Stoptober: the facts

October brings us many pleasures; crisp frosty mornings, Halloween festivities, roaring fires, beautiful autumnal colours and, Stoptober.

Stoptober is a campaign run by Public Health England to encourage smokers across England to quit smoking, not attempt to quit, to stop for good. The campaign was launched in 2012 under the basis that if you can quit smoking in 28 days, you’re five times more likely to be able to quit for life.

Some facts and figures:

• In 2016, 2.5 million smokers made the attempt to quit and 20% were successful. That’s 500,000 healthier lungs across England, all thanks to the month of October.
• Unfortunately for the likes of Marlboro, Regal and Mayfair, in the last two years, the number of cigarettes purchased in England and Wales has dropped by 20%.
• In Great Britain, the average cigarettes that smokers have each day have reduced to 11.3, the lowest level since 1974.
• In 2014, almost 80,000 deaths were attributed to smoking in England.
• Smoking has an economic impact too, Research from Oxford University suggests that smoking cost the NHS in the UK a massive £5.2 billion from 2005 to 2006.

If you’re thinking of getting involved in Stoptober, visit the Public Health England website and sign up for a free pack of information and support. If you’re really serious about quitting you may want to try and get sponsorship for a charity you feel passionate about. It’s very easy to set up a site for sponsorship on either JustGiving or Virgin Money Giving, and if you’re addicted to smoking, chances are your family and friends will want to encourage you to quit through sponsorship because they care about your health too.