GSK launches Quit.com to help smokers

Singapore: GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare announced the launch of Quit.com, a total quit-smoking online resource to help smokers quit their cigarette addictions and stay smoke-free. Every smoker is different; therefore every smoker's approach to quitting may need to be different. The website is built in four levels with specific tools depending on where smokers are in the quitting process. Quit.com has information for those who are preparing-to-quit, ready-to-quit, currently quitting or post-quit and looking for resources to remain a non-smoker.

Each year, 15 million smokers try to quit smoking cigarettes, but only five percent actually succeed when they use no support or go cold turkey. Quit.com also offers information, tools and resources to help smokers through both the mental and physical aspects of quitting smoking.

Quit.com offers tools to help battle the mental aspects, such as picking your quit date, identifying your triggers and zeroing in on your inspiration to stay smoke-free, as well as resources to help fight the physical addiction, such as a quit guide to find the right nicotine replacement to help provide relief from cravings and product information.

When used as directed, using nicotine replacements in the form of gums, lozenges or patches can double a smoker's chances of quitting. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is designed to help relieve the cravings and withdrawal symptoms associated with quitting smoking by providing safe, controlled doses of nicotine. The controlled doses help calm cravings and irritability so smokers can focus on the psychological aspects of their habit.

"Quitting smoking is tough and requires focus and effort, but that's only half the equation. Part of the addiction is behavioral, a learned habit over time but the other part is neurobiology, a chemical dependency to nicotine," explained Dr Saul Shiffman, an addiction and dependence expert and a world-renowned researcher in behavior change and relapse at the University of Pittsburgh and paid-consultant to GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. "Using a combination of behavioral resources, education and quit smoking medicines can improve chances of success!"