It’s hard to believe that it has nearly been a whole year since we last blogged about World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). So many things have happened since then, and yet it feels like just a few weeks ago, and I’m sure that your lives have been busy in the past year too. But have you taken the plunge and begun a new, healthier way of life? If not, May 31st might just be the perfect time to quit smoking cigarettes for good!
Ash trays with fresh flowers are a common symbol of World No Tobacco Day
When The Whole World Says No
One thing that can help you in taking on a major change in your life (such as quitting smoking and cleaning up your lungs), is knowing that you are not alone. Knowing that there are thousands of people all over the world doing the same thing you are. That is the beauty and the benefit of WNTD for the individual; that it can give you that final kick of motivation that gets you exchanging a destructive, dangerous habit for healthier, better ones.
World No Tobacco Day was created in 1987 by the World Health Organization (WHO), and 2011 is WNTD’s 23rd year (actual observance of WNTD began in 1988). Each year has a theme that follows through press releases, to promotional flyers, pamphlets and other media materials. In 2011, the theme is “The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).” Now you might just be saying ‘wha?’ to this. This year’s theme is not a particularly personal one (as it has been in past years), but rather, an important WHO agreement that attempts to persuade governments and corporations to agree on reducing the production of tobacco, and tobacco products, and to replace tobacco farming with other, healthier crops. To quote the WHO:
“The world needs the WHO FCTC as much as, if not more than, it did in 1996 when the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an international framework convention on tobacco control. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death. This year, more than 5 million people will die from a tobacco-related heart attack, stroke, cancer, lung ailment or other disease. That does not include the more than 600,000 people – more than a quarter of them children – who will die from exposure to second-hand smoke. The annual death toll from the global epidemic of tobacco use could rise to 8 million by 2030. Having killed 100 million people during the 20th century, tobacco use could kill 1 billion during the 21st century.”
If you’d like to know more about this years WHO World No Tobacco Day theme, please follow this link.
World No Tobacco Day Can Be YOUR No Tobacco Day Too!
On a more personal level, WNTD is, at its core, a day where people that have a tobacco habit can forgo tobacco and tobacco related products for a whole day (Tuesday, 31st May), knowing that tens of thousands of others all round the world are doing the same thing. It is in this sharing that you gain power and motivation to do something positive for yourself, just as the WHO is working for positive change in the world. By observing World No Tobacco Day, you are being a part of that, and if you can do it for one day, perhaps you can go for longer… and make not smoking a part of a new, healthier life for yourself and for your lungs.
And don’t feel left out if you are a reformed smoker, now living healthy and free of nicotine! This is your day to celebrate the effort you have gone to in making your life healthier. One way to really celebrate this is to start something designed to improve your health even further. I can think of nothing better than building on a day of no tobacco by consider our flagship product, ‘The Complete Lung Detoxification Guide’ Series. Whether you have already quit, or in the planning stage of saying goodbye to nicotine for good, our Lung Cleansing Guide has all the advice you need to turn one day free of nicotine into a lifetime of better health, and to speeding up the removal of tar and mucus that clogs up a recently reformed smoker’s lungs. Trust me; you want this stuff out of your lungs, and your life.
So consider quitting smoking on World No Tobacco Day 2012, you could be feeling a whole lot better and having a cleaner set of lungs as well!
Until next time,
stay well, stay quit, and lung-toxin free.
William Renolds
