A slip means that you've had a small setback and smoked a cigarette after your quit date. Most smokers slip three to five times before they quit for good. To get right back on the nonsmoking track:
Don't be discouraged. Having a cigarette doesn't mean you can't quit smoking. A slip happens to many people who successfully quit. Keep thinking of yourself as a nonsmoker. (You are one.)
Learn from experience. What was the "trigger" that made you light up? Were you driving home from work, enjoying a glass of wine at a party, feeling angry with your boss? Think back on the day's events until you remember what the trigger was.
Take charge. Write a list of things you will do the next time you face that particular trigger situation -- and other tempting situations as well. Sign a new contract with your support person to show yourself how determined you are to kick the habit. You're on your way.
Smoking, Heart Disease, and Women
Consider these facts about smoking, heart disease, and women:
Since 1980, when the first Surgeon General's Report on Women and Smoking was released, about 3 million women have died prematurely of smoking-related diseases.
Smoking is a major cause of coronary heart disease among women. Risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked and the duration of smoking.
From 1997 to 2001, smoking resulted in an estimated annual average of 178,000 deaths among women in the United States. An estimated 54,000 of these deaths are from heart and blood vessel disease (cardiovascular disease), including strokes.
Women smokers who die of a smoking-related disease lose, on average, 14 years of potential life.
Studies support a relationship between exposure to secondhand smoke and coronary heart disease mortality among women nonsmokers.
Women who stop smoking greatly reduce their risk of dying prematurely. The relative benefits of smoking cessation are greater when women stop smoking at younger ages, but smoking cessation is beneficial at all ages.
Smoking cessation reduces the excess risk of coronary heart disease, no matter at what age women stop smoking. The risk is substantially reduced within 1 or 2 years after they stop smoking.
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