Like the blog but don't live in London?

Don't panic if you don't live or work anywhere near the Smokers' Clinic; you can use this website to look up the nearest specialist stop smoking service near you.

Euro 2012 a smoke free competition?

The World Health Organization (WHO) wants to ban smoking in fan zones of the Euro 2012 football competition as they see it as a perfect opportunity for promoting physical activity and healthy life-style. In October 2011 UEFA introduced a total ban on cigarette smoking, selling and tobacco promotion in all facilities related to Euro. The WHO plans to introduce the same ban in fan zones but the decision hinges with cities that are hosting the championships. What do you think?

Quit Tea

Today the Smokers' Clinic recieved a generous sample of Quit Tea from a Los Angeles based company. We are yet to try it, but read more about it on their website here.

End Social Smoking With Ciggie-Free Outside Bars

From today's Metro

Tabex (Cytisine) - Part 2

In response to continued interest in Tabex, today we take a more in-depth look at this smoking cessation medication and the latest published data on its efficacy. A randomized, controlled trial of 740 smokers from Poland showed that significantly more participants receiving Tabex maintained smoking abstinence at 6 months and 1 year compared with those receiving placebo.

 

“There are still regulatory hoops to go through but I hope that before long this drug will be available throughout the world at a cost that every smoker can afford," lead author Robert West, PhD, told Medscape Medical News. 

"It should be cheaper to take this drug than to smoke, wherever you are in the world. It is not a magic cure by any means; stopping is still extremely difficult for many people. But it could save many hundreds of thousands of lives if not millions, which is quite a thought", he added.

Tabex is currently not available in the UK, but varecniline (Champix), a closely related and effective medication is available. If you are interested in quitting smoking contact us on 0207 882 8230 and we can advise on attending our clinic or provide details of stop-smoking service in your area.

More pregnant women in northern England smoke

From the BBC news website today comes a story that in a survey of 167,300 pregnant women 20% of the mothers in North East England were smokers when they gave birth, compared to 6% in London. NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: "Smoking can cause a range of serious health problems, including lower birthweight, pre-term birth, placental complications and perinatal mortality. East London has a dedicated smoking cessation service for pregnant women; contact Farah Desai on 020 7247 8251 x 3048.

Smokers are urged to quit for Valentine’s day

It can be hard if you are a young smoker to see the long term health consequences of an addiction to tobacco. How about something a little more immediate that young smokers can relate to? The Department of Health are urging smokers to quit for Valentine’s Day – their research shows that many people find smokers less attractive.

• 74% of 18-24 year olds claimed they would not kiss someone who had just smoked.
• 76% of 18-24 year olds agreed that smoking makes people less attractive.
• 64% of 35-44 year olds said they would refuse a kiss from a smoker.
• 47% of those polled said that if they knew someone was a smoker they would think twice about starting a serious relationship.

If you are a young smoker and are considering quitting call the Smokers’ Clinic today on 0207 882 8230.

Nicotine Withdrawal and Dopamine

Common nicotine withdrawal symptoms include feeling depressed, feeling irritable and feeling restless. These and other withdrawal symptoms along with strong urges to smoke mean often smokers relapse back in to smoking within 4 weeks of quitting. It has been recently shown that low dopamine levels occur as a result of withdrawal from smoking. Dopamine is a brain chemical messenger that is critically important in reward and motivation. According to the authors of this research, these findings indicate that medications which could help elevate dopamine levels during withdrawal may be successful treatment strategies for nicotine-dependent individuals attempting to quit smoking. Theoretically, such a treatment could help normalize any fluctuating dopamine levels from the sudden lack of nicotine, and also lessen the dopamine-influenced urges to seek out the nicotine, leading to relapse.

Chewing Tobacco

Don't smoke but chew Tobacco? East London has an excellent English and Bangladeshi speaking Stop Tobacco Project. Check it out here

Wales: Smoking in cars when children present

Another story from Wales today; a campaign to stop people smoking in cars when children are travelling has been launched by the Welsh government. If smoking rates don't start to fall they will consider bringing in a ban after 3 years of the campaign. Read full article on the BBC news website here. A lot of people have an opinion on it, there are over 500 comments already - what do you think?

Brains may be wired for addiction

We all know the people who tried cigarettes or smoked for a short while but never got hooked, and some who seemed to take to it straight away. Although it doesn't mention nicotine, a recent story on the BBC news website suggests that some brains may be hardwired for addiction with abnormalities in the brain making some people more likely to become drug addicts. They further suggest there may be something to learn in the way of self-control from those who show these abnormalities but have always been clean of drugs.

Twitter is harder to resist than cigarettes and alcohol, study finds

A slightly more light-hearted post today from the Smokers' Clinic; Tweeting or checking emails may be harder to resist than cigarettes and alcohol, according to researchers who tried to measure how well people could resist their desires. Read the article here and follow the Smokers' Clinic on Twitter!

Wales also bans Cigarette Vending Machines

A ban on cigarette vending machines in Wales has come in to place. The ban in England began in October last year. The rationale behind this is to stop cigarettes being available to younger smokers. Welsh Trading Standards published research where the majority of a group of young volunteers succesfully purchased cigarettes from the machines. However the director of the pro-smoking group Forest said he did not think the machines were being used by children because they were too expensive. Do you think it will work? Read the full article here