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Smoking prevalence within Aboriginal communities is still much higher than in non-Indigenous communities. Stark figures, such as a life expectancy 10 years younger than non-Indigenous people reaffirms the need for continued commitment to Aboriginal Programs to tackle smoking.

Smoking rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people still remain over 3 times the national average of non-indigenous people – but the good news is that smoking rates are declining faster in Aboriginal communities than the general Australian population.

Research has found that many Indigenous health workers who smoke, smoke heavily, and that tobacco use provides a means of coping with the stressful nature of their workloads. These studies indicate a need for appropriate support and education for health workers as well as the communities in which they work.

Findings have ranged between 38% and 51% so it is important that everyone who smokes is given appropriate advice and support to quit smoking.

Call the Quitline on 13 7848 and get tailored information on how to beat the habit.

Here's how smoking actually makes stress worse:
Nicotine causes your heart rate and blood pressure to spike. Your heart has to work harder making it difficult to relax.
When you haven’t had a cigarette for a while, you experience withdrawal symptoms like irritability, poor concentration and cravings.

When you do have a smoke, the nicotine relieves those withdrawal symptoms and cravings and gives you a brief hit of dopamine, a brain-reward chemical.

But then the cycle begins again as your heart rate and blood pressure spike.
Quitting is the best way to break this cycle of smoking and stress. Quitting has such an effect on mood that it has been shown to improve depression.

Call the Quitline on 13 7848 and get tailored information on how to beat the habit.

If you’re thinking of quitting, it’s only natural to think about how it could impact your friendships.

Most smokers want to quit, so some of your mates may want to quit with you. On the other hand, your friends may not want you to quit.

Before you quit, it's best to decide on what you would say to your friends who smoke. Tell them that you’ve quit smoking and politely ask them not to offer you cigarettes.

In the first few weeks of quitting, try to limit the time you spend with smokers. Instead of seeing smoking friends perhaps give them a call instead.

If you can't avoid catching up with smokers, make sure you're prepared. Bring something along to keep your hands busy. Sip water. Take a walk around the block if it's getting tough.

Call the Quitline on 13 7848 and get tailored information on how to beat the habit.

Quitting smoking can be very daunting, and people thinking of quitting need to go through several stages of contemplation before they are ready to face the associated physical and psychological challenges. It is estimated that up to 90% of smokers think they should quit, but only 20% are committed to quitting at any one time.

The factors associated with the decision to quit and the difficulty of continuing to not smoke depend upon your personal situation, experience, personality and support network.

It is hard to define what motivates someone to quit smoking and maintain cessation. The motivation for each person will be brought on by different factors. Some may want to improve fitness and sporting performance, some may be thinking of starting a family, some may want to save money … the list is endless!

Practise actively thinking about your reason to quit so you remember it every time you feel like a cigarette; it may help you to maintain smoking cessation.

Remember, in Australia there are more people who have successfully quit smoking than people who still smoke. If 4.3 million other Aussies can quit smoking, so can you!

Call the Quitline on 13 7848 and get tailored information on how to beat the habit.

Nicotine is the addictive drug in tobacco. When you quit smoking you may experience nicotine withdrawal symptoms. These are temporary physical and emotional changes. Think of them as signs that your body is recovering from smoking.

Nicotine withdrawal symptoms usually begin a few hours after your last cigarette. They are usually strongest in the first week. For most people, nicotine withdrawals fade and are gone after about 2 to 4 weeks. Chat to your doctor or a Quit Specialist if you find that nicotine withdrawal is lasting longer.

COMMON NICOTINE WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS:
Urges to smoke or cravings
Restlessness or difficulty concentrating
Sleeping difficulties and sleep disturbances
Irritability, anger, anxiety, crying, sadness or depression
Increase in hunger or weight gain

LESS COMMON NICOTINE WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS:
Cold symptoms such as coughing, sore throat and sneezing
Constipation, diarrhoea, stomach aches or nausea
Dizziness or feeling light-headed
Mouth ulcers

Call the Quitline on 13 7848 and get tailored information on how to beat the habit.

