Great American Smokeout can be kick-off to quitting, suggests behavior modification expert

Nov. 11, 2004 -- The Great American Smokeout — the day each November the American Cancer Society encourages smokers to say "no thanks" to cigarettes for 24 hours — helps many people recognize how dangerous smoking is and how much they really want to quit, says a psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis who is an expert on helping people gain control of personal habits.

Even if it's only a 16- or 24-hour quit amidst the hype and hoopla of the smokeout, which traditionally has been held on the third Thursday in November since 1977, it still can underscore two critical lessons: (1) Quitting smoking is the most important thing smokers can do for their health — far and away, slam dunk, nothing else even comes close; and (2) "You can do it," says Edwin B. Fisher, Ph.D., professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University and director of the Division for Health Behavior Research at the university's School of Medicine.

And with some careful effort and the right coaching, even smokers who repeatedly try and fail to quit can use the smokeout, which is Nov. 18 this year, to energize quitting for good, says Fisher.

Edwin Fisher

A psychologist who counsels patients on smoking cessation, weight control and chronic disease care, Fisher has spent more than 20 years researching self-management and self-control. He offers tips on quitting and making the smokeout a springboard for quitting.

"The smokeout may not be the best time for an individual to quit — the holidays are coming up and with whatever else folks have going on in their lives, there may be better times to quit. But even if it's not the first day of the rest of your life smoke-free, the smokeout can give people the chance to realize again why they want to quit," Fisher says.

"And the lesson to make it through a day, perhaps with less trouble than they'd anticipated, can be a real confidence booster," says Fisher, who is also a professor of medicine and of pediatrics at the School of Medicine and associate director for cancer prevention and control at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at the medical school and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

Quitting smoking is hard, Fisher says, because nicotine is so addictive and because most smokers have woven the activity of smoking cigarettes into so many aspects of their lives.

The Great American Smokeout may provide the springboard to quitting that may help many Americans quit for good.

"It's a hard thing to do, but it's also very doable," adds Fisher, who is the author of the American Lung Association's 7 Steps to a Smoke-Free Life. "About 50 percent of all adults who have smoked in this country, have quit smoking. As a matter of fact, the average individual who has quit smoking successfully has tried two or three times and failed before."

Need a concrete plan — not a wish and a prayer

While there is no single formula for quitting, Fisher offers the following suggestions.

• Set a clear "quit date" that makes sense for you personally, such as a birthday or some other personal milestone. Choose a Monday morning if you smoke most on the weekends, or a Friday afternoon if you're tempted most at the office.

• Anticipate the situations in which you're going to be tempted to relapse and have a concrete plan — not a wish and a prayer — but a concrete plan for how you're going to cope with those temptations.

• Consider using a nicotine replacement such as gum, a patch, lozenge, inhaler or nasal spray or other medications for smoking cessation as a way of helping you get used to life without your favorite cigarettes before you have to give up nicotine altogether.

• Recruit the help of other people. No one else can do it for you, but the cooperation and encouragement of those around you can really help you get a hard job done much better.