Parents urged to stop smoking on the side lines as charity teams up with the Football Association of Wales for Smokefree Sports campaign

ASH Wales has joined forces with the Football Association of Wales (FAW) Trust to stop parents from smoking on the side lines at children’s games.

To kick off the campaign, ASH Wales and FAW have launched a pilot project which will see smoking banned at Rhondda & District Football League’s mini and junior football games and at the South Wales Women’s and Girls’ League junior games in the Rhondda area. And if it is successful, ASH Wales hopes to roll it out to youth football teams across Wales, following the success of a similar campaign in Norfolk.

The aim of the project is to encourage parents watching the games from the side lines not to smoke, in a bid to reduce children’s exposure to second hand smoke, but also de-normalise smoking in the eyes of youngsters.
Research has shown that children exposed to smoking are significantly more likely to smoke themselves. Currently in Wales a classroom of children starts smoking every day and 66% of smokers in Wales start before the age of 18.

Smoking rates in the Rhondda district, where the games will take place, are among the highest in Wales at 20% of the adult population. Initial feedback gathered by ASH Wales shows that parents smoking on the side lines is a problem faced by many clubs, particularly in Wales’ most deprived communities where smoking prevalence stands at 28% compared to 13% in the most affluent areas.

As well as spectators being encouraged not to smoke during training sessions and matches, there will be smoking cessation information made available to parents. Suzanne Cass, CEO of ASH Wales, said:

“Our Smokefree Sports campaign aims to get the message across to parents and young people about the harms of second-hand smoke and the importance of de-normalising smoking.
“Working with FAW Trust we have a fantastic opportunity to spread our message to hundreds of parents and their children in an environment which already promotes healthy behaviour.
“Children copy what they see and are highly influenced by the behaviour of their parents and carers, so asking parents not to smoke on the side lines can determine whether young people become smokers themselves in later life.”

From fag to fork – how smoking affects your diet and nutrition

Smoking affects your appetite, sense of taste and smell and ability to absorb vital nutrients. To explain why we’ve answered your questions about the impact of smoking on diet and nutrition.

Why can’t I taste my food properly anymore? Smoking a cigarette fills your brain with nicotine which affects your ability to taste flavours in your food. Meanwhile the body’s oxygen supply is reduced which leads to a dulling of flavours in the mouth.

Will smoking affect my sense of smell too? If you’re a regular smoker it’s likely that your sense of smell will take a hit. This is because smoking irritates the nasal passages and causes them to become inflamed. This will affect your sense of smell and you may find you lose enjoyment in your favourite foods.

I don’t have much of an appetite, even for my favourite foods. Is this because I smoke? Smoking will suppress your appetite because of the effects of nicotine on the brain and the nervous system. This could lead you to have a more restricted diet which may affect your health.

If I eat a healthy diet, I’ll be ok though, right? No, not necessarily. Smoking affects the body’s ability to absorb and retain a range of essential vitamins and minerals including vitamins C and D and calcium. Vitamin C is one of the body’s main antioxidants, which means it helps to prevent a number of diseases. It also helps you to absorb iron. A low level of vitamin C can cause vitamin deficiency. Meanwhile low levels of calcium can lead to an increased risk of osteoporosis.
Even if you take a vitamin C supplement and increase your intake of calcium, fruit and vegetables you cannot protect your body from the cell damage caused by smoking, which leads to diseases such as cancer, coronary heart disease and respiratory disorders such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

If I stop smoking, will that help? Yes! Within just 48 hours of quitting smoking, the carbon monoxide and nicotine within your body will have been eliminated and your sense of taste and appetite will start to return. Your body’s ability to absorb and retain essential vitamins and minerals will improve and you will once again be able to smell the roses!

Quitting smoking can be challenging, however there is plenty of free support available to help you on your journey to a smoke-free life. Contact  Help Me Quit on 0800 085 2219.

ASH Wales welcomes study showing e-cigarettes have not made teens think smoking is ‘OK’

Fears that the rise in e-cigarette use would lead to young people thinking smoking is ‘normal’ are unfounded, according to a study of 248,324 teens carried out by researchers at Cardiff University.

