nicotine is the addictive substance in cigarettes, it’s relatively harmless
• There’s no evidence so far that vaping causes harm to other people around you

The event is taking on an international dimension this year too. Shosha in Australia and New Zealand got in touch with Planet of the Vapes to tell us about what they’re doing to support Stoptober.

Source: planetofthevapes