Sheffield Wednesday duo Caolan Lavery and Paul Corry helped to inspire Sheffield’s smokers to stub out the cigarettes for good at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Furniture & Electrical store on Friday.
Quitters were given the opportunity to receive information and advice on how to make their quit attempt a victorious one, ahead of No Smoking Day on Wednesday12 March.
The event was part of a national roadshow which is being run by the BHF to inspire and support smokers to win the battle against cigarettes for good.
Visitors had the opportunity to meet Lavery and Corry while representatives from Sheffield Stop Smoking Service were on hand to test people’s lung age and carbon monoxide levels to show the harmful effects of smoking.
The players tested their own carbon monoxide levels, with Paul scoring a great two parts per million carbon monoxide, and Caolan a fantastic one, showing that both have a healthy non-smoker level of carbon monoxide.
Heavy smokers would score around 20, and a 60 would mean that you were suffering carbon monoxide poisoning.
Just over a fifth of adults in Sheffield smoke, but almost two-thirds want to give up.
Research from stop smoking services show that smokers are four times more likely to be effective in quitting if they use specialist support and treatment.
BHF Area Manager Chris Ward said: “We want to get as many people as possible from Sheffield to join hundreds of thousands of people across the UK attempting to quit on No Smoking Day.
“The event today was all about giving people the opportunity to seek out tailored help and support which will put them in the best possible position to start a victorious quit attempt on 12 March.”
Over 10 million people smoke in the UK. It remains the biggest cause of preventable illness and premature death. More than 100,000 smokers die from smoking related diseases each year, including around 22,000 from heart and circulatory diseases and 45,000 from cancer.
No Smoking Day has a ‘V for Victory’ theme this year which is set to inspire smokers to start a victorious quit attempt on the 12 March and win the battle against cigarettes for good.
Information on No Smoking Day events and activities are available at nosmokingday.org.uk. Join the campaign on twitter by using the hashtag #NoSmokingDay.