Lung Cancer Awareness Day 2017 – What one hospital is doing to spread the word. Please like and share to show your support

Lung Cancer Awareness Day

Lung Cancer Awareness Day

Tomorrow is Lung Cancer Awareness Day 2017 so Leicester’s Hospitals’ Lung cancer nurses have organised an East Midlands Lung Cancer Awareness day at Loughborough University on 17 November from 9am-4pm in the Students Union.

The day is part of lung cancer awareness month and this year it is being held at the University to show students the importance of looking after your lungs. Students, members of the Public and also the local healthcare system are all invited to learn about early signs and symptom recognition of lung cancer. The team have a pair of giant inflatable lungs to grab people’s attention and to be used as a learning tool.

Other attendees at the event include Macmillan, Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, and the Leicester Smoking cessation team. This is the main event in the East Midlands, whilst events are also taking place across other regions of the country.

Sue Manship, Smoking Cessation Specialist at Leicester’s Hospitals, said: “Most cases of lung cancer are caused by smoking, although people who have never smoked can also develop the condition. Smoking is responsible for more than 85% of all cases. If you smoke, the best way to prevent lung cancer and other serious conditions is to stop smoking as soon as possible. Speak to the team at the event for more information about available support.”

Sharon Savory, Lung Cancer Nurse Specialist at Leicester’s Hospitals, explained why she set up the event: “November is lung cancer awareness month and in the East Midlands we like to raise awareness of the disease and promote early symptom recognition and better outcomes with early detection.

“We have over the last few years held the event in the city centre but after two years of getting soaking wet and having soggy leaflets we decided to go for an indoor venue!!! We want to show the students at the University how to love their lungs, look after them and recognise any changes in their health relating to the lungs. As a team we look forward to awareness month as it is our chance to show case lung cancer and how well people can respond if referred early.”

Lorraine Dallas, Director of Information and Support Services at Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, added: “Lung health is vital. Too few people properly understand that if you have lungs, you can get lung cancer. It can affect anyone, regardless of lifestyle, fitness and background. It’s important to be aware of the signs and symptoms to look out for, because early detection is the key to getting effective treatment”.

New Year’s Resolutions – how to make those health resolutions actually stick

Addictions Specialist Mike Delaney shares his tips on how to make your New Year’s resolutions stick and explains why abstinence rarely works

Give up smoking!

Give up smoking!

If, like so many people, you’ve resolved to stop doing something in the New Year then you might be surprised to learn that only about one in twenty people actually succeed by going cold turkey.

Rather than embarking on a likely doomed strategy of total self-denial, Mike Delaney, a leading authority in the treatment of addictions with over 30 years’ consultancy experience in the UK and internationally, says that you will be far more successful if you introduce substitutes instead of cutting something out altogether.

The all-or-nothing total quitting approach is particularly problematic after the inevitable excesses of the festive period. Cognitive psychologists also don’t like it, as there is no margin between success and failure; one moment of weakness and you’ve “failed”, which can lead to the mentality – “why bother trying again?”


Mike’s top five tips to beat the vicious circle are as follows:

  1. Don’t set your goals too high as you will be setting yourself up to fail; make your resolutions reasonable and achievable and you will have a greater chance of success
  2. Don’t plan too many at once as this is also the road to failure, e.g. trying to stop smoking, lose weight, stop drinking and do more exercise is a huge piece of work to undertake on top of all the other challenges that a new year brings
  3. As they say, “take it one day at a time”; stopping something for 24hrs is easier than thinking you have to do it “forever”
  4. Use all the support you can muster! Family, friends, healthcare professionals and support groups all have a part to play if you use them; it also helps you to stay focused and strong every day
  5. Be kind to yourself and reward success; try putting money away every day that you have managed to save by not indulging in your bad habit; at the end of every week or month that you have achieved success, buy yourself something that you have wanted, treat yourself to a spa weekend etc.

 

So, whether your habit is eating too much chocolate, drinking too much, or smoking, watch our video to hear Mike explain his top tips on making this year’s resolutions ones you can truly stick to.

Want to quit smoking? Check out these brilliant tips from Dr. Fiona Adshead

Give up smoking!

Give up smoking!

Bupa recently surveyed 2,202 people with almost half of those surveyed saying they believe that that they were influenced to start smoking or continue smoking by television and movie actors who smoke on screen, the report by Bupa calls on the global movie industry to take greater responsibility in promoting an anti-smoking message by portraying it more realistically.

The survey conducted across Europe, the Middle East and Australasia found that moviegoers just didn’t believe that characters showing no outward signs of the physical addiction caused by smoking, being short of breath or the life-threatening illness like cancer, heart disease and stroke.

Furthermore, over half (54%) say that the movie industry goes so far as to actually glamorise smoking when the inconvenient truth is that one in two people who smoke die because of it.

Dr. Fiona Adshead; Chief Wellbeing and Public Health Officer at Bupa talks though the research below

If you’re interested in stopping smoking, take note of our tips below. There is evidence to show that using a stop smoking service, which provides either one-to-one or group support, can greatly increase your chance of succeeding.

Whatever method you use to quit smoking, there are plenty of things you can do to try to make it easier.

• Find a temporary substitute for smoking, such as chewing gum or drinking a glass of water each time you want a cigarette.
• Change your routine to stay away from situations where you would usually have a cigarette. If you usually associate smoking with socialising, you might find it easier to stop if you don’t go to the pub for the first couple of weeks. If you smoke at work, it might be helpful if you tell your work colleagues that you’re stopping so they don’t invite you out for cigarette breaks during the day.
• Know your triggers and stay away from them if possible. So if you usually have a cigarette with a glass of wine in the evening, try having a different drink or going out for a short walk instead.
• Make a list of the reasons why you want to stop and carry it with you. Read through it when you have a craving and remind yourself why you’re stopping.
• Set targets and reward yourself when you reach them. Why not save up the money you would have spent on cigarettes and use it to go out for dinner or even to pay for a holiday?
• Remember that the only reason you feel better when you have a cigarette is because you’re feeding your withdrawal symptoms.

Your body gets rid of nicotine in as little as 24 hours after your last cigarette. This means that your withdrawal symptoms can be intense for the first few days, but you will feel better after the third or fourth day. Trying to cut down gradually will increase how long this withdrawal process lasts.

Something else to consider is speaking to your GP who may be able to prescribe you a medicine to help you stop smoking. Always ask him or her for advice and read the patient information leaflet that comes with your medicine. These medicines are most likely to be helpful if you’re also taking part in a support programme to help you stop smoking. Although you may get some temporary side-effects, it’s worth reminding yourself that the possible long-term health risks of continuing to smoke are far worse and the long-term benefits of quitting are huge.

Smoking Cessation: What Happens When You Quit from 20 minutes to 15 years.


Today is the day when many of us give up smoking. We have provided various tips of smoking cessation here.

But what happens to your body after you give up smoking. Find out with this infographic below.


No Smoking Day 2014 – Like and share to show your support


March the 12th is National No Smoking Day.

As a point of full disclosure I’m an former smoker who loved tobacco while I still smoked.

That being said giving up the wretched things has improve my cardiovascular health no end and put more money in my pocket.  So giving up smoking is, literally a win win situation.

Out of duty to the organisers who run one of the most unimpressive web sites I’ve ever seen I offer you one of their graphics to download and use.  No smoking infographic

We have produced our own graphic for  you to share to show your support for No Smoking Day 2014.

Finally as a way of helping other to quit the habit it would be great if you share with our readers the smoking cessation methods you used.

Many thanks in advance

No smoking day

No smoking day