Text messaging may be the key to kicking a bad habit in the butt.
According to Hothardware.com, cigarette smokers can now text the word "crave" to a program and receive advice, encouragement and support on what to do about the bad habit.
Four trials of a total 2,600 smokers, was conducted in New Zealand, Norway and Great Britain. The motivational text of advice proved that it would double the chances of people
quitting smoking within a year.
"I have tried hypnosis and countless prescriptions for my patients trying to quit smoking," said Dr. Martin Roach, a family practice doctor in Opelika. "Some people have success and some do not, but I am all for any new technique that might break the habit for people wanting to quit."
According to Smokefree.gov, The Food and Drug Administration has approved medicines to reduce withdrawal symptoms and the urge to smoke. Some FDA-approved medicines include nicotine gum, inhalers, tablets, nose spray and skin patches.
The FDA claims these methods will double the chances of quitting also.
"Smoking is a difficult habit to give up," Roach said. "I cannot say there is a one size-fits-all treatment that I have found effective in all my years of treating patients."
According to Quit.org.nz, Txt2Quit is a free 26-week service, currently available in New Zealand, to help smokers quit via text.
Texting and quitting smoking is logical math because it is so common to see people outside smoking and texting. Just about everyone has a mobile phone, and getting a text messages from Txt2Quit can help keep a person's motivation up to quit the habit of smoking cigarettes for
good.
"I smoke cigarettes because I used to smoke when I drank," said Frank Ros, a senior in agriculture economics. "Now I smoke full-time and the texting would not work for me because I am not trying to quit smoking."
According to Cancer.org, nicotine hooks smokers because it produces pleasant feelings that make a smoker want to smoke more. A smoker's nervous system adapts to the nicotine, increasing the amount a smoker has to smoke to maintain the same level of nicotine.
"At this point I am just smoking because I am addicted to cigarettes and I can't quit," said David Norwood, a senior in journalism. "I think support and a constant reminder to not smoke could be helpful, but I do not see a text message stopping me from lighting up."
Access to the habit at just about every convenient store also
contributes to the recruiting of new smokers and the continuation of the addiction to smoking cigarettes.
"I started smoking when I was 14-years-old due to the whole peer pressure of being that age," said Lizz Johnson, a sophomore in French.
"I have been wanting to quit for a long time and I think the text messaging sounds like the coolest way to stop smoking."
According to Wrongdiagnosis.com, an estimated 400,000 deaths each year are caused directly by smoking, and the habit takes an average of 12 years off a user's life-span.
"The more tools and techniques for quitting available to smokers, the better off we are," Roach said.
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