Ramadhan is an excellent opportunity to reflect and make positive life changes, not just for the month but for the long term. One of the key ‘bad habits’ given up for large periods of the day during the holy month is of course smoking, or to be precise tobacco products in general. It seems strange but many people will be capable to stop their addiction for up to 20 hours but then straight after breaking the fast end up – so to say- camel smoking.
This itself should be the waving flag signalling how the addiction though grabs hold of you, it can be stopped and with a little help could be stopped totally.
Whether its cigarettes, or Shesha (Hookah/ water pipe) or the use of smokeless tobacco such as in Paan, Gutkha, snuff, if you are fed up of the constant need to use tobacco products – and spending endless amounts of money as well as worried about your health and others around you- help is not far.
Paigaam spoke to Yorkshire Smokefree Kirklees (YSK), who help people break their tobacco addiction.
YSK told us, “With the fasts lasting long hours, you will start noticing benefits of stopping straight away. The health benefits visible in an early quit will already be apparent to those taking part in the fast. Your blood pressure will have returned to a normal rate, and the nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in your body will have already reduced by half.”
So what are the practical steps one needs to take, Well YSK gave us a few pointers to help smokefree this Ramadhan.
Prepare for living a smoke-free routine.
Fasting requires a change of daily habits, so prepare for how you can change your usual smoking habits to start a smoke-free life.
When you break fast, do it away from other smokers.
When in an environment where others are smoking around you, it will be tempting to relapse and go back to the cigarettes. As you first quit, try to stay with others who don’t smoke to encourage you to stay quit.
Avoid food or drink that you associate with smoking.
If you usually light up after eating certain foods, swap these for other alternatives that won’t make you think about smoking. It’s all about changing your routine!
Plan distractions for difficult moments.
If you normally end your meal with a cigarette when you break fast, be sure to prepare a way you can distract yourself from this habit. Keeping busy can take your mind off smoking and it won’t be long until your craving subsides.
YSK added, “due to the fact fasting changes a person’s usual habits it can be the perfect environment to help you stop smoking. Disassociation of smoking to certain activities can be the hardest part about quitting smoking. The way of overcoming this can be to change your daily routine – something which you will already be doing during Ramadan. The same applies if you are using any nicotine products, smokeless tobacco, or smoking Shesha.”
So if you decide to take an extra step this Ramadhan and stop smoking or using tobacco products for good and would like to talk to an advisor contact Yorkshire Smokefree Kirklees on 0800 612 0011 from 9am – 9pm every weekday.
Or call 01484 434675 for information on clinics, appointments, and any additional information regarding Smokeless Tobacco or Shesha use. Support is available including one to one’s, groups, evening clinics, Saturday clinics, online, and telephone support! You can find out more at www.Yorkshiresmokefree.nhs.uk
They also have bi-lingual advisors in Kirklees who speak Urdu, Gujarati and Punjabi
