PHC: Stoptober (anti-smoking)

image from: https://campaignresources.dhsc.gov.uk/campaigns/stoptober-2026/ 

I think it's extremely common for people to know at least one person who has smoked at some point in their lifetime. For me, my mam, gran, and grandad were all addicted to smoking at one point. I can't really remember any of them smoking, as they all either quit before I was born or whilst I was still quite young, but my mam & grandad both completely quit smoking (congratulations to them, very proud of them), whilst my gran moved on to being addicted to vapes. Vapes haven't been around long enough for us to entirely know the long-term effects of vaping, but I can't imagine it's good; especially because I've heard of people apparently printing false labels for illegal vapes so they appear legal - it's like they remove an ingredient from the list because it's illegal in the UK or something like that? I'm not entirely sure how true this is, though. If you couldn't tell already, Stoptober means a lot to me, as it should to many people. Addiction isn't something many people can handle alone, and so we, as a society, need to provide as much help as we can to ensure they can fully recover.

Cancer Research UK says that "Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of cancer," so why do people still do it? Looking online and by what this article says in "Why do people start smoking?", it seems to be mainly to do with society that they start smoking; whether it's because someone uses it as a tool to create friends, whilst others may use it as a way to rebel against their use. As most people know, cigarettes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive. It's a stimulant which can enter the bloodstream and quickly reach your brain to release dopamine, which gives it the "feel-good" feeling. Like any addiction, it's hard to quit, especially due to the withdrawal symptoms being things such as feeling down, being irritable, having problems sleeping, feeling restless, struggling to think clearly, and being hungrier or even gaining weight. A lot of these things can contribute negatively to mental health, so it's easy to imagine people would rather continue smoking to continue having the dopamine rush, rather than negatively affect their mental health to solve any physical, unseen problems they may develop from the cigarettes.

Fortunately, addiction isn't something I've personally had to deal with, and I can't imagine how difficult it is to recover from addiction - even from one as common as nicotine addiction. Luckily enough for UK residents like myself, the NHS runs a yearly public health campaign called Stoptober. During this, they provide a free personal quit plan (available here), with the goal being to reach 28 days smoke-free, as from then, you're "5 times more likely to quit for good". The NHS doesn't just do this during October, though, people are always able to book appointments with their GPs to create a plan to quit smoking for good. For example, there are certain prescriptions and/or therapies that can help eliminate or reduce cravings by blocking receptors in your brain. Outside of the NHS, there are plenty of other charities out there such as "Stop Smoking London" and "Action on Smoking and Health". I may be biased in saying that someone would be best off going to straight to their GP, charities such as these are such a valuable way to spread awareness and perhaps provide support to people too embarrassed or shy to go to their local GP. But addiction is something serious that should never be handled alone; as a society, people tend to judge and ostracise addicts, but what led them to this point? Normally mental health or poor education around certain drugs, and they deserve to receive the support as any ill person should. Everyone deserves a chance to live a fulfilling life without suffering from addiction or struggling through withdrawals alone.

Stoptober is just such a great way to show how public health campaigns can really help effect people's health in a positive way, hopefully this year, more people can get the support they need to recover from their smoking addiction or get the help they need coping with withdrawals.