Today is the Great American Smokeout day, when smokers are encouraged to try to refrain from smoking for one whole day. This day has existed every year for the last 30 years.

Today is the Great American Smokeout day, when smokers are encouraged to try to refrain from smoking for one whole day. This day has existed every year for the last 30 years. There are currently estimated to be about 46 million people in the United States who used to smoke, but don't any more. The American Cancer Society aims to see this number rise. Over the last fifty years the percentage of adults who smoke has gradually gone down. Smoking in public places is frowned upon, and is often illegal - this was not the case many decades ago. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the fall in the percentage of people who smoke in the US is flattening out. In 2004, 21% of US adults smoked, in 2005 the percentage remained the same - the first time in several years that the figure did not fall. However, it seems fewer non-smokers are breathing in second-hand smoke. According to the American Cancer Society, public health officials aim to bring adult smoking rates down to 12% by the end of this decade. As funding for tobacco-control programs has dropped by 26% since 2002, and tobacco companies have been spending more on marketing, most experts believe the 12% target will not be met. Opinion by Editor of Medical News Today I became a non-smoker on May 20th this year. In a few days I celebrate 6 months as a non-smoker. I am 50 years old. One day before I quit I had a check up - my sedentary heartbeat was 78. Six weeks later my sedentary heartbeat was 57. My heart now does the same work with much less effort (compared to when I was a smoker). Whenever I feel the urge to have a cigarette, I tell myself "Do you really want to go back up to 78?" Two things helped me quit this time (I had tried many times in the past): 1. I tried to think of the experience as a 'liberation', rather than an abstention. I was breaking the chain of addiction, escaping from the prison that had held me for so many decades. I strongly believe the liberation approach is a more positive one - positive thinking tends to lead to better success. 2. I used nicotine replacement therapy. I spent several weeks using a nicotine inhalator. Even now I sometimes use it. I feel much better now. I am much fitter, when I get up in the morning my throat feels clear, and I can break into a hearty laugh without coughing. Most of all, however, I am elated by the freedom I now have. Smoking in the US: Bad News and Good News American Cancer Society

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