Quitting Season is Here: Make a Plan to Quit Smoking on New Year's Day
Make 2011 the Year to Become an EX
Washington, DC (PRWEB) December 15, 2010
Nearly 47 million Americans smoke and most of them – 70 percent – want to quit. Each new year, many smokers make a resolution to quit, but lack the resources to make this their final and successful attempt to stop smoking. EX® is a national quit smoking program designed to help smokers “re-learn” life without cigarettes.
Quitting smoking is ultimately one of the single most important lifestyle changes people can make to improve and extend their lives. Tobacco-related disease is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States; smokers therefore need to be armed with all of the available information to make the best, most informed choices about the smoking cessation medications and resources available to them.
“The New Year is a time for reflection on the past and anticipation for the future,” said Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH, President and CEO of Legacy. “It is the ideal time for smokers to re-evaluate their daily routines, identify why they smoke and make changes that help them re-learn their routines and daily life without cigarettes. While quitting is very difficult, it is possible, and with a plan, advice from health care providers and support from family and friends, smokers can greatly increase the chances of this time being their final quit attempt.”
EX provides evidence-based tools to help smokers quit, including information that can help them prepare for a quit attempt by:
1) “Re-learning” their thinking on the behavioral aspects of smoking and how different smoking triggers can be overcome with practice and preparation;
2) “Re-learning” their knowledge of addiction and how medications can increase their chances for quitting success; and 3) “Re-learning” their ideas of how support from friends and family members can play a critical role in quitting.
Because social support is so important, EX uses a state-of-the-art website (http://www. BecomeAnEX. org) as a convening point for smokers who want to quit and collaborate on their successes and challenges in the difficult quit process. Since March 2008, when the program first debuted, over a million people have visited the site and more than 22,000 smokers have joined the online community, forming nearly 300 customized support groups. EX tools were designed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic and with input from former and current smokers who have lived with this struggle, in order to provide smokers with a realistic approach based on evidence-based research.
Visit http://www. BecomeAnEX. org to download a free quit plan or quit on-the-go with the Become An EX App available from the App Store on iPhone or at: http://itunes. apple. com/us/app/the-ex-plan/id369931367?mt=8.
EX® is a collaborative public health campaign presented by the National Alliance for Tobacco Cessation, a partnership of the nation's leading public health organizations and states. The campaign helps smokers prepare to quit and guides them to useful resources that foster successful quit attempts including the EX plan, a free personalized quit plan available on the campaign’s website http://www. BecomeAnEX. org. EX is the culmination of several years of research and testing, combining an understanding of the power of nicotine addiction with messages that resonate with and motivate smokers toward behavior change. The EX approach is peer to peer and focuses on "re-learning life without cigarettes" by encouraging smokers to think differently about the process of quitting. The campaign, which began airing nationwide in March 2008, includes television, radio, online and out-of-home advertising. The EX website helps smokers create their own individual plan to quit and connects them to a virtual community of other smokers where they can share stories and strategies about quitting. Founding members of the NATC include numerous states and the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the National Cancer Institute, Legacy, C-Change, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and clinical partner, the Mayo Clinic.
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