Cleverly titled, Stoptober, the new stop smoking campaign will commence on the 1st of October and run for 28 days in order to encourage people to quit for an entire month. The idea behind the campaign is based on research which has shown that those who can give up for this length of time are likely to refrain from picking up the habit ever again.
While we support any campaign that encourages smokers to give up, the important thing to remember is that people need to be in the right frame of mind to give up. There are other factors at play also, the most important of which is the habits of those in your social group. If all your friends are giving up at the same time then this makes quitting easier. If everyone tries to give up in October then the scheme has a greater chance of success and quitters can lean on those in their social group who are in the same frame of mind.
Cancer Research UK, which is sponsoring the campaign, reminds us that 1 in 4 cancer deaths are caused by smoking – this should be enough to make anyone think twice about lighting up. You can access the official website here.