To the editor:
The new year is here, and it’s a great time for a fresh start. If you’re a tobacco user, the best thing you can do this year is to make a quit plan. Smoking is still the No. 1 cause of preventable death and disease in Indiana. Making the decision to quit in 2022 can dramatically reduce your risk for life-threatening diseases and can make your year healthier and happier.
Consider making a quit plan, which can improve your chances of quitting smoking for good. This includes combining quit smoking strategies to keep you focused, confident, and motivated to quit, while also helping you identify challenges you will face as you quit and ways to overcome them.
Smokefree.gov recommends the following steps for having a successful quit plan:
—Pick a quit date
—Let loved ones know you are quitting
—Remove reminders of smoking
—Identify your reasons to quit smoking
—Identify your smoking triggers
—Develop coping strategies
—Have places you can turn to for immediate help
—Set up rewards for Quit Milestones
Free, confidential help is available at the Indiana Tobacco Quitline, which can be reached at 1-800-Quit-Now or QuitNowIndiana.com. A trained quit coach is available to help with a quit plan, multiple sessions, and four weeks of free Nicotine Replacement Therapy (patches or gum). Make 2022 your best year yet by making the decision to quit tobacco use.
Brandee Bastin
Greenfield
