With the capital’s new anti-tobacco laws due to come into force towards the end of the year and under increasing pressure from friends, family and himself, Abu Dhabi Week’s Jon Muller decided that the Holy month of Ramadan was the perfect time to try and give up smoking. Read on to find out how he fared…

I started smoking 20 years ago and while I never considered myself to be a heavy smoker – on average I smoked between five and ten cigarettes a day – years of abusing my body were beginning to take their toll.

However, it wasn’t until I moved to Abu Dhabi two years ago that I started to seriously consider giving up. Replacing my active UK lifestyle with a rather more sedentary existence in the UAE, it soon became apparent that I wasn’t as healthy as I thought I was.

In my twenties and early thirties, I could happily play 90 minutes of football without worrying too much about my fitness or training.

Eighteen months of brunches, sunbathing and very little exercise later, a kickabout at the Dome on Airport Road proved to be a rude awakening – after ten minutes my leg muscles were screaming, I was drenched in sweat and gasping for air.

Six months later, after factoring in the obvious health risks, smelling like an ashtray, sore throats and nicotine-stained fingers, I finally made the decision to try and quit and set 1st August as the big day.

The first thing I had to decide on was what method to try. Should I go with patches, gum or medication? What about electronic cigarettes or nicotine replacement treatment? Maybe even something more out of leftfield like hypnosis or acupuncture?

In the end, I decided that willpower and a positive mental attitude were the way to go and for the first week this proved to be more than enough.

Of course, I was helped by the fact that it was Ramadan so I wasn’t tempted by colleagues smoking at work and a friend gave me quite a novel way of taking my mind off any cravings that manifested themselves – origami! Any time I found myself longing for a cigarette, I simply took a sheet of paper and folded myself a crane.

The second week was spent visiting family and friends in England, where I lapsed on a couple of nights out and succumbed to the calling of the evil weed but, after returning slightly shamefacedly to Abu Dhabi, weeks three and four back at work were much better.

Before giving up on 1st August I underwent a series of physical tests at Haddins Gym in Zayed Sports City. Four weeks later, I repeated the tests to see what effects, if any, not smoking had had on my fitness.

Despite smoking for twenty years, my lung capacity was initially measured at 570 litres of air per minute – anything over 500 is considered to be very good – after four weeks this had increased to 585 litres per minute.

The next test was the clean and press with an Olympic barbell to measure my strength and endurance. At the first attempt I managed 39 repetitions in two minutes, which then dropped slightly to 37 at the second try.

The third and final exercise was a variation of a VO2 test to measure the efficiency of the heart, lungs and vascular system.

Conducted on the treadmill, I started running at five miles per hour with the speed increasing by one mile per hour every minute until I couldn’t run any more. Initially managing a distance of 0.49 miles in four minutes and 22 seconds at a top speed of nine miles per hour, I managed to improve this to 0.54 miles in five minutes and four seconds at a top speed of ten miles per hour on the second attempt.

While the results are not exactly conclusive, there is definitely some improvement and there’s no doubt that I feel better for a month of (virtually) no smoking. My senses of taste and smell have improved, my breathing has become a lot less laboured when exercising and generally I feel more alert and energetic.

Ultimately, giving up smoking is never going to be easy and, although the past month has not been completely cigarette-free, I feel that I am well on the way to quitting. I just need to keep on going now – I really don’t want to see all my efforts to go up in smoke.

For more information about the dangers of smoking and how to quit smoking, consult your local pharmacist, call 800 800 or visit www.haad.ae

Jon Muller

Smoking in Abu Dhabi

Recent Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (HAAD) statistics show that between 24 and 35 percent of the capital’s population smokes, of which 55 percent smoke cigarettes, 38 percent smoke medwakh, 29 percent shisha and 14 percent cigars. In addition, the 2010 Global School Health Survey commissioned by the UAE Ministry of Health revealed that more than 80 percent of school pupils have already tried smoking at least once.

Butt out

If you’re afraid willpower isn’t going to be enough to kick the evil weed and you don’t like the idea of patches, gum or medication, don’t worry – there’s a wide variety of holistic alternatives out there to give you a helping hand…

Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapists use techniques that bring the mind and the body of the smoker into a relaxed state where the smoker can be led to believe that there is no need for them to continue smoking and they no longer crave it.

Acupuncture
Acupuncture is considered by many health experts to be very successful in helping smokers quit smoking by controlling withdrawal symptoms and lessening cravings. One of the advantages of acupuncture is that it also detoxifies your body, although it can be expensive.

Meditation
Millions of people attempt to quit smoking every day, but because of the mental stress that they go through, they relapse. And it doesn’t take a long time for them to quit quitting. With meditation, you are training your mind and strengthening your determination to quit smoking.

The Good news

It’s not all doom and gloom – if you are serious about giving up, the results can be felt almost immediately.

After 20 minutes: blood pressure decreases, pulse rate falls and temperature in the hands and feet returns to normal levels.
After 8 hours: carbon monoxide levels are reduced, the amount of oxygen in the blood increases to normal levels.
After 24 hours: the chance of having a heart attack is reduced.
After 48 hours: nerve endings start to re-grow and the ability to taste and smell increases.
After two weeks: blood circulation and lung functions improve.
After 6 months: symptoms of cough, and clogged sinuses are significantly reduced.
After 1 year: the risk of coronary heart disease decreases by 50 percent.
After 5 years: the chance of having a stroke is reduced to the same level as non-smokers.
After 10 years: the chance of developing lung cancer and other smoking related cancers is reduced.
After 15 years: the risk of cardiovascular disease becomes as low as non-smokers.