For thousands of years, people have smoked or chewed the leaves of the tobacco plant. For many years, people speculated that there might be a link between diseases like cancer and tobacco use. In 1996, researchers confirmed smoking was directly linked to lung cancer.
Surveys have shown that the majority of smokers - at least 70% and perhaps as high as 90 % - want to stop smoking. However, no more than 20% of those who try to quit succeed for as long as a year. Around 3% succeed using willpower alone. Smokers who have tried to quit before and not succeeded should not be discouraged. Most smokers must practice through several attempts to quit before they finally succeed.
UT-Austin is a Tobacco-Free Campus
Effective April 9, 2012, The University of Texas at Austin is tobacco-free. The use of any tobacco products is prohibited in university buildings and on university grounds within the state of Texas, including parking areas, sidewalks, walkways, attached parking structures and university owned buildings.
The Tobacco-free Campus policy is part of the university's commitment to creating a healthy and sustainable environment for all members of our campus community, and is designed to be positive and health directed.
Quit Smoking Benefits
Each individual may have a unique set of reasons to quit smoking that is meaningful to them. Below are a few common reasons to quit smoking.
Each breath feels clean and refreshing, with less coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath
More stamina, endurance, and confidence
More cash in your pocket
Clothes don't stink
House and car smells good!
General health improves
Whiter teeth and fresher breath
Improved sense of smell and taste
Sharper thinking
Don't expose family and friends to secondhand smoke
Lower your risk of lung and other types of cancer, as well stroke, heart disease, and vascular disease
Along with the benefits, one of the major barriers to smoking cessation is nicotine withdrawal. It results when a person is nicotine dependent and stops using products with nicotine. Nicotine withdrawal symptoms involve irritability, headache, and craving for cigarettes or other sources of nicotine. Other symptoms include dizziness, drowsiness, sleep disturbances, vivid dreams, mild hallucinations, and depression.
University Health Services is committed to providing high-quality care to patients of all ages, races, ethnicities, physical abilities or attributes, religions, sexual orientations or gender identities/expression.
University Health Services is committed to providing high-quality care to patients of all ages, races, ethnicities, physical abilities or attributes, religions, sexual orientations, or gender identities/expression.
