QUESTION: My partner is a heavy smoker and, despite requests to him to smoke outside, I often come down to a smelly, fume-filled kitchen in the morning.
Now that I’m retired I’m finding it hard to live with. Short of ending the relationship, are there any measures I can take to protect my own health?
ANSWER: The harm of second-hand smoke has not been known about for as long as we have known about the damage the habit wreaks in the smoker. Second-hand smoke is a mixture of the smoke given off by the cigarette (or pipe, or cigar), and the smoke that is breathed out from the smoker’s lungs.
There is also something called third-hand smoke, which refers to the chemicals that are deposited on to surfaces in the environment – such as your table or kitchen blinds.
The smoke that passive smokers inhale, despite their best efforts to avoid it, contains nicotine, benzene – which causes leukaemia – and other cancer-causing chemicals, called carcinogens. These have been proven to bind to the genetic code in your cells and cause damage.
We now know that household exposure to second-hand smoke for 25 smoker years, including childhood and adolescence, doubles the risk of lung cancer in the non-smoker. A separate study has shown that if your spouse smokes, you have a 30 percent increased risk of lung cancer.
We now also know that exposure to second-hand smoke in healthy volunteers damages the linings of the coronary arteries supplying blood to the heart muscle, raising the risk of coronary heart disease.
As there are no devices able to clean a sufficient volume of air in your home to be effective at reducing the risks, all efforts must be directed at supporting your partner in quitting smoking for the sake of his own health, as well as yours.
If he is unwilling or unable, then there must be a policy established that he should smoke outside the home. This is because allowing smoking in the house, even with restrictions, offers little protection, as neither air filters nor increasing the ventilation is a sufficient control measure.
The smoke also leaves a residue of nicotine and other toxic substances in household dust and on surfaces, and such cancer-causing toxins can be absorbed through the skin or by contact with foods.
Most GP practices offer good support on quitting smoking – which, as any ex-smoker knows, can be quite a mountain to climb. They can also prescribe nicotine replacement products. Nicorette, Champex and Zyban are among the most popular treatments.
Simple acronym to help you halt craving of lighting up
When the urge to smoke hits, think Halt: hungry, angry, lonely, tired. This is a powerful checklist to help you decode the urges to smoke that you experience. Nine times out of 10, a craving can be traced to one of these four things.
Hungry: have a snack or a meal. If you are hungry, food is the answer, not a cigarette. If you’re concerned about weight gain, try drinking water before you eat a snack to help control the amount you eat. Keep healthy snacks on hand. Metabolism does slow a bit initially, so some daily exercise is a good idea. Things will balance out and that quit-related weight will drop off within a couple of months as long as you’re eating the same as you were before you stopped smoking.
Angry: anger is a big trigger for most of us. Find healthy outlets for your feelings of frustration. If at all possible, deal with the situation that is bothering you head-on and be done with it. Talk to friends and family about your feelings or write in your journal. The important thing is not to let anger simmer and get the upper hand.
Reaching for a cigarette can seem like a quick fix, but it is a false fix. We may not always be able to choose the events that take place around us, but we do have control over how we let external situations affect us emotionally. Take responsibility for how you feel and it will empower you to control difficult emotions smoke-free.
Lonely: for most ex-smokers, loneliness is more accurately described as boredom. Smoking was such a constant companion it was an activity in and of itself. Distraction is a useful tool that can help you manage feelings of boredom. Get out for a walk, watch a movie, or work on a hobby.
Come up with a list of things you enjoy doing and do some of them. Depression also falls under this category. People quitting tobacco are especially susceptible to the blues, at least early on. Leaving cigarettes behind can feel like the loss of a friend, albeit a destructive, life-stealing friend.
Tired: fatigue can be a big trigger for the new quitters. Instead of lighting up when you’re tired, give yourself permission to slow down and relax a little, take a nap, or go to bed early if you need to. Sounds so simple, yet people often push themselves too far with all of the demands of life these days. Be aware and take care.
Don’t let yourself get run down. A tired you is going to be more susceptible to the threat of relapse.
Cape Argus
* Dr Darren Green, a trusted figure in the field of media medicine, is a University of Stellenbosch graduate who adds innovative spark to health and wellness issues. He features on 567CapeTalk.
If you’ve got medical problems, contact the doctor at [email protected], 021 930 0655 or Twitter @drdarrengreen.
The advice in this column does not replace a consultation and clinical evaluation with a doctor.