How to help a loved one to quit smoking

The average cigarette takes about 7 – 10 minutes to smoke. Coincidentally, this is roughly the average amount of time each cigarette takes off the lifespan of someone who smokes. While some smokers may read this and think “So, six cigarettes is only an hour? That’s fine by me!”, what they perhaps fail to recognise is that the true maths of the issue involves much bigger numbers. Someone with a 20 per day habit who smokes even more when socially active, for example, will clock up a monthly total of between 2.5 – 5 days that is taken of their life span. Put in more straightforward terms, this means that if you were given one year on earth, a smoker’s year would end in October, whereas non-smokers would expect to still be around to see November and December. 

This is why many people want to find ways to help their loved ones to quit smoking (try 88vape.com for vaping options). We’re going to look at how you can help your loved one to stop smoking using the ‘Five A’ method. Check it out.

• Ask

Ask how many cigarettes the smoker generally smokes per day. Make sure you get a reasonable figure – you will know if the estimate is close to being accurate or not by calculating things like how many packets of cigarettes or pouches of tobacco are being purchased on a regular basis. 

• Assess

Certain factors such as stressful situations in their personal life can mean that smokers are less likely to want to quit or will certainly be less likely to stick to a plan to quit. Although all smokers need to quit for their health and for the health of the people around them, people are more likely to quit when they are in a calm state.  

• Assist

Where the smoker is in a steady state of mind and will listen to reason, provide information of local support groups and quitting programs – smokers are unlikely to look this information up for themselves, but where times and dates are put in front of them, they will place a certain guilt and expectation on themselves to begin the process to quit smoking .

• Advise

Arm yourself with facts like those found at the start of this blog. Again, smokers are unlikely to look this information up themselves, meaning that they may attempt to bury their heads in the sand. This is where any advice from you will prevent that from happening.

• Arrange

Schedule regular chats to check how they’re keeping up with the plan. Having someone to report to will help them to stay on track and complete their plan to quit smoking once and for all.