Here’s the habit SC residents want to quit the most in 2023, Google says, and resources to help
This year, the habit most South Carolina residents want to kick is smoking, according to an analysis from a recent study conducted by Gallus Detox.
The study used Google Search data from across the country to find what habit Americans are most ready to quit this year.
The top 10 “vices Americans are trying to quit in 2023”, according to the study are:
Alcohol
Tobacco
Pornography
Biting nails
Cannabis
Sugar
Caffeine
Gambling
Junk food
Social Media
Research found that “how to quit smoking” was the top searched term about attempting to quit a habit both in South Carolina and on a national level, according to the study.
Coming in second across the country, more than a quarter of states had “unusually high search rates for quitting.” The data found that a majority of these states were located in the Southeast, with a few in the Midwest region and one state in the Northeast, as was detailed in the study.
Smoking can lead to a variety of preventable health problems. Some of these can, in fact, become fatal.
Health issues that can be caused by smoking include: cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis,with an additional risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC adds that smoking harms nearly every organ of the body as well as that “more than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking.”
Tobacco users increase their chances of many types of cancer- the most prominent being lung cancer. In addition, many studies show that there is a link between cigarette smoking and coronary artery disease. Smoking while pregnant can increase the risk of pregnancy complications and smoking, even during an individual’s teen years, will increase the risk of a smoker dying from COPD, the CDC includes on its website.
Cigarette smoking causes about one of every five deaths nationwide each year and is estimated to cause more than 480,000 deaths annually, which includes deaths from secondhand smoke, according to the CDC.
The life expectancy for tobacco smokers is estimated to be at least 10 years shorter than the expected life span for nonsmokers. In addition, quitting the habit of smoking prior to turning 40 years old reduces the risk of dying from a smoking-related disease by about 90%, the CDC states.
In South Carolina alone, the CDC reported an estimated 7,200 adults die from smoking-related illnesses each year.
On top of the adult mortality statistics, 103,000 youths that are currently alive and under the age of 18 in South Carolina alone will die prematurely from smoking, according to tobaccofreekids.org.
In relation to a primary disease caused by smoking, the percent of South Carolina residents alive five years following a lung cancer diagnosis, meaning the survival rate, is 23%. This is significantly lower than the national rate of 25%, according to the American Lung Association.
Additionally, although the smoking epidemic has seemingly increased each year, the CDC reported that a total of $1.9 billion was spent on healthcare costs due to smoking in the year 2009.
In the “2021 South Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey Results” from the Division of Tobacco Prevention and Control through the South Carolina Department of Health and Environment Control, percentages of high school students who reported to have ever used tobacco products by gender, race/ethnicity and grade were gathered.
According to the survey’s results, 45.5% of high school students were reported to have used any tobacco product, 18.8% reported to have used cigarettes, 9.7% reported to have ever used smokeless tobacco, 17.4% reported to have ever smoked a cigar, 7.4% reported to ever using a pipe and 36.0% reported to ever using an e-cigarette.
South Carolina and the federal government have an abundance of resources for those who wish to stop their smoking habit.
CDC Resources
Quit Smoking Helpline:
-1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) - English
-1-855-DÉJELO-YA (1-855-335-3569) - Spanish
-Mandarin and Cantonese: 1-800-838-8917
-Korean: 1-800-556-5564
-Vietnamese: 1-800-778-8440
Quit smoking text help: Text “QUITNOW” to 333888
Tips to quit smoking: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/
How to quit smoking: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/
South Carolina-specific Resources
Government Resources
Other Online Resources
This story was originally published February 2, 2023 at 8:00 AM.
