Let me start off by recognizing that it is tough to stop smoking and anything that you can do to achieve that goal is worth pursuing. Whether you use hypnosis or nicotine patches, medication or therapy, do it. Smoking harms your health and the health of those around you. It’s not just the second hand smoke that can hurt them, the particles that stick to your clothing, skin and hair are released in the home and so anyone at home will be affected. E cigarettes have been with us for too short a time to be certain how safe they really are but if you use them as a temporary bridge to stopping they are worth considering. And, it’s never too late to stop. Studies have shown that whenever you stop you will start to see benefits.
The logical next question is: if I can’t stop completely is it worth it to cut back? The answer to that is, yes but….
When you cut back there is a reduction in your risk of lung cancer but unfortunately the biggest killer of smokers is heart disease (heart attacks, strokes etc) and that doesn’t seem to benefit as much from a reduction in the amount that you smoke. A recent study in the BMJ supports this sad news. They looked at 141 studies and found that even smoking 1 – 5 cigarettes a day left men and women with a significantly increased risk of heart disease and stroke compared to people who did not smoke. The biology behind this makes sense. When you smoke the chemicals that enter your blood stream from the smoke in your lungs immediately cause changes in the blood vessels themselves making them more prone to blockage.
The bottom line: do whatever you can to stop smoking and if reducing the amount that you smoke each day will help you to quit completely that’s great but don’t think that having only a cigarette or 2 a day is enough, it isn’t.