Their research, published in the Tobacco Control Journal, was based on three national surveys of 13 to 15-year-olds from Wales, England and Scotland. ASH Wales, believes e-cigarettes have a crucial role to play in reducing smoking prevalence in Wales and has welcomed these latest developments.

The study funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), found young people’s attitudes towards smoking tobacco have become more negative since the emergence of e-cigarettes. Meanwhile the percentage of young people who reported having tried smoking continued to fall during the same period.

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According to the research the percentage of young people who thought trying out smoking a cigarette was ‘OK’ fell from 70% in 1999 to 27% in 2015. This rate declined faster from 2011 onwards, during which time there was a surge in the numbers of people trying e-cigarettes.

Suzanne Cass is CEO of ASH Wales. She said: “Since the emergence of e-cigarettes there have been concerns they would make smoking seem ‘normal’, particularly amongst young people and this study has proved those fears unfounded.

“Thanks to this study, we now know there is no link between e-cigarettes and the so-called ‘renormalisation’ of smoking among teenagers.

“These results also show just how effective tobacco control policies and public health campaigns have been in changing young people’s attitudes towards smoking. What was once seen as a normal part of daily life and a lifestyle choice, is now perceived by many teens for what it really is – a powerful addiction that destroys lives, leading to devastating health conditions.

“We welcome the results of the study and hope this will strengthen the case for e-cigarettes to be considered a highly effective smoking cessation tool and a far safer alternative to smoking tobacco, rather than the first step to becoming a smoker.”

ASH Wales continues to campaign for policies aimed at de-normalising smoking in the eyes of young people. Successes have included the launch of a Smokefree Sports campaign, the banning of smoking at school gates across Wales and campaigns for smokefree university campuses.

The landscape in which e-cigarettes are sold and used is continually changing and ASH Wales believes there needs to be continual assessment of how this affects young people

Meet the vape shop owners

As smokers across Wales give up smoking using e-cigarettes, vape shops have become a popular fixture on our high streets. We met the owners of two different shops to find out more about what inspired them to set up their businesses and how they help smokers to quit the habit.

Husband and wife team Lee and Amanda Woolls were heavy smokers before giving up using e-cigarettes. Their experience inspired them to open Wales’ first vaping shop and today they own 11 Barracuda Vape shops across the country.

When did you first discover e-cigarettes?
Lee: We were both smokers. I was on around 60 a day and Amanda smoked about 40. It was just an integral part of our lives. I had been working for several years in the Middle East and in North and South Africa where it’s far easier to be a smoker because cigarettes cost so little and there wasn’t any financial incentive to quit. It was when I hit 40 and came back to the UK that I decided to quit. I had several quit attempts but none of them worked. I tried using Champix medication but I didn’t get on with it, then I tried gum and lozenges but that didn’t help with the cravings. Then a friend suggested that I should try e-cigarettes. I was very dubious at first because it was 2009 and they had only just become available. But I started vaping and after that I never smoked again.

What was it about vaping that appealed to you?
Lee: For me vaping just ticked all the boxes. You got the nicotine, the hand to mouth gesture and the visual effect of the exhaled smoke. For me, having been a heavy smoker, it was really important to get that hit at the back of the throat. It just seemed effortless, and we became quite evangelical about it after cigarettes had been such a big part of our lives.

How did you go about setting up the business?
We were working in the insurance business at the time. I started talking to everybody about e-cigarettes and realised that nobody was really using them at the time and that there was a real gap in the market because people were very intrigued about them. We started researching e-cigarettes in detail and looking at all the different component parts of the e-cigarette and all the different liquids available. When we opened our first shop in Cowbridge Road East in Cardiff, it was 2010 and the middle of the recession yet the shop was a success straight away. We used to hold talks and presentations about e-cigarettes and the shop would be full. Demand for the products was crazy and there would be queues of people waiting to get into the shop. It’s 100% because of our own experience and how the product has worked for us that we’re so passionate about our products.

