By DAN GRAY
Smoke Free Kosciusko County

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY —Quitting smoking is among the most common New Year’s resolutions. The New Year is a symbol of renewal and can be a time to prepare for new beginnings. It is a time to set goals and make them public so that you can get support and encouragement from friends and family. If you are a smoker, determining to quit in 2016 may be the most important resolution you ever make.

Nicotine is the drug in tobacco products that makes them addictive. In fact, nicotine dependence is the most common form of addiction in the United States. Research suggests that nicotine is as addictive as heroin, cocaine, or alcohol.

Smokers want to smoke because their bodies rely on nicotine. When the amount of nicotine in the body runs low, smokers experience a craving—a strong, almost uncontrollable urge to smoke.

Quitting smoking can be challenging and may require multiple attempts. People sometimes relapse because of stress and withdrawal symptoms. But you can quit. For some smokers, quitting is not as hard as they expected. For others, it is a major battle. But the bottom line is that more than 40 million smokers have successfully quit. In fact, today there are more former smokers than smokers.

Breaking free from nicotine dependence is not the only reason to quit smoking. Cigarette smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals and chemical compounds, many of which are toxic or carcinogenic. Cigarette smoke can cause serious health problems, even death.

Quitting smoking:

• lowers the risk for lung and other types of cancer.
• reduces the risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease.
• reduces respiratory symptoms, such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
• reduces the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, one of the leading causes of death in the United States.
• reduces the risk for infertility among women during their reproductive years. Women who stop smoking during pregnancy also reduce their risk of having a low birth weight baby.

If you quit smoking, you will also help protect your children, family, and friends from exposure to secondhand smoke that can cause immediate harm to the nonsmokers who breathe it.

Harm to Adults: When others are exposed to secondhand smoke from your cigarettes, platelets in their blood get sticky and may form clots, just like in a person who smokes. This exposure increases their risk for heart attack and death. Secondhand smoke can also cause lung cancer.

Harm to Children: If babies and children are exposed to secondhand smoke from your cigarettes, they may suffer from bronchitis, pneumonia, and ear infections. Exposure may make them wheeze and cough more often. If they have asthma, breathing in secondhand smoke from cigarettes can trigger an attack that may be severe enough to send them to the hospital. Secondhand smoke also causes sudden infant death syndrome.

There is no safe amount of secondhand exposure. Breathing even a little secondhand smoke can be dangerous. Quitting smoking will improve your health and protect others from exposure to secondhand smoke.

The most important thing is to try! Although no single approach works best for everyone, many effective quit methods are available. Talk to your doctor or health care provider about quitting, call 1 (800) QUIT-NOW. You can take advantage of the five week Sensational Cessation class at the KCH Health and Wellness Center that begins January 13. All you have to do is go to the Wellness Center at 1500 Provident Dr. to register and pay the $20 registration fee.