Smoking Habits In the US

Get Everyday Free Shipping on nonprescription orders of $49 or more at drugstore.com! Type in smoking or nicotine in the search box.

• Cigarettes and other tobacco products are now regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). President Obama has signed the bill and brought it to life (June 2009).

• New Year Resoulutions to quit smoking generally don't last more than 24 hours, according to a study by Galaxy research in Australia
• Most smokers would like to give up the habit but consider themselves addicted to cigarettes
• About half of young smokers get hooked on smoking, which increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, emphysema and death
• 26 percent of Americans said they used to smoke in the past
• 49 percent of Americans have never smoke
• Fifty-five percent of smokers said they smoked less than a pack of cigarettes a day
• 36 percent smoked a pack a day -- 20 cigarettes
• 8 percent reported smoking more than a pack a day
• The average smoker puffs on 14 cigarettes each day, according to the poll
• 19.8 percent of adults in the US smoke (a new low) vs. 25 percent in 1997 (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publication)
• 60.2 percent of young adults who smoke tried to quit within the past 12 months
• Sadly, only 12.2 percent of high-school students succeed when they try to kick the habit, according to a study in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC)
• 75 percent of smokers have made serious attempts to quit in the past, but had to make one or two serious attempts before finally quitting

Smoke-Free, the book

Speaking of habits. . .

• Smokers that ban together when trying to quit smoking find greater success. It seems that the social aspect makes quitting the new "addiction," according to a study by Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School in Boston and Dr. James Fowler of the University of California. The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging (New England Journal of Medicine).

• Anger management lessons can help smokers quit smoking, tests on 20 people by University of California researchers found (the Behavioural and Brain Functions journal).

• A former banker has chosen to spend most of the month of August 2009 on Sgarabhaigh, a remote uninhabited Scottish island, in an attempt to end his smoking habit.

• Since the announcement of the 62 cents tobacco tax hike ($1.01 total cost now) on April 1, 2009, several states either eying hikes or raising their own tobacco taxes and the boosting of cigarette prices by tobacco companies to make up the difference, many states and the National Jewish Health hot lines (in 6 states) have seen a huge surge in their Quitlines.

• Anti-smoking guru, Allen Carr, who has convinced millions of people to give up smoking, has died of lung cancer. Mr Carr, 72, used to go through 100 cigarettes a day, but stopped smoking 23 years ago. . . then he built a global empire on teaching people how to quit (25 million he claimed). His books have become best-sellers and he runs clinics around the world.

• Mentally ill people account for nearly 40 percent of all smokers, according to SANE Australia.

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suffers commonly smoke cigarettes as a way to cope with flashbacks.
  * The nicotine "high" may provide temporary relief but scientists believe that smoking may make PTSD worse in the end.

• LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) are 35 to 200 percent more likely to be smokers than the general public, according to the National LGBT Tobacco Control Network based in Boston.

  * An estimated 30-40 percent of LGBT people smoke (see above) about 20 percent of the general population smokes.
  * 30,000+ LGBT people die each year of tobacco-related illnesses, the American Cancer Society estimates.

• Sleep and the Smoking Habit from a study of 87,000 people from 2004 through 2006 conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (CDC)

  * People who get under 6 hours of sleep smoke at a rate of 31 percent.
  * Smokers who got 9 or more hours of sleep smoked at a rate of 26 percent.
  * People who sleep 7 to 8 hours a day smoking rate was 18 percent.
  * For comparison, the overall US smoking rate is about 21 percent.
  * The study also found that obesity was a problem with too much or too little sleep.

• The "light" smoking (that is, occasional or intermittent smokers) rate for people under 30 years old is increasing, according to research funded by the American Legacy Foundation, the US National Cancer Institute, the US National Institute on Drug Abuse and the US National Institutes of Health Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.

  * Did you know that young adults in states with stricter smoking laws or in smoke-free homes are more likely to be "light" smokers?
  * Shortness of breath was more likely for college students who smoked at least 5 days a month than than nonsmokers.
  * Afican Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders are more likely to be occasional smokers than whites.

• New way to arrest the smoking habit. 7 men were arrested for smoking in the Philippines for breaking the Republic Act 9211 Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003. More to come around the world. . .

• President-elect Barack Obama was selected as the First Annual Last Butt Award (2008) winner for his efforts to terminate the smoking habit. Last Butt awards will go to public officials and celebrities to applaud their efforts to quit smoking and deal with the challenges of their office or industry.

• A 20 cigaratte (fag) a day smoker will keep £40 a week by quitting the deadly habit.

• A 84 year old mother in the UK was allegedly stabbed to death in her nonsmoking home by her 48 year old son during an argument that ensued after he started smoking while watching TV.

• Salman Khan, the Bollywood brat, says he is trying to quit smoking the addictive smoking habit.

• NHS Cumbria's anti-smoking patrol (UK) goes door-to-door in west Cumbria to help people end the deadly smoking habit.

• Price Harry effort to end his smoking habit has failed. He was seen smoking at Nicholas van Cutsem's wedding reception.

• Nag, nag, nag. Persistent anti-smoking warnings may run smokers out of the habit. It seems that the more smokers worries about health risks, the more they ponder quitting, according to a report publish in the journal Annals of Behavioural Medicine.

  
  

Like this site? Tell a friend and bookmark (CTRL-D) us. And by all means kick the smoking habit!

Phone, email and in person smoking cessation support is available to help you quit. And don't forget about Smoke-Free, the book.

© Copyright by Arthur A. Hawkins II. All rights reserved.