Smoking and your health

It’s common to think that smoking helps you relax or cope with feelings of anxiety, stress or depression. The truth is, smoking is a highly addictive behaviour that can have a negative impact on your mental and physical health.

Tobacco smoke contains more than 7000 chemicals, over 70 of which are known to cause cancer.  Nobody expects to develop a serious smoking-related illness, but no smoker is safe. When you inhale cigarette smoke these chemicals enter your lungs and spread through your body via blood and lymph systems, harming nearly every organ of the body and possibly cause many serious conditions that impact your quality of life. 

Cancer Council’s new campaign, 'You can break free from vaping', features real people sharing their stories about how vaping affected their health—and how quitting has made a positive difference in their lives.

Most people who vape want to quit. Are you one of them?

Whether you’re just curious or ready to quit, visit cleartheair.org.au to try the ‘Am I addicted’ quiz, use the quit savings calculator to see how much you can save by quitting vaping and access the tips you need to break free from vaping for good.

Smoke-free environments

Chat to the experts

📅 Book an appointment with your doctor

  • If you are struggling with nicotine withdrawal symptoms that aren’t getting better, your doctor can help. They can give you advice on nicotine replacement therapy and link you with other support services.

📱 Call Quitline (13 7848). Their trained Quitline counsellors can:

  • tailor a quit plan to suit you,
  • help you work through your triggers and
  • provide new tips to fight cravings.

Whether you’re just thinking about quitting or you’ve tried 20 times already, Quitline would love to hear from you.

If talking on the phone is not your thing, you can also send them a message on Messenger, or Webchat 💬.

Chat to those who matter most

  • Share your plans to quit with a trusted friend or mentor(e.g., coach, counsellor, or close family member) and reach out for support
  • Talk to your loved ones about your decision to quit. They can support you by:
    • Reminding you why you want to quit.
    • Distracting you when you have cravings or helping you find the best craving busters.
    • Booking or attending appointments with you.
    • Celebrating your vape-free milestones.‍
  • Most importantly, don’t be too hard on yourself if you vape again.
    Quitting vapes can be a journey and you may stumble or go back to vaping – this doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Many vapes contain high levels of nicotine which can make stopping challenging. Next time around you’ll know what worked and what didn’t. Keep trying and you will quit.

 

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