Women¹s Concerns About Quitting Smoking


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women's concerns

Traditional approaches to helping people quit address the nicotine addiction of men and women in the same way. While it’s true that the process of quitting, coping strategies, and general health effects are common to both sexes, there are differences in how to treat the needs of a male or female who wants to quit smoking.

three reasons quitting is different for men and women:
1. Emotional—More often, women smoke to deal with stress and suppress anger due to frequent stress. Most have multiple roles, as wives, mothers, helpers, or sole supporters.

2. Biological—A woman’s body tends to process nicotine more slower than a man’s. This means that cigarette for cigarette, women have higher levels of nicotine than men, and may become more dependent on the nicotine.

3. Social—Cigarette ads are very common in the United States. Tobacco companies directly and deliberately target women. Many popular women's magazines contain smoking ads featuring attractive young female models. Women are encouraged to view smoking as sexy or glamorous.

quitting tips for women
Common strategies for quitting that work for both men and women should be included in your quit plan. Learning about your smoking addiction, finding out why you smoke, identifying coping strategies, becoming aware of high-risk situations, asking friends to help, and setting your quit date should all be a part of your quitting strategy. There are two other strategies that women can look at when planning to quit:

Watch your cycle—research shows that withdrawal symptoms are worse in the latter part of the cycle and during your period. Therefore, you may want to try to stop at the end of your period to experience less intense withdrawal symptoms.
Reduce your caffeine intake by half—smoking can decrease caffeine’s effect, so when you quit, if you don’t cut back on caffeinated beverages, you may experience increased caffeine symptoms including irritability, nervousness, and tension.

smoking and pregnancy
The day a pregnancy test comes back positive can be a day of joy, or a day of anxiety and distress. Ready or not for the promise of a new child, many women who smoke will find it extremely difficult to quit. Smoking causes a pregnancy to be high risk. Below you will find information to help you understand the effects of smoking on your body.

Make every effort to quit. See your family doctor and enlist the help of a support person.
Reduce your exposure to other smokers, make your home smoke-free.
Eat well; consult with a nutritionist or your family doctor.

smoking and the pill
Many young women think the negative side effects of smoking and taking oral contraceptives is something that happens to older women. "I’m not worried about that. I’ll quit before I get any of those diseases or problems you hear about," says Jennifer, a 21-year-old student. The birth control pill may increase your chances for serious heart or blood vessel problems, especially if you smoke.

what happens to your body

When you smoke, carbon monoxide–the colorless, odorless, deadly gas present in car exhaust–passes immediately into your blood. Carbon monoxide binds to the oxygen receptor sites and "kicks out" the oxygen molecules in your red blood cells.
Hemoglobin–the protein that feeds oxygen to organs, tissues, and cells–is bound to the carbon monoxide and can no longer carry oxygen. This means there’s less oxygen for energy; less oxygen means less energy.
At the same time, your body receives a dose of nicotine. Nicotine increases your heart rate–as much as 10 to 15 beats per minute–requiring more oxygen. If you’re pregnant, less oxygen reaches the fetus to help it grow and develop.
As you continue to smoke, your body responds to the low oxygen levels by producing changes that can put you at risk of blood clots and heart disease.
Women with osteoporosis seem to be at higher risk of bone thinning if they smoke. Smoking apparently increases the rate of breakdown of estrogen, a hormone that helps protect women against osteoporosis.

alarming trends in the nineties
We have seen a steady increase in heart disease among women. Smoking may be a contributing factor (or may be a culprit) by affecting blood clotting, narrowing blood vessels, and increasing heart rate. The heart of a smoker works harder with less oxygen to feed it.

the good news
Within one year of stopping, about half the risk of heart disease is eliminated and within 15 years, the heart disease risk for former smokers is about the same as those who have never smoked.