Reflections from the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women Study (CHLEW)Have you been trying to kick the smoking habit? Well the new year is a great time to quit smoking. You know that smoking poses a serious risk to your health. But did you know that every year tobacco-related diseases kill more than 178,000 women in the U.S.? And rates of these diseases continue to increase among women. For lesbians as a whole the impact of smoking may be even greater because lesbians are more likely than heterosexual women to smoke. Nearly a third (31%)of lesbians in the CHLEW sample smoke compared with the national average of 21% for women in the U.S.—that’s 10 percent more than the national average. So don’t let another year go up in smoke, quit now.
A few tips for quitting: 1. Don’t smoke at all. If you try to smoke fewer cigarettes, but do not stop completely, soon you’ll be smoking the same amount again. Smoking ‘low-tar, low-nicotine’ cigarettes usually does little good, either. Because nicotine is so addictive, if you switch to lower-nicotine brands you’ll likely just puff harder, longer, and more often on each cigarette. The best choice is to quit completely. 2. Write down why you want to quit. Do you want to feel in control of your life? To feel healthier? To have more stamina? Really wanting to quit smoking is very important to how much success you will have in quitting. Smokers who live after a heart attack are the most likely to quit for good—they’re very motivated. Find your reason for quitting. 3. Know that it will take effort to quit smoking. Smoking is a complex behavior. In addition to nicotine being addictive, smoking behavior itself is habit forming. Half the battle in quitting is knowing you need to quit. This knowledge will help you be better able to manage withdrawal symptoms, such as changes in your mood and cigarette cravings. There are many ways smokers quit, including using nicotine replacement products (gum and patches), but none of these is easy. Nearly all smokers have some nicotine withdrawal when they try to quit. Give yourself a month to get over these feelings. Take quitting one day at a time, even one minute at a time—whatever you need to succeed. 4. Half of all adult smokers have quit, so you can, too. That’s the good news. There are millions of people alive today who have learned to enjoy life without a cigarette. 5. Get help if you need it. Many groups offer written materials, programs, and advice to help smokers quit for good, both in person and online. Here in Chicago, the Chicago Lesbian Community Cancer Project (LCCP)runs free quit smoking classes. You can register at www.bitchtoquit.com for the next workshop. The American Lung Association (www.lungusa.org/tobacco/quitting_smoke.html)and the American Legacy Foundation (women.americanlegacy.org/quit/index.cfm)both have online quit guides. Howard Brown Health Center also has programs, call (877)897-2777, www.howardbrown.org. We in the CHLEW are studying health concerns of lesbians, including smoking. We are currently conducting follow-up interviews with the 448 women we first interviewed in 2000-’01. We have lost contact with 35-50 of the 450 women who were interviewed in the first phase of the study and we need your help. If you or anyone you know participated in the first phase of the study please call our toll-free number 1-866-933-3459 or contact us via e-mail (chlewstudy@yahoo.com). We cannot add lesbians to the study who did not participate in 2000-01, so it is critically important that we locate each of the missing participants. We appreciate your help and look forward to bringing you more interesting and useful information about important health issues in our community. Happy New Year!