If your parents are older adults, they may not believe that they can still receive health benefits by quitting their cigarette habit.
They may have started smoking before the public understood the determent nicotine can do to a person's body, or they may think they are too old at this point for quitting to matter. Even you may believe that your parent—or parents—are too old to quit smoking—that they don't have the willpower or incentive to do so. Well, nothing could be further from the truth.
Consider the following facts. Quitting smoking reduces your parents' risk of cancer, Alzheimer's, COPD, stroke or heart disease. If they quite after age 60, people can and do live longer than those who continue to smoke at that age. Staying tobacco-free can help insure greatly improved lung function, better circulation and less coughing and wheezing as well. You can also assure your parent that quitting can help him or her to keep cognitive function longer.
At the American Academy of Neurology's 50th annual meeting, research concluded that elderly smokers can lose their cognitive abilities faster than those seniors who don't smoke. This study, which was implemented in Europe, showed that elderly smokers had massively significant declines in cognitive function after just a year. The benefits of quitting grow the longer your parent, or parents, stay tobacco-free.
There are many forms of outreach to help them quit, like the National Cancer Institute Smoking Quitline, 1-877-44U-QUIT (877-448-7848). The Institute also has a web site, www.smokefree.gov, where your parent can talk to a professional, sign up for a research study, join a quit group, or even receive encouragement via text message.
The American Cancer Society also has tools to help your parent quit at their web site, www.cancer.org/Healthy/StayAwayfromTobacco.
This site is chock-full of information about how to quit, what sort of nicotine replacement therapy is available, and who you can reach out to for helpful advice.
Encourage them to try a variety of nicotine replacement therapies, as listed on the site, starting with nicotine patches. The patches give a limited dose of nicotine that is eventually lowered over a number of weeks (usually 15) until your parent is weaned off of tobacco. Nicotine gum is also an alternative to the patch. With the gum, nicotine is time-released as your parent chews a piece of the gum and then places it in between his cheek and gums. He'll chew no more than 24 pieces in one day and can be weaned off the gum in approximately 6 to 12 weeks. There are also nicotine lozenges and nasal inhaler therapies that can be effective.
The choice of therapy for your parent depends on his or her lifestyle. Patches are effective and only need to be put on once a day. Oral inhalers mimic the action of smoking. Whatever method he or she chooses, the idea is the same—to eventually lower the amount of nicotine in his or her system until it is no longer needed. Most of all, be there to support your loved one through the difficult, but important, process.
Resources: National Cancer Institute, Livestrong
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