     Today is the 48th Great American Smokeout, held on the third Thursday of November since 1976 to encourage smokers to quit for one day, then to quit all together.Â
Tips on doing it are available from a number of groups including the 1-800 Quit Now hotline and QuitNow.ne.gov website.
They work to stop tobacco use through the general strategies that include community-based public awareness, educational materials development, and paid media campaigns.
Statistics show most American adults who smoke wish they could quit, and more than half have tried within the past year.
Few, though, can quit for good the first time they try and that’s why Quit Now offers multiple strategies on achieving the goal – including setting a specific day to stop.
Cigarette smoking remains the single largest preventable cause death in the United States, but the benefits of not smoking are almost instantaneous.
The risk of heart disease after a year of not smoking is half of that of an active smoker.
The risk of lung and other cancers drop after 10 years of not smoking and the risk of heart disease after 15 years of not smoking is the same as for someone who never smoked.