Health Department Offers Smoking Cessation Classes

It’s the second month of the year and it’s an important one for keeping your New Year’s resolutions. For many people their goal is to quit smoking. To help, the Health Department is offering tobacco cessation classes that are free to the public.

There is no other way of saying it; smoking is bad for your health. New information on its effects are revealed on a regular basis. Just recently, a study was released that showed that smoking may lead to a mental decline in men. This latest information only adds to the mountain of medical evidence that says smoking is not only bad for you; it can shorten your life as well.

“Evidence shows that smoking can cause harm to every single organ in the body,” said Traci Lambson, Health Education Specialist for the Health Department. “Commonly, you hear of lung cancer, heart disease, oral cancer, but those are some of the long term consequences. There are some short term consequences as far as the costs, shortness of breath, bad breath yellow teeth, and yellow fingernails.”

Smoking is an issue of public health and on top of that, it’s very addicting. Because of this, the Health Department is working with smokers by offering a series of classes to help them quit.

“The advantages of going through a program is if a person couples any type of community class or individual tobacco cessation consultation with nicotine replacement therapy, they are going to double their chances of succeeding to quit,” said Lambson.

Nearly 90 percent of lung cancer deaths are attributed to smoking. Women who smoke have a greater chance of pregnancy problems or having a baby die from sudden infant death syndrome. However, if you can find a way to quit, you will reduce the risk and the benefit is even greater the earlier quit.

Another reason why you might want to consider quitting with the help of the Health Department is that they can help you find some free products, like patches and gum that can make it much easier on you. You can find tips to help you quit at this link.