Page One
Letters to the Editor
Extend time between cigs
Editor:
About twenty years ago, after several tries, I found a smokingintervention program run by a wise physician at the old French Hospital in San Francisco.
His theory was that one should never set a date to quit smoking because you'd always find an excuse not to keep the date.
Instead, he counseled the class to see how long they could go between cigarettes.
He told us that the urge to smoke only lasts a few seconds and gave us a list of 49 things to do to curb the urge – chew on a tooth pick, get in the shower, kiss a friend, go to a movie... He also told us to congratulate ourselves on the length of time we beat that wee white stick and, if we succumbed, not to beat up ourselves, but to try for a longer record the next time.
I have been between cigarettes for twenty years.
I finally threw out the ash trays, changed the nicotine stained curtains and learned to smell the roses.
I don't know why smoking cessation programs such as that described in your 1/3/01 paper make it such an onerous process with such a low success rate when the competitive instinct in all of us can make us all winners.
Sally Williams
Berkeley