How important is it to you to get to know your customers?
Amanda: Customer care is the focus for us, it’s the absolute key stone of our business. There’s no one size fits all product. Everyone gets a tailored service and product. We always ask our customers about their habit. We find out what brand of tobacco they were using because there are lots of different flavours. Some people puff while others inhale that is relevant too when it comes to buying the products. We’ll go through all the products that are available and ask how committed they are. Once they have decided we go through the range of liquids with them. We offer our customers a lot of support and advice and we have a lot of success stories. One lady came in and said she can’t get rid of her craving for a cigarette in the morning, so I advised her to take the vape to bed with her and then have it there ready in the morning. She said that really worked for her. One man came in and said he was going to have to have his leg amputated because of an arterial vein collapse caused by smoking. A year later he said the operation was no longer going ahead because he’d give up smoking and was vaping instead.

What have you learnt from your experience of running the business, about giving up smoking?
Lee: The biggest motivator for giving up smoking is oneself. If you don’t really want to give up smoking yourself then you’re not going to, not matter how much others persuade you. It’s all about will power really. Vaping really helps people to cope with the craving for a cigarette when they are quitting and can really replicate smoking. In fact, for some smokers it helps not to think of vaping as giving up smoking, but instead to think of it just as changing their brand or the product they are using.

Adam Edgerley runs Juice33, a chain of vape shops in West Wales, with shops in Carmarthen, Haverfordwest, Tenby and Milford Haven. He currently has 1,500 customers with the oldest aged over 90.

When did you set up the business and what inspired you to open a vape shop?
I launched the business with my business partner and best friend Joe back in late 2014, we had both been working for another electronic cigarette firm for a while and saw the amazing potential for growth in the sector, as well as an opportunity to corner the underserved West Wales market. Both of us had been heavy smokers for many years before working in the vape industry, so we’d seen first hand how transformative and effective the devices could be. After many years of pretty thankless jobs, it was a real boost to make a living from something that we could really see was making a difference.

Can you tell us about the different ranges of products you stock?
We stock a fairly exhaustive range of vape products, everything from very basic pen style starter kits to the more ‘hobbyist’ high powered mods, rebuildable atomisers and Sub Ohm tanks. The most important side of vaping for most people is the choice of e-liquids. In my opinion the ability to choose from such a massive range of different flavours is a big part of why vaping works long term for people.

Who are your typical customers?
Honestly, the only thing our customers have in common is they are all smokers who want to quit. We have around 1500 active customers on our system, and they come from every imaginable demographic. Our oldest customer is over 90 years old.

What advice do you give to smokers who are hoping to give up through vaping?
We always start with a new customer’s individual needs. Everyone is different so there’s a certain level of personalisation in what set up we will suggest for someone (nicotine levels that are likely to work for them, what kind of battery life they are likely to require for their lifestyle, certain flavours that may be more suitable than others etc).

Why, in your opinion, is vaping the best way to give up smoking?
From my personal experience, other smoking cessation devices and techniques don’t quite do the job. While some of them technically satisfy the nicotine cravings, there is a ritualistic element of smoking that they can’t replace. Picking up a physical cigarette or vape after a meal, seeing the smoke (or vapour in this case) as you exhale, feeling the ‘throat hit’, and simply having something to do with your hands just can’t be replicated with patches or any other smoking cessation device I’ve tried. That’s a common theme I hear almost every day in our stores; almost all of our customers have tried to quit before and the feedback we hear about how much easier it is to switch over and stick to vaping is astounding. The statistics seem to back up my opinion too; vaping has a 50% success rate, other smoking cessation techniques are around 3%.

Do you think there is a lack of awareness generally about the benefits of vaping compared to smoking?
Absolutely, there’s been a lot of bad reporting in the national and international media surrounding vaping; stories like the exploding e-cig, popcorn lung or similar make great headlines, but most have been either disproved, or are missing important context. Vaping has been largely vilified and it’s almost impossible for our industry to fight back against the disinformation and misleading headlines because of the incredibly harsh advertising regulations imposed on us as part of the Tobacco Products Directive. I think there’s a huge amount of scope to set the record straight, get the right information out there and encourage people to switch over to an unarguably less harmful alternative. However, I think it’s vital that this is approached with a responsible, measured approach as to discourage non-smokers from taking up vaping.

