Cold Turkey: The American Smokers’ Best Friend
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Cold Turkey: The American Smokers’ Best Friend
Survey says 78 percent of ex-smokers just stopped lighting up.
By Bob Trott for MSN Health & Fitness
Kicking the smoking habit for good is no easy task, but going “cold turkey” is what worked for more than three in four former smokers, according to a new MSN-Zogby poll.
Quitting cold turkey was the most popular method, with a whopping 78 percent among ex-smokers of all ages. Younger adults, age 18 to 29, were most likely to have stopped smoking this way (88 percent). Men (80 percent) are slightly more likely than women (77 percent) to credit the cold turkey method for making them former smokers.
Eight percent said they used a nicotine patch and 6 percent used nicotine gum to finally quit smoking. Another 5 percent said they used medication to stop smoking, and 3 percent substituted another habit—such as eating—in order to kick the habit. Two percent relied on hypnosis.
Most former smokers are optimistic they can stay off tobacco. Seventy percent of those surveyed said nothing could make them take up the habit again. That conviction is strongest in older former smokers—84 percent of ex-smokers 65 and older say they’re done with smoking forever. Just 32 percent of those age 18 to 29 say the same. Women are slightly more likely (72 percent) to think they’ll start up again than men are (68 percent).
Among ex-smokers who worry that they might revert to smoking, 13 percent say stress could cause them to light up. Nine percent say social situations where others are smoking could prove to be too big a temptation. For another 8 percent, having just one cigarette would be enough to make them start up again, while 3 percent say relationship troubles could send them back to smokes.