The journey towards quitting for good starts with understanding your addiction. Here, are three aspects of addiction that will help break your habits and train your brain to live without cigarettes.

1. KNOW YOUR TRIGGERS
For a smoker, days can be filled with triggers to smoke that have nothing to do with nicotine addiction. It could be certain emotions or certain situations that drive your craving for a cigarette. Once we have identified these triggers, we can find the best ways of managing them to stay tobacco-free.

2. CHANGE YOUR ROUTINES
Smoking becomes so ingrained in life, that a need for a cigarette may not be a physical thing, but simply a force of habit. To combat smoking, switching up your routine is essential. Find a new habit to replace lighting up a cigarette with, such as going for a walk, or having a glass of water.

3. MANAGE YOUR EMOTIONS
Do you smoke when you're stressed? You're not alone. Reaching for a cigarette can become an automatic response to the difficult emotions in life. Once you’ve identified the feelings that are driving the need for a cigarette, you can learn to replace the cigarette with something else.

Call the Quitline on 13 7848 and get tailored information on how to beat the habit.

Quitting is hard, but you’re not just quitting for you, you’re quitting for your whole family. You’ll be surprised just how far-reaching the benefits can be.

MONEY:
Let’s face it, cigarettes are expensive, and getting more and more expensive every year. With a cost of around $26 a pack, it quickly adds up. In fact, a pack-a-day smoker spends close to $9,500 a year just on cigarettes.

ROLE MODEL:
Becoming smoke-free makes you a great role model for your kids. They look up to you, follow you and learn from you.

LOVE LIFE:
Nobody likes kissing an ashtray. Like it or not, smoking makes your breath smell, so quitting will make kissing more pleasant for your partner. It’s also been shown that non-smokers are three times more appealing to prospective partners than smokers.

FRESH AIR:
Passive smoking, or second-hand smoking is dangerous for the whole family. It can cause sudden unexpected death in infants and increase the risk of your kids developing respiratory problems like asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia.

Call the Quitline on 13 7848 and get tailored information on how to beat the habit.

The best chance of success comes from using what’s called combination therapy: patches PLUS a fast-acting form of NRT (mouth spray, lozenge, gum or inhalator). That way you have a steady level of nicotine for the day PLUS a bit extra at times when you would normally smoke. If you pair an NRT product or combination therapy with a call to Quitline, you further increase your chance of quitting for good.

Using combination therapy is one of the most effective ways to quit. It’s more effective than using just one NRT product, and it more than doubles your chance of quitting.

If you use each product correctly, there are generally no side effects. There is less nicotine in NRT products, compared to cigarettes, so it’s unlikely you’ll get too much nicotine.

If you’d like to try combination therapy, talk to your doctor, pharmacist or request a Quitline callback.

Do you find you want a cigarette more when you’re looking for something to do or bored? Try to keep busy by playing a fun game on your phone or your computer. It can distract you from the urge to smoke.

The same locations, cafes or foods can remind you of smoking and bring on a craving. Try to create new smoke free memories! If your common breakfast is to have a coffee and a cigarette, break the connection by trying a new breakfast in a different spot! Change the furniture around or do a spring clean. Breaking habits can help you to say goodbye to the smokes for good.

The best way to quit is to use a combination of methods. Call the Quitline on 13 7848 and get tailored information on how to beat the habit.

Call the Quitline on 13 7848 and get tailored information on how to beat the habit.

Nicotine actually changes how the brain responds to alcohol, which means more alcohol is needed before you get the same feel-good response that a non-smoker gets after a couple of drinks. Meanwhile, the alcohol increases the level of feel-good chemicals produced in the brain by nicotine.
If you smoke you're more likely to have hangovers and to have worse hangovers than non-smokers. This is probably because cigarette smoke contains a chemical called acetaldehyde, which is also present in alcohol and is thought to be behind those nasty hangover symptoms.

Each time you resist a craving you’re helping your mind to break the link between that activity – such as drinking and smoking. You’re teaching yourself to be a non-smoker, one day and one habit at a time.

The best way to quit is to use a combination of methods.

Call the Quitline on 13 7848 and get tailored information on how to beat the habit.