Snap Decision to Quit Smoking Called Effective
1/27/2006

Some smokers may need a "quit plan" to stop smoking, but researchers say that those who spontaneously decide to quit may have more success, Reuters reported Jan. 26.

"Contrary to what experts had previously believed, the idea that you have to plan your quit attempts ahead of time isn't necessarily true," said researcher Robert West of University College London, who along with colleague Taj Sohal queried 1,900 smokers and former smokers about their attempts to quit.

West and Sohal found that about half of all quit attempts were spontaneous, and that those who chose to quit on the spot were 50-60 percent more likely to succeed than those who planned their attempt in advance.

The researchers stressed that the findings should not be used to discourage quit plans, but rather reinforce the importance of the smoker being in the right frame of mind and motivated when they decide to quit.

The study was published in the January 2006 issue of the British Medical Journal.

This article is online at http://www.jointogether.org/y/0,2521,578951,00.html

From: Joel  (Original Message)

Sent: 2/27/2004 9:34 AM

Setting quit dates Conventional wisdom in smoking cessation circles says that people should make plans and preparations for some unspecified future time to quit. Most people think that when others quit smoking that they must have put a lot of time into preparations and planning, setting quit dates and following stringent protocols until the magic day arrives. When it comes down to it, this kind of action plan is rarely seen in real world quitters. I emphasize the term real world quitters as opposed to people quitting in the virtual world of the Internet. People who seek out and participate in Internet sites do at times spend an inordinate amount of time reading and planning about their quits before taking the plunge. Even at our site we see people say they were reading here for weeks or months before finally quitting and joining up. Although I suspect there are a fair number of people who had already decided to quit right away and searched us out after their quit had begun, and some people who may not have actually decided to quit but who when finding WhyQuit.com and seeing cigarettes for what they are decided then and there to start their quits. Getting back to real world experience though, the best people to talk to when it comes to quitting smoking is those who have successfully quit and have successfully stayed off for a significant period of time. These are people who have proven that their technique in quitting was viable considering they have quit and they are still smoke free. Talk to everyone you know who is off all nicotine for a year or longer and find out how they initially quit smoking. You will be amazed at the consistency of the answer you get if you perform that little survey. People are going to pretty much fall into one of three categories of stories. They are: People who woke up one day and were suddenly sick and tired of smoking. They tossed them that day and never looked back. People who get sick. Not smoking sick, meaning some kind of catastrophic smoking induced illness. Just people who get a cold or a flu and feel miserable. The feel too sick to smoke, they may feel too sick to eat. They are down with the infection for two or three days, start to get better and then realize that they have a few days down without smoking and decide to try to keep it going. Again, they never look back and stuck with their new commitment. People who leave a doctors office given an ultimatum. Quit smoking or drop dead--it's your choice. These are people who some sort of problem has been identified by their doctors who lays out in no uncertain terms that the person's life is at risk now if they do not quit smoking. All of these story share one thing in common--the technique that people use to quit. They simply quit smoking one day. The reason they quit had varied but the technique they used was basically the same. If you examine each of the three scenarios you will also see that none of them lend themselves to long-term planning--they are spur of the moment decisions elicited by some external circumstance. I really do encourage all people to talk to do this survey, talking to long-term ex-smokers in their real world. People who they knew when they were smokers, who they knew when they quit and who they still know as ex-smokers. The more people do this the more obvious it will become how people quit smoking and how people stay off of smoking. Again, people quit smoking by simply quitting smoking and people stay off of smoking by simply knowing that to stay smoke free that they must never take another puff! Joel From: Joel Sent: 1/27/2006 12:15 PM Normally when I see a news headline with "New Study" attached to a smoking cessation report I cringe. Somehow most studies reported are some sort of laboratory study, where conclusions are being drawn from rodents or people in experimental settings. Somehow lab settings seem to always show what we teach here at Freedom is wrong.   Every now and then though a different kind of study is released. Not research done in a lab where the researchers control the variables--but rather real world surveys where researchers are simply trying to find out what has worked for people in real world settings.   Those kind of studies are a whole lot more credible to me, and I believe to be a whole lot more replicable by any average person trying to see if the the reports hold true to their own experiences and to the experiences of those around them. These kind of studies often result in the the smoking cessation experts of the world having to tap dance around the new findings.   Here is a comment I put up earlier today regarding real world studies involving NRT's. I am going to change a few words in that commentary, replacing the phrase "NRT" with a variation of the phrase "plan your quit" or "planned their quit." I think all who read here will realize that the same concepts apply:   I really do encourage all people to take this survey, talking to long-term ex-smokers in their real world. People who you knew when they were smokers, who you knew when they were quitting and who you still know as being successful long-term ex-smokers. The more people you talk to the more obvious it will become how people quit smoking and how people stay off of smoking. Again, people quit smoking by simply quitting smoking and people stay off of smoking by simply knowing that to stay smoke free that they must never take another puff! Again, go talk to as many long-term successful ex-smokers (people off all forms of nicotine for at least a year or longer) in your real world that you can find and find out how they quit. I don't believe that there is a single professional smoking cessation "plan your quit" advocate who will suggest to their patients that they take a similar survey. For if they did their credibility would be called into question almost immediately when the patient starting seeing the results of their real life survey. They will end up having to spend quite a bit of time trying to explain away the discrepancy, using excuses like the people who "Planned their quit" didn't do it right or didn't "plan" long enough or were more addicted smokers. We don't need to spend time trying to explain away the results of the surveys that people will do in there real world settings. All we have to say is the results make it more and more obvious that the way to quit smoking and to stay successfully free is no more complicated than just making and sticking to a personal commitment to never take another puff. Joel