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’Net Junkie Shawn "Speedy" Lopes |
Cigarette quit site
is smokin’Right off the bat, let me just say that apart from the extremely rare celebratory cigar, I don't smoke. Even as a youngster, I never really saw any reason to start a habit I knew I was going to have to kick later. I also understood that as the fat kid in class, it was going to be doubly hard to lug my weighty frame around the school field, and I had absolutely no interest in making my PE sessions any more difficult and demeaning than they already were.
I am sympathetic, however, to those who battle the tobacco scourge. It can't be easy. Though perhaps with the assistance of QuitNet.com's free quit-smoking program, you might find a valuable ally in the struggle to be smoke-free.
The site, which was started in 1995 as the Web's original quit-smoking site, operates in association with the Boston University School of Public Health. It offers the ability to create your own Quit Plan, ask the advice of expert counselors, learn from science-based quitting guides and receive support from the QuitNet community.
Smokers can give themselves a little incentive by filling in QuitNet.com's savings calculator by answering such questions as "On an average day, how many cigarettes do you smoke?" and "How soon after you wake do you smoke your first cigarette?" Under five minutes? More than an hour?
As an example, typing the answers "6" and "after 60 minutes," adding a local ZIP code, then clicking on the "Calculate your savings" button will produce a revealing bit of information. The average Honoluluan fitting such a profile, it seems, stands to save roughly $438 a year while adding an invaluable 16 days and 17 hours per year to his or her life.
QuitNet.com also asks for a few short details to round out your personal profile. The basic service costs nothing, though premium membership, which includes professional counseling, discounts on medications and support services, have separate rates available for initial membership, a three-month period and a year's worth.
The site's Quit Date Wizard will keep track of your target date and send you support messages through e-mail. There are also support and help forums, online clubs, resource guides, quitting tools, a medication guide and a shopping area for online medication orders that includes information on nicotine gum, patches and lozenges as well as "Q-Gear" apparel, hats and houseware, just in case you require a physical reminder of your fight to be smoke-free.
Note: Web sites mentioned in this column were active at time of publication. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin neither endorses nor is responsible for their contents.
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’Net Junkie drops every Monday.
Contact Shawn "Speedy" Lopes at slopes@starbulletin.com.
