Is it possible to quit using tobacco?
Yes, you can quit! Every year, more than 1 million people quit smoking for good. When you quit smoking, you immediately gain health benefits such as improved lung function, improved circulation and a new confidence to live a tobacco-free life. RHA provides a number of resources to assist you in quitting.
Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 Update, a clinical practice guideline published by the U.S. Public Health Service, lists counseling, social support and quit smoking medications as scientifically proven methods to help people quit smoking for good. Counseling and quit smoking medication, when used in combination, are even more effective than either one of them alone.
Multiple quit smoking counseling options exist, including one-on-one and group programs such as RHA’s Courage to Quit® evidence-based program, online and telephone support. Each will help you address the psychological addiction to nicotine by giving you the tools and skills to become smoke-free.
Quit smoking medication can take the form of nicotine replacement therapy (patch, gum, lozenge, inhaler, nasal spray) or non-nicotine medications (bupropion, varenicline). Quit smoking medications reduce withdrawal symptoms and cravings for cigarettes.
Although you may have heard claims that e-cigarettes, laser therapy, acupuncture and hypnosis will help you quit smoking, these are not evidence-based methods to quit smoking.