Quit smoking or risk developing mouth cancer says leading Welsh dentist

A leading Welsh dentist has issued a stark warning to smokers on World Oral Health Day.

Tom Bysouth, who is chairman of the British Dental Association’s Welsh General Dental Practice Committee, says smokers face a far higher risk of losing teeth or developing mouth cancer than non-smokers.
He warns that there is a lack of awareness among smokers of the damage they can cause to their oral health and warns that symptoms of mouth cancer can often go unnoticed until it is too late and the condition is untreatable.

“There are very poor survival rates for mouth cancer, despite advances in medical technology,” said Mr Bysouth. “Although medical advances have improved the quality of life for patients, the five-year survival rate remains at only around the 50%.
“Surgery to treat mouth cancer can involve losing part of your tongue or jaw bone which can have big consequences for your quality of life.
“Radiotherapy is also used to treat mouth cancer but that can cause damage to the salivary glands which can lead to a dry mouth, causing problems speaking and eating and a much higher risk of tooth decay.
“What is particular concerning about mouth cancer is that the symptoms can be quiet in the early stages, it can often go unnoticed before it’s too late,” he adds.

In terms of what to look out for he says early signs can include a non-healing ulcer that has been in the mouth for three weeks or more and red or white patches on the tongue or the inside of the cheeks.
A smoker’s risk of developing mouth cancer is “massively increased” if you also drink over the recommended weekly units of alcohol, explains Tom, who says social smokers who drink and smoke at the same time are particularly at risk.
There is hope for those who quit, however with the risk of developing mouth cancer reduced:
“If you stop smoking your ongoing risk of developing gum disease or mouth cancer will reduce,” said Tom. “There are patches that can appear in your mouth that are not yet mouth cancer but that can develop into cancer if they are exposed repeatedly to cigarette smoke. This is one of the many reasons why it is important to see a dentist on a regular basis.”

Gum disease is greatly underestimated by patients, many of who do not realise that it leads to loss of teeth, says Tom. He explains that the disease gradually reduces the amount of bone supporting the teeth to the point where the teeth eventually become so loose that they fall out.

“The biggest thing I see among patients that smoke is gum disease.
“Smoking is one of the big risk areas for gum disease because it stops the body from being able to fight off bugs and bacteria and that causes the gum disease..
“The other worrying aspect of smoking is that it masks the signs of gum disease because the chemicals in cigarettes cause the blood vessels to shrink which means the smoker’s gums won’t bleed,” he goes on to say.

As well as smoking leading to specific conditions, it also makes it far harder for patients to heal and more prone to problems after having standard dental procedures carried out.
Having teeth removed, for example, can in smokers, lead to a much higher risk to what Tom describes as a ‘dry socket’, where the blood clot that would normally form over the hole where the tooth was and help it to heal, becomes lost, leading to the hole in the gum and even the bone being exposed.
“This is known as dry socket and people say it is far more painful than toothache,” explained Tom. “It can be washed out and treated with an antiseptic dressing and sometimes antibiotics, but it is really painful.”

Stopping smoking altogether is the only way for patients to reduce their chances of developing gum disease or mouth cancer or the risk of developing problems following standard procedures. And Tom said it is even possible for the staining caused by nicotine to be almost completely removed from patients’ teeth via a professional tooth cleaning from a dentist or hygienist
If you are smoker who would like to access support to quit, contact Help Me Quit by calling 0800 085 2219.

My Journey to a Smokefree Life – a Mother’s Story

Having smoked since the age of 13, Charlotte Harding, author of Welsh Mummy Blogs is finally smoke-free after her second attempt at quitting. To mark No Smoking Day 2019 we asked her to tell us her story.

Growing up I always thought smoking was cool. The popular kids at school, the heartthrobs in movies and the lead singer of my favourite band, all smoked. I used to think smoking can’t be that bad.

The Habit Begins

I was around 13 years old when I smoked my first cigarette. At first I was a social smoker, I only smoked when I had the money or if was going out with my friends. I used to hide cigarettes from my mum, I’d use body sprays and hand creams to hide the smell of smoke. I don’t think this worked, I am pretty sure she suspected I was a smoker.

At 16 years old I was smoking full time, I was working so could fund my habit. Without the worry of money or my parents finding out, I found my 10 a day habit quickly turned into 20 a day.

By the time I was 23 I was smoking 40+ cigarettes a day! This was becoming expensive and it started to play on my health.

I had never suffered from any respiratory problems growing up but at 24 I was diagnosed with asthma. I truly believe this had something to do with my heavy smoking.

I knew I had to do something about my habit. The problem was, I really enjoyed smoking!!

My First Attempt

At first I attempted to quit on my own. My quit day would always be a Monday (start of the week) I would go cold turkey, drive everyone insane for days with my mood swings from withdrawal and then end up smoking by the Friday.

I tried this method on and off for months, It was clearly not working.

I went to see the GP, he said he was happy to prescribe me nicotine replacement if I contacted Stop Smoking Wales.

Getting Extra Support

Contacting Stop Smoking Wales was simple. I called up the phone number on a card I was given and then gave the telephone staff my details. Stop Smoking Wales offered me group support straight away.

I explained I have a mental illness and some days I am not well and therefore a group appointment would be a little difficult. The telephone staff said that I could go on a waiting list for telephone support or I had the option of one to one appointments. I took them up on the offer of one to one support.

At my first appointment I was a little nervous. I had to breathe into a little machine which recorded the amount of carbon monoxide that was in me. Carbon Monoxide is not a good thing.

My carbon monoxide level was at the maximum the machine could reach! I was informed that I was a heavy smoker and I may need two different methods of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to help me quit.

After a long chat about the different types of NRT I decided on the nicotine patch and a quick mist mouth spray. This combination sounded perfect, a 25mg 16 hour patch to wear everyday and a quick mist mouth spray that would stop cravings in as little as 30 seconds!

I left my first appointment with an NRT script for my GP. I was feeling confident and ready to tackle my unhealthy habit. It was reassuring to know that I had 12 weeks of support and that I could contact Stop Smoking Wales whenever I needed to.

I am not going to lie, at first it was extremely difficult to give up. I kept thinking this will be my last cigarette but it never was. I went back to my stop smoking appointment two weeks later. I did the weekly carbon monoxide test and although it had come down drastically, it was still showing that I was a smoker.

My smoking support worker said it was to be expected, I was a heavy smoker so it was not going to be easy. The support worker said that I needed to make my quit date and stick to it.

There was no time like the present, I decided to quit the following day. I gave up and lived smoke free for 4 years.

Last year, I had a decline in my mental health and some unavoidable stress. With this, I went back to my old habit. I hated that I was smoking again after so many years smoke free.

I contacted Stop Smoking Wales who were very happy to help me a second time. I used the same methods of NRT and I gave up smoking by my second appointment.

My Smoke-free Life

I am now off NRT and living an awesome smoke free life.

I don’t think I would of been able to do it without the support of Stop Smoking Wales. They have been amazing over the years.

Benefits of me giving up smoking:

• I have more money
• I do not need my asthma pump
• I can run without getting out of breath
• I have more time for my kids or to clean the house!
• I don’t smell like an ashtray
• I don’t dread long public transport journeys
• I can exercise for longer
• My skin looks more youthful
• My teeth are whiter
• My food tastes great
• I have more energy
• I don’t have to go outside in all weathers to smoke

I recommend that everyone should at least try to give up smoking. It’s a great feeling to live without the cravings and you will find you have more money and more time living smoke free.

Please note – I gradually stepped down nicotine strengths of patches and then came off NRT. Do not come off it quickly as you could be tempted to smoke again.

Written by Welsh Mummy Blogs