The choice to stop smoking – or never start in the first place – is undeniably the best solution, but it’s admittedly a difficult process for smokers, Raghuveer says. Of key importance is offering support, encouraging them to be honest about their smoking habits and emphasizing how those habits affect not only their own health but that of their loved ones.
“We need to be there for them,” she says. “Sometimes parents don’t want to talk about this, and they just say, ‘No, we don’t smoke.’ But I know I’m smelling smoke in that room.”
There are many options for smokers who want to quit – first and foremost, consultation with their doctor, who can offer a range of options varying from patches to cognitive behavioral therapy to avoiding triggering associated habits, whether that be having a beer or a coffee or taking a work break.
All 50 U.S. states have quitlines with coaches, resources and even weeks of free nicotine replacement therapy, Shastri says. But people need to access those services and others with a realistic outlook and the willingness to persevere, even after possible failed attempts. 1-800-QUIT-NOW is a toll-free telephone line that routes callers to their state quitlines.
“Quitting is not something that is a one-shot kind of thing,” he says. After smokers begin a quitting program or attempt, a turning point can come “once they understand that, ‘It’s really something that I can do, if only I need a little more planning.’ Once you get into the groove, hey, you may go back and forth sometimes a number of times” – but ultimately succeed.
And highlighting the detrimental results of secondhand smoke can be an extremely powerful and effective impetus for smokers to quit, says Shastri, who himself gave up smoking when his wife was pregnant with their first child.
“To be frank with you, I never thought about what happens to people around me” before that, he says.
“I absolutely believe that could be a really motivating factor for most people, no matter what culture they’re from – the harm they’re likely to cause.”