Take the Challenge

How much do you know about smoking bans? Answer these questions and find out.

Why Should I Quit?
What Can I do to Quit?
How Can I Convince My Parents to Quit?
Peer Pressure

DID YOU KNOW?

Most smokers try 7 times before they go smoke-free—but, and this is an important but, that doesn't mean you can't do it. Here are some tips to help you.

 

READ MORE

What Can I Do to Quit?

Raised hands

First off, congratulations on taking the first step in quitting! Recognizing that you want to quit is key. That said, quitting is never as easy as everyone thinks—a lot of teens underestimate the addictive nature of tobacco. Turns out, in fact, most smokers try 7 times before they go smoke-free—but, and this is an important but, that doesn't mean you can't do it. It just means you need to keep your head and spirits up, even if it's harder than you expected. Here are some steps to help you along the way:

Get Ready

  • Start by thinking about why you smoke (anger management, boredom, peer pressure, rebelliousness, loneliness, to fit in) and why quitting is important to you.
    • Set a meaningful quit date (your birthday, your boy/girlfriend’s birthday, New Year ’s Day)
  • Change your environment (do less stuff with friends that are smokers, begin a sport, visit places where you can’t smoke—like movie theatres and malls, avoid parties where people are going to be smoking a lot)
  • Think about all the benefits of quitting smoking. You will have more money to buy other things, you will smell and taste foods better, your teeth will not get yellow, you will not have bad breath, and you will decrease your chances of burning your favorite clothes.
  • Get support from your family (if they know you smoke), your friends, your coach, and even your health care provider (doctor, school nurse, dentist). Most professional organizations (including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association) have guidelines for doctors and health care professionals for talking to teenagers about tobacco use during visits. You may even want to talk to them about Nicotine Replacement Therapies (such as the patch or gum) or medications, to see if they are right for you. Remember that unless your life is in danger, any conversation you have with a health care provider is confidential (that means they can’t tell anyone about the conversation).
  • Get counseling: you can go online and read information from several web pages that have been designed to help you quit, call a help line number or contact your health care provider

Change your behaviors. Play sports, exercise, go for walks, plan something enjoyable to do every day, stay busy, brush your teeth more often, chew sugarless gum.

Talk to your healthcare provider. He or she may recommend using products that will help control the urge to smoke.

Change your diet. Nicotine suppresses hunger, so some smokers gain weight when they quit. Don’t let weight gain distract you from your main goal!! You can avoid weight gain by:

  • Drinking a lot of water
  • Eating healthy snacks (fruits, low calories snack bars, low fat yogurts, sugarless gum)
  • Increasing your daily activity level

Know what to expect when you quit smoking. Most symptoms develop within hours of smoking your last cigarette and can last for weeks. Symptoms are worse in the evening.

  • Nicotine craving
  • Tension
  • Irritability
  • Depressed mood
  • Insomnia
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Restlessness
  • Decreased heart rate and blood pressure

BACK TO TOP

Be prepared to relapse. Most relapses occur within the first 3 months of quitting. Most people have to try several times before they can finally quit for good.

Even if you don't quit for good, each quit attempt will help you learn something important about yourself and your smoking. Use each quit attempt to figure out how you will do things differently during your next attempt.

Remind yourself of all of the benefits of quitting!

Teens are just as likely as adults to get addicted to nicotine, and most would like to quit using tobacco, says recent research. Although teen smoking is on the decline, rates are still high: 22 percent of high school students currently smoke. (1)

Other Methods:

Internet Approaches
Most experts agree that because so many teenagers use the Internet on a regular basis, Web sites that offer cessation counseling have excellent potential to help large numbers of teenagers quit smoking. Not only do these Web sites provide a level of privacy that appeals to teenagers, they can also tailor information to individual site visitors, and bring young people into touch with others who are going through the same process.

School-based Clinics
The NOT (Not on Tobacco) program from the American Lung Association is a good example of an effective school-based smoking cessation program. It includes 10 weekly, 50-minute sessions conducted during school hours, with trained counselors who are of the same sex as the participants. Sessions address the consequences of smoking, preparation for quitting, dealing with cravings, stress management, dealing with family and peer pressure, increasing healthy lifestyle behaviors and relapse prevention (so you don’t start again!).

In general, the most effective school-based clinics share the following traits: they’re voluntary, they’ve been developed with the help of teenagers; and they emphasize coping skills and ways of handling situations without smoking.

Telephone Counseling
The jury is still out on if quitlines help teens to stop smoking.

Maryland does have a Quitline- 1-800-QUIT NOW, however, this service is for residents who are 18 years of age and older who are looking to stop smoking.

Some medical studies have found that telephone counseling is an effective method for helping adults quit smoking—in comparison with self-help methods (doing it on your own), quit rates among adults using telephone quitlines can improve by 50% or more. Experts think there is potential for this method among teens because quitlines are easy to use, and they appeal to people who are not as likely to seek help in a group setting.

references | updated: 09.12.2007

references

  1. Grunbaum JA, Kann L, Kinchen SA, Ross JG, Hawkins J, Lowry R, et al. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance-United States, 2003. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2004;53(SS-2):1–95.
  2. Mermelstein R. Teen smoking cessation. Tobacco control 2003;12 (supplI): i25-i34.
  3. Clinical practice guideline: treating tobacco use and dependence. USDHHS, 2000.
  4. Hanson K et al. Treatment of adolescent smokers with the nicotine patch. Nicotine Tob Res 2003. 5(4):515-26.
  5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved March 2004 from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco.
  6. American Cancer Society. Retrieved March 2004 from http://www.cancer.org.
  7. Tobacco Free Kids. Retrieved March 2004 from http://www.tobaccofreekids.org.
  8. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved March 2004 from http://www.mayoclinic.com.
  9. Health Canada. Retrieved March 2004 from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/tobacco/youth/quit/quit.html.
  10. The Foundation for a Smokefree America. Retrieved March 2004 from http://www.anti-smoking.org.
  11. Children Opposed to Smoking Tobacco. Retrieved March 2004 from http://www.costkids.org.
  12. DiClemente CC, Prochaska JO, Fairhurst SK, Velicer WF, Velasquez MM, Rossi JS. The process of smoking cessation: an analysis of precontemplation, contemplation, and preparation stages of change. J Consult Clin Psychol 1991; 59: 295-304.

close references