Stopping smoking is one of the best things you will ever do for your health and your whānau.
Quitting smoking has many great benefits, in fact it is the one thing shown to make the biggest positive impact on your health. It is also great for your whānau’s health and for your wallet too.
Nobody will pretend quitting cigarettes is easy and you might have tried quitting before. But if you are thinking about quitting, and you feel the time is right for you to make the change from being a smoker to a non-smoker, then there is a lot of support available to help you.
There are lots of health benefits to stopping smoking
There are lots of great reasons to quit. Here are a few health benefits:
- Smoking starves your skin of oxygen making it dry and grey. You develop wrinkles around your eyes and mouth much earlier, and the tar stains your teeth and fingers.
- Smokers who do not quit have a 1 in 2 chance of dying of a smoking-related illness – most commonly lung cancer and other lung disease such as emphysema, heart disease and stroke.
- Smoking is a major cause of blindness.
- Quitting can also improve mood, and help relieve stress, anxiety and depression.
- Quitting smoking is a challenge. Once you have set the goal to quit and succeeded, you will feel really proud of yourself. Quitting helps you take on other challenges.
- Your sense of smell and taste will get better.

Credits: Heart Foundation, NZ
Smoking also damages the health of those around you, your fertility and your unborn child if you are pregnant. If you are pregnant, it is vital for your baby's health that you stop smoking. Read about smoking and pregnancy and being smoke free for your children.
Learn about all the nasties that exist in a cigarette - it may put you off smoking for good.
Use the interactive tool What is smoking doing to your body? developed by Smokefree Aotearoa NZ to learn how smoking damages your health and the health of your whānau.
You'll save lots of money
Fancy some extra money? An average packet of cigarettes now costs more than $30. If you smoke a pack a day then you will spend more than $12,000 a year on cigarettes.
Image credits: Te Hiringa Hauora, NZ & Smokefree Aotearoa NZ
Image credits: Te Hiringa Hauora, NZ & Smokefree Aotearoa NZ
Work out how much you could save each year by not smoking by using the smoking cost calculator.
Overcome the excuses
We can all come up with excuses and reasons why we can’t make lifestyle changes like quitting smoking. More often than not these reasons are unfounded, and dispelling them can be a helpful step in kicking the smoking habit.
If you are a smoker, it can take a couple of attempts to quit – but you can do it. Help is just a phone call away. Call the Quitline 0800 778 778
Remind yourself why you're doing this
Everyone has different reasons for wanting to reduce their smoking use, or to stop all together. Write a list of your reasons for becoming smokefree and keep the list with you so you can remind yourself why you want to stop smoking. Here are some questions that might help you start your list.
- What stops you from quitting smoking?
- What could you do instead when you want to smoke?
- Who could help you to stop smoking?
Read some top tips on how to quit.
Learn more
QuitStrong NZ
Smoking Fresh Minds, NZ
Why quit smoking Quitline, NZ
Seven common excuses people have about quitting smoking and how to overcome them NHS, UK
References
- How smoking harms and kills us Smokefree NZ
- Quit Smoking Heart Foundation, NZ