Counselling plus medicine beats either one alone

Smoking tobacco is the leading cause of cancer in the United States, harms
most organs of the body, and causes many other health problems. Tobacco smoke
is harmful even if you do not smoke: secondhand smoke raises the risk of
cancer and other diseases, and in pregnancy it can harm the fetus.

Tobacco use is the most common preventable cause of death. The more years
you smoke and the more cigarettes a day, the higher your risk.

Quitting is hard because smoking also causes addiction to nicotine, a
stimulant in tobacco. Nicotine addiction makes stopping harder — and quitting
improves both the quality and the length of your life.

What improves, and when

Soon after quitting:

• Lower heart rate and blood pressure
• Less carbon monoxide in the blood — carbon monoxide reduces the blood's
  ability to carry oxygen
• Better circulation
• Less coughing and wheezing
• Sense of smell and taste return

In the long term: a longer life, and **a risk of cancer that decreases
with each year you stay smoke-free**.

The methods, and which one the evidence favours

• Counselling with a provider about your smoking habits, your readiness to
  quit, and setting a quit date.
• Smoking aids — nicotine replacement products, or medicines that reduce
  nicotine addiction. **These may not be right for you if you are pregnant,
  breastfeeding, a teenager, or have certain medical issues or take certain
  medicines.**
• Reduction — slowly cutting the number of cigarettes a day, or stopping
  altogether, "cold turkey".

You may need to try several things. **A mixture of counselling and
quit-smoking medicine has been shown to be the best method** — not either one
alone, which is the most actionable sentence here.

On e-cigarettes

Some people believe switching to e-cigarettes helps them quit. **That has not
been proven.** These battery-operated devices look like cigarettes and work
differently; using one is called vaping, and **researchers still have a lot to
learn about the health effects**.

Withdrawal

Stopping or cutting back brings short-term effects: **irritability, anxiety,
moodiness, weight gain, trouble sleeping**. These are withdrawal symptoms, and
your provider can help reduce them and find the approach that works for you.

Source: National Cancer Institute, via MedlinePlus.