BBC doctor warns ‘don’t go cold turkey’ when quitting smoking

A doctor on BBC Morning Live has issued a warning on No Smoking Day which falls today, March 12, and is warming never to go “cold turkey”. A regular on the show, Doctor Oscar Duke said: “It’s still a huge problem, in fact to such an extent that it’s the biggest preventable cause of not only death, but also disease in the UK.”

Citing a study from the University College London, he says it has shown that for “every cigarette you smoke for a man you reduce your life by 17 minutes and for a woman, by even more, by 22 minutes.” Talking about the “significant amount of damage” that people are doing to their body, he says ‘smoking is really really hard to give up. Nicotine is one of the most addictive drug that there is’.

As a GP, the doctor has been told that ‘if you can help them (a patient) to stop smoking, that is the best impact that you can have on their life, for their entire life’. But to do that, the smoker needs help and going cold turkey is the wrong thing to do.

He said: “We know that you are three times more likely to be successful in giving up smoking if you do two things. If you have professional support and you’re using some sort of nicotine replacement therapy. So you’re way more likely to be successful than just going cold turkey and just stopping.