Quit Smoking, Save Money

“I need to quit smoking; the new tax is costing me too much money. Do you have anything to help me?” The Newton Falls Public Library staff understands the difficulty in dealing with this addiction. An article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer [3/31/2009] states that with the new tax cigarettes in Cuyahoga County will cost around $6.20 a pack. The American Cancer Society’s website, www.cancer.org, has a smoking cost calculator. Being conservative, if our patron pays $6 a pack, only smokes half a pack a day, and could quit today; the savings would be $1095 in a year. That would seem to be a good incentive to check out some of the materials available.

The library has a new book which our patron might want to consider, The Enlightened Smoker's Guide to Quitting by Bear Jack Gebhardt. Often a method which works for one individual doesn’t work for another, so books may be borrowed from other libraries in our shared TiPL [Trumbull Independent Public Libraries] catalog. Some of the titles available are American Lung Association 7 Steps to a Smoke-free Life by Edwin B. Fisher, Jr. with Toni L. Goldfarb, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Quitting Smoking by Lowell Kleinman and Deborah Messina-Kleinman, and How to Quit Smoking Without Gaining Weight by Bess H. Marcus, Jeffrey S. Hampl, and Edwin B. Fisher.

The American Cancer Society’s website has a great deal of information to assist the smoker and those around them get through the transition to nonsmoker. Nicotine Anonymous [www.nicotine-anonymous.org] has a twelve step program offered at meetings in Trumbull and Mahoning Counties. They also offer telephone and Internet meetings. The Ohio Tobacco QUIT LINE 1-800-QUIT-NOW (or 1-800-784-8669) is a free telephone cessation service. Individualized tobacco-quitting guidance is supplied and eligible callers can be offered nicotine replacement therapy.

Options to help you while going through withdrawal are meditation and exercise. For meditation you might want to consider Yoga Journal's Yoga Practice for Meditation [videorecording], Quantum Wellness: a practical and spiritual guide to health and happiness by Kathy Freston, Meditation for Dummies by Stephan Bodian, or Breath Sweeps Mind: a first guide to meditation practice. The library also has numerous books and videos on various forms of exercise, dance, and sports to divert the mind and help to keep weight off while giving up cigarettes.