Great American SmokeOut

 

November 21st, 2013 is the Great American SmokeOut day. The SmokeOut is always the third Thursday of November, one week before Thanksgiving.

This is a day that is nationally recognized as a "no smoking" day and it is promoted as a great day to quit smoking since you've got the moral and actual support of a lot of other people quitting on the same day as you. There are events organized in various cities.

The idea started in the early 70s when the publisher of the Monticello Times in Minnesota, Lynn Smith, founded it and called it D Day. Then in 1977, the American Cancer Society took the idea nationwide.

In past years, about 1/3 of smokers in the USA have taken the day off from smoking -- that's over 15 million people who chose not to light up for that one day, and many of them made it the first "non-smoking day" of the rest of their lives.

If Your Smoker Tries to Quit and Fails

Read an article on InnerSelf by Jack Gebhardt, author of the book The Enlightened Smoker's Guide to Quitting as well as Help Your Smoker Quit. He gives great advice on how to be supportive of "your smoker" when he tries to quit, yet doesn't succeed.

Information and Tools

The Cancer Society has more information on the day itself and also on various tips and tools to help you quit.

Today, President Obama who has himself quit smoking, released a video on the benefits of quitting smoking.

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