Quit Smoking
Quit Lines: 877.44U.QUIT and 800.QUIT.NOW
APP: quitSTART provides tailored tips, inspiration and challenges; monitors progress, helps manage cravings and moods in healthy ways, includes games and fun challenges
Text TEEN to 47848 for anyone ages 13-19. Programs 6 or 8 weeks. Receive 3-5 messages/day to support goals
Text SPIT to 333888 when ready to quit dip. 6-8 week programs. Receive 3-5 messages/day to support goals
CMH Tobacco Cessation Classes: https://hme.citizensmemorial.com/services/pharmacy/tobacco-cessation.html
Online: teen.smokefree.gov/become-
Stop by the Health Department for your free “Quit Kit”
Did you Know?
Have you ever breathed in the smoke that curls up from the tip of someone else’s cigarette? Or the smoke exhaled by a smoker? If so, then you have breathed most of the same harmful, cancer-causing parts of smoke inhaled by smokers. This is called secondhand smoke or environmental tobacco smoke (
Secondhand smoke is classified as a “Group A” cancer-causing agent. That means that no level of smoke is known to be safe.
1200 non-smoking Missourians die annually due to secondhand smoke.
In addition, each year in the United States, secondhand smoke exposure is responsible for the 150,000 – 300,000 new cases of bronchitis and pneumonia in children younger than 18 months old. This results in 7,500 – 15,000 hospitalizations each year.
Children who live with smokers are more likely to have health problems such as:
- Respiratory symptoms
- Slowed lung growth
- Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
- Acute respiratory infections
- Ear problems
- More frequent and severe asthma attacks
Set Yourself Free
If you quit, you’ll live longer and stay healthier – and so will your family. When you quit smoking, you will start showing signs of physical recovery almost immediately
Effects of quitting after:
- 20 minutes
Your heart rate drops. - 12 hours
The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal. - 2 weeks to 3 months
Circulation improves. Your lung function increases up to 30 percent. - 1 to 9 months
Coughing and shortness of breath decrease; cilia regain normal functions in the lungs, increasing their ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce infection. - 1 year
Your risk of havingcoronary artery disease is half that of a smoker’s. - 5 years
Five to 15 years after quitting, your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker. - 10 years
Your risk of dying from lung cancer is about half that of a continuing smoker; risks of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease. - 15 years
Your risk of coronary heart disease is that of a nonsmoker.
Useful links for more information:
Talk to Your Kids About Quitting