Tobacco and nicotine products
Smoking and snus use have a calming and anxiety-reducing effect, which can feel nice when life seems stressful and demanding. At the same time, it’s well known that this introduces harmful substances into your body. The nicotine in tobacco – whether used in cigarettes, e-cigarettes, brown snus, white snus, water pipes (hookah) or products labelled “tobacco-free” – creates a strong dependence.
Smoking and snus use lead to poorer fitness and increase the risk of a wide range of diseases and negative health effects. They can also increase the risk of other dependencies. If you stop using tobacco, the negative health effects it has had will be reduced from day one. You will become healthier, feel less stressed and your fitness will soon improve.
Did you know that tobacco production is also harmful to the environment? The amount of resources required is large and production leads to water scarcity, deforestation and climate change. Tobacco production workers suffer from poor health due to the toxins in tobacco and are easily injured because of sub-standard safety equipment.
Stop smoking or using snus
When you feel the urge to smoke or use snus, it is partly due to a dependence on nicotine, and partly due to your habits and what you associate with tobacco use. Habits and learned behaviour mean that cravings increase in certain situations or on special occasions. If you stop smoking or using snus, you will get withdrawal symptoms, but these usually go away after a few weeks. Breaking the habit and the behaviour, on the other hand, can take longer and therefore often requires more motivation to keep going.
When to seek help to quit using nicotine products
Advice and support improve the chances of stopping smoking or using snus. There is a lot of help available in the form of self-help material, as well as from your local healthcare centre and slutarökalinjen.se. You can also turn to the student health service for guidance or advice on where to seek help. Learn more about the different types of support available at slutarökalinjen.se and 1177.se