There’s a new idea to help people who are trying to quit smoking on the 33rd Great American Smokeout. Stay Quit Monday, a project of the Healthy Monday campaign, urges smokers who quit on that annual day to reaffirm their commitment the following Monday and every Monday thereafter.
Why Monday? It’s a fresh start—the January of every week. A day to refocus and recommit, to celebrate progress and quit again if you relapse.
Experts from the American Cancer Society and some of the nation’s top public health schools agree that one of the biggest challenges for smokers is to stick to their resolutions and think that Stay Quit Monday is a good way to keep smokers on track. Studies show that the average smoker tries to quit 7-10 times before quitting for good.
Finding ways to help people stay quit is more important than ever. Smoking is responsible for nearly one in five deaths in the United States and globally it’s the number one cause of preventable death. In a recent article dean Michael J. Klag, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said that smoking is a big part of a “Chronic Disease Pandemic.”
“If we sharply reduce tobacco use, then we will have a tremendous impact on cancer, heart disease, respiratory diseases and other tobacco-related diseases,” he said.1
The Healthy Monday campaign—a project of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications—is dedicated to addressing the behavioral causes of preventable diseases by encouraging people to use Monday as the day to focus on their health and well-being.
Reference: 1. Klag, Michael J. “The New Pandemic.” Johns Hopkins Public Health Magazine. Fall 2008. 14 Nov. 2008
