For Sandi Hersh, lighting up a cigarette was as routine as making her morning cup of tea. She had smoked for four decades, having picked up the habit at 19 because, as she puts it, she simply thought it looked cool. By the time she reached her early sixties, she had resigned herself to the idea that quitting smoking was not something she would ever seriously pursue.

Then, almost by accident, everything changed.

“Quitting doesn’t have to be hard. I still can’t believe how easy it was,” said Hersh, now 63.

A Chance Conversation That Changed Everything

After delaying routine medical appointments during the pandemic, Hersh was catching up with her doctors when the subject of smoking came up. She agreed to speak with a cessation specialist largely out of politeness, with no real intention of following through.

That specialist was Collene Curran, a certified tobacco treatment professional at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital. Curran was persistent, warm, and impossible to brush off.

“I was dragged and pulled the whole way,” Hersh recalled with a laugh. “She is so nice, which is what pushed me. I thought, I don’t want to disappoint her.”

By April 2022, Hersh had smoked her last cigarette.

Why So Many People Struggle to Stop Smoking

Quitting smoking remains one of the most difficult behaviour changes a person can make, and the statistics reflect this. According to the NHS, around 6.4 million adults in England still smoke, and while the majority say they want to stop, fewer than one in three attempts succeed without support.

Curran, who herself smoked from the age of 16 before stopping in 2005, understands the struggle from the inside. She spent 30 years as a smoker before finding her way out, and has since dedicated her career to helping others do the same.

“It has been my passion ever since,” she said.

One of the most persistent myths she encounters is the idea that smoking relieves stress. In reality, she explains, it only relieves the discomfort caused by nicotine withdrawal. The moment a cigarette is finished, withdrawal begins again, creating a cycle that feels like stress relief but is simply the temporary quieting of a craving.

“People think that smoking reduces their stress. But in reality, it causes a great deal of stress,” Curran said.

She points out that many people who smoke started as teenagers, long before they had developed any real coping mechanisms. “Most of us started smoking as teens. We grew into adulthood without good coping skills,” she said.

The Role of Medication and Support in Quitting Smoking

Hersh’s experience highlights something that researchers and clinicians have long emphasised: people who attempt to stop smoking without any support are far less likely to succeed than those who seek help. Cold turkey, despite its popular appeal, has a notoriously low success rate.

For Hersh, the turning point came with a prescription for varenicline, the generic form of the medication formerly marketed as Chantix. Unlike nicotine replacement therapies such as patches or gum, varenicline works by blocking the brain receptors that nicotine attaches to, making cigarettes feel considerably less satisfying.

“It is not nicotine replacement,” Curran explained. “Instead, it blocks the receptors that nicotine latches onto in the brain. Many smokers find that it makes cigarettes less rewarding. That helps reduce the desire to smoke.”

Hersh noticed the shift herself. After starting the medication, she continued to smoke for a short while but found that cigarettes no longer delivered the feeling she had always associated with them.

“Usually, after the first drag, I would feel a calming, energising feeling in my chest. I did not have that anymore,” she said.

One evening, she realised she had not smoked since that morning. So she went to bed. That was the last cigarette she ever had.

Reframing What It Means to Stop Smoking

A key part of Curran’s approach involves shifting the way people think about the process of stopping. Many smokers frame it as a loss, a sacrifice, or something being taken away. Curran actively works to challenge that thinking.

“You are freeing yourself from an addiction. Do not look at it as a sacrifice. Look at it as freedom,” she said.

She also asks her patients to consider the less visible costs of smoking. Beyond the obvious financial burden, with Hersh herself noting she would spend $100 on a carton of cigarettes, there is the mental load. The constant calculations about when and where to smoke, the guilt, the concealment. None of that, she notes, resembles stress relief.

What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Smoking

The physical benefits of quitting smoking begin almost immediately and keep building over time. Blood pressure starts to drop within just 20 minutes of the last cigarette. Carbon monoxide levels in the blood return to normal after 12 hours, and by the one year mark, the risk of heart disease falls to roughly half that of someone who still smokes.

Curran adds that the visible changes can be just as striking.

“Quitting smoking is a great beauty treatment,” she said. “It is amazing how much healthier people look” when she sees them months or years later.

For cancer patients in particular, the benefits are significant. Treatments are more effective and the risk of recurrence is lower in those who have stopped smoking. Many surgical teams also require patients to stop before operations, as smoking impairs the body’s ability to heal.

Practical Steps Anyone Can Take

Curran outlines a handful of straightforward starting points for anyone thinking about quitting smoking:

Set a quit date. Having a specific goal makes the intention real. A date in the near future gives you something concrete to work towards.

Tell the people around you. Friends and family can become a meaningful source of support if they know what you are trying to do.

Seek professional help. Free NHS Stop Smoking services are available across the UK, and studies consistently show that people who use them are up to four times more likely to succeed.

Have a plan for cravings. The urge to smoke typically lasts only three to five minutes. Strategies such as drinking water, taking a short walk, listening to music, or calling someone you trust can bridge that gap.

Clear your environment. Remove cigarettes, lighters, and ashtrays from your home, car, and workplace. Reducing the physical presence of smoking cues makes a real difference.

Tested by Life After Quitting

Since stopping, Hersh has faced considerable personal stress. Her husband brought home an Australian Shepherd puppy named Smalls, who then contracted a serious illness requiring a week in a veterinary intensive care unit. Shortly afterwards, Hersh herself came down with COVID-19. On previous attempts to stop smoking, events like these would have sent her straight back to cigarettes.

This time, they did not.

“Life has been stressful at times, and still, I am not smoking,” she said.

She credits much of that to Curran’s way of redirecting her thinking in difficult moments and to the structure of having support in place before the hard times arrived.

“I was so lucky in how it all played out. On the hardest day of quitting, I happened to talk with Collene. She helped redirect my thinking.”

The Bigger Picture

Hersh’s story is not just about one person’s experience. It speaks to something broader about the way addiction works and why having the right support at the right moment can make all the difference. The help is out there, the medications work, and nobody has to go through it alone.

For anyone still sitting with a nearly empty packet and the quiet thought that maybe, one day, they will stop smoking, Hersh has a simple message.

“Cigarettes don’t control my life. I don’t have to plan my day around where I can find a smoke,” she said. “I was surprised it was this straightforward. If I could do it after 40 years, I genuinely think anyone can.”

If you are ready to stop smoking, free support is available through NHS Stop Smoking services. Speak to your GP or visit the NHS website to find local services near you.

Source: uchealth