Set your quit day when you are back into usual routines

Quit is encouraging people who want to quit smoking in the New Year to wait until they are back into their usual routines as the holiday season can be a challenging time to change habits.  

Quit Director Dr Sarah White said the earlier people quit smoking, the better for their health but people wanting to quit need to recognise that smoking is based on addiction, so expect quitting to be a mid- to long-term process not something to do whilst out of your normal routines. 

 “It’s not necessarily a bad idea to make quitting smoking a new year’s resolution, but it’s not something we recommend, “she said. “Making January your quit date might make it more difficult to quit in the long-term because quitting smoking involves breaking some of your usual habits and routines, and people are typically outside their usual routines while on holiday.”

“We recommend people wanting to quit prepare themselves and mentally plan how they are going to try to quit and then set their quit date when they are back in their normal routines,” said Dr White.

Quit advocates that quitting is a process and can take people many attempts, and people need to keep on trying and go gentle on themselves.

“If you always have a cigarette in your work coffee-break, and you quit when you’re on holidays, you’re at risk of relapse when you go back to having your work coffee-breaks,” said Dr White. “However, this can be overcome by working on some behaviour change strategies, for example, by planning what you are going to do instead of going out to your usual smoking area or what you are going to say to those colleagues who still smokes. Therefore we strongly recommend calling the Quitline and having a chat about how you will go about your quit attempt.”

For more quitting advice, visit quit.org.au or call the Quitline on 13 7848 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday. Quitline is a culturally inclusive telephone service for all, including the LGBTIQ+ community. Aboriginal Quitline counsellors are also available.

Quitline counsellors are specially trained to help you identify your triggers (emotions, habits or situations) and come up with simple behaviour changes that will “re-train” your brain to not rely on – or be controlled by – cigarettes.