Transcription:
Quitting Smoking for Good

Melanie Cole, MS (Host):   We all know smoking is bad for you. So many harmful effects, but quitting is a whole other story and seems to be so difficult for millions of people. Here to help us with that is Jodi Sudik. She’s a certified ACSM health fitness specialist with Bryan Health. Jodi, it’s a pleasure to have you with us today. Speak about some of the harmful effects of smoking so that we can kind of really get into the meat of why it’s so important to quit.

Jodi Sudik (Guest):   Smoking and just in general tobacco use is very harmful. It effects every system in your body. So a lot of times people think it’s just your lungs or just your cardiovascular system, but basically because it effects your circulation and the amount of oxygen that goes through the body and then also the carbon dioxide that’s going through your body, you are effecting every organ of your body. So therefore, unfortunately, smoking can cause many, many disease and illnesses, specifically cancer is a really big one. Any type of lung disease, heart disease. These are all effects by tobacco use, nicotine use, as is diabetes they have found now as well because of the circulation issue. Also when you smoke or ingest nicotine, your body is kind of going through that fight or flight syndrome. So your body is responding stress wise, which is going to increase your blood sugar and your heartrate and your blood pressure and all of those things.

Host:  Why is it so hard to quit? Speak a little bit about the addictive property of smoking because that seems to be the biggest thing. Everyone knows it’s bad for them, but quitting is a whole other story.

Jodi:  Well, when it comes to smoking, we look at the three link chain of addiction. So the physical addiction is very strong. Of people that start smoking, 90% of those people if they continue it for a period of time will become addicted. The other 10% is what we call chippers. These are people that don’t really become addicted. They just smoke every once in a while. But that’s only a 10% chance of all the people that start smoking. Smoking is also used for a lot of people as a coping mechanism. So there's some mental aspects in there as well as social. If you have friends or family members that smoke, you are much more likely to smoke yourself.

So nicotine is a very highly addictive drug from a physical standpoint. What happens is it actually changes the dopamine levels in your brain. The dopamine is the feel good hormone. After a while, your own body stops producing it because it’s relying on the nicotine you're ingesting, the smoking, to continue to build up that dopamine. That’s why it’s very, very difficult to quit. It takes time. Generally people have to try to quit more than once and often times have to have some kind of drug assistance to do it.

Host: Well, thank you for that explanation. So the first thing, what's the first thing people should do when they try and quit? Because we’ve heard about cold turkey, we’ve heard about nicotine replacement. Now we’re hearing all this bad stuff about vaping, although it was looked at at first as a way to quit by using e-cigs. What do you want them to know about the first thing they should do when they make up their mind and make a plan to quit smoking?

Jodi:  To this day, the most successful way but the more difficult has been cold turkey. So the first thing is the person has got to want to stop for whatever reason. Unfortunately, in my position, a lot of times I see this happening once they have a disease. Once they have COPD or heart disease then that might convince them—but not always—to quit. So they have to want to quit. Then it’s really best for them to have some sort of professional help. So that might entail just talking to their doctor in case they do need some assistance with that. Of course, you can get nicotine replacement over the counter. Unfortunately, a lot of people get it and they really don’t know how to utilize it even though there is instructions on there. So, for example, they don’t really know how much they should really be using, how they should be using. Like when you use the gum, you actually have to crack it and park it in your cheek. You don’t want to chew it like you would normally chew gum. If you have a patch, you don’t want that patch getting wet. It can actually burn your skin. So there's a lot of elements to it. That’s why I think it’s important to them to contact their physician. Then also having a group class or someone else to help you along the lines is very helpful because you have that network an then you have that group support.

Host:  When is the time, do you think, to join one of those support groups? If you’re trying cold turkey and maybe you’ve tried a few times—Because I've heard that a lot of people that quit smoking fall off the wagon a few times. What do you want them to know about seeking that professional help? What if they do fall off the wagon? Should they be ashamed and berating themselves? What should they do?

Jodi:  No. It’s very common to fall off the wagon. In actuality, research shows that on average people have to try about seven times. The one thing that they should know is once you stop smoking, you cannot start again. So, for example, if you stop smoking for several months and then you have a very stressful event, it’s a lot like any other drug addiction or alcohol addiction. Once you take that first puff, your brain has that memory. It’s oh, here we go again. So you can't really just have that one cigarette. You have to really try very hard to continue to stay off once you’ve gotten so far.

So when should they join? I think it just depends on the individual and when they're ready. In a case that I've seen where people join the class because their employer tells them they need to in order to obtain health insurance or their family or their spouse or their friends or whoever’s encouraging them to do it, they still have to be the ones ultimately that want to quit. So it depends on their readiness.

Host:  That certainly is true. Since you're involved in programs to help people to quit, before we get into the program itself, what's a great way—Give us some tips, please Jodi, on ways to replace the smoking rituals? Some smoke swaps as it were. Things that people can roll around in their fingers or hold onto when they feel that behavioral portion of the need to smoke.

Jodi:  Well, the first thing that we do in the class is we look at the reasons why people smoke. Is this habitual for them? Are they getting that oral stimulation? A lot of people it’s how they cope with stress. So once we see that pattern of why they are picking up a cigarette, from there we give them tips as far as what can you do to replace it. I mean I can give you some general tips, but I’ll tell you it’s very individualized. If it’s somebody that it’s a habit for them to get up every morning and have a cup of coffee with a cigarette, we’ve got to figure out what else they need to do. Maybe not have that cup of coffee. Maybe if you always smoke when you're on the phone. You have to figure out an alternative thing that you can do instead of smoking that cigarette.

As far as general tips go, it’s going to just depend upon why they're doing it. If it’s stress then we work on stress. We work on teaching them relaxation techniques. We encourage them to adopt a healthy lifestyle. So exercise is a good one for coping with stress. Instead of having that cigarette when you're stressed at work, get up and take a walk. Things like that.

Host:  All pieces of good advice for sure. So then tell us about your classes and the program and any resources that you’d like to mention to assist in really quitting this habit for good.

Jodi:  The program that we have here at LifePointe for Bryan Health, me and another girl went through a training to become a freedom from smoking tobacco cessation facilitator. It’s run through the American Lung Association. So we actually use their guidelines and their outlines for quitting. The class that we offer here is six weeks. It’s an hour class once a week. The American Lung Association does recommend having longer classes, but what we have found is a lot of times people will not commit to that. So we've just kind of had to shorten it up a little bit. As far as a program goes, there's a couple things. One is that you have other people trying to quit with you. So having that group support is really important.

The second thing with the group effort is that you can help each other problem solve. There’s not one easy answer to stopping smoking. So maybe someone in the class had a situation and they were successful with this. So they can kind of give each other feedback. Also with the group class, you become more accountable. You're making a commitment to a class. Therefore when you're coming each week, you're reporting into a group of people. I've done on one counselling myself just trying to help them with their behavior, trying to help them find different ways. like I mentioned before, a lot of it is stress. So we really work on how you can cope with stress without reaching for that cigarette.

Host:  Well, thank you so much Jodi for joining us. Really important segment. Such great information for people to hear. That wraps up this episode of Bryan Health podcast. Thanks to our Bryan Foundation partner Davis Design. Please head on over to our website at bryanhealth.org for more information and to get connected with one of our providers. Please also remember to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and all the other Bryan Health podcasts. Until next time, I'm Melanie Cole.