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February 2023

Wednesday 8th March is No Smoking Day

Although it's only a day, the Smokefree team will be running a small campaign to support No Smoking Day. The main message is that quitting smoking protects your brain health and reduces your chances of dementia.

Did you know that quitting smoking reduces the risk of developing dementia?

If you didn't, you're not alone. According to Alzheimer’s Research UK, dementia is the most feared health condition for people over the age of 55 – more than any other life-threatening disease including cancer and diabetes. However, only 18% of smokers know that smoking causes dementia, compared to over 70% who know that smoking causes lung diseases and cancers We are encouraging people to sign up and quit with us and protect their brain health.   You can download our poster at https://smokefreecityandhackney.org/order-materials

Have you ever been concerned about someone's smoking and not felt brave enough to address it?

Smokefree City & Hackney offers online Very Brief Advice (VBA) training to anyone who thinks they could benefit from it. Also known as "30 seconds to save a life" it equips anyone in a public-facing role, with basic skills and knowledge to offer smokers brief advice on stopping smoking and then signpost to Smokefree City & Hackney. The training lasts 1 hour (with an optional 30 minute Q&A afterwards).

The next VBA Training dates are: 16th March, 17th April and 16th May. The online booking form can be found here:https://smokefreecityandhackney.org/training 

Smokefree also offers Level 2 Training for those who wish to look for work as a stop smoking advisor. Details can be found on our training website above. 

The UK Government could ban candy-flavoured vapes to stop children using them. What do you think?

Recently in the press there's been lots of debate about increasing numbers of teenagers vaping. It is illegal for anyone under 18 to purchase a vape or e-liquid but the brightly coloured and candy flavoured vapes look as though they're designed to appeal to children. The Government's decision to ban candy-flavoured vapes might sound like a great idea as it could make vaping less appealing to children. However, from our experience, many adults quit smoking by switching to a vape, and they enjoy the candy flavours. Would banning the candy flavours result in fewer people swapping their cigarette for a vape?

                                                                                   E: smokefree.cityandhackney@nhs.net

                                                                                   W: www.smokefreecityandhackney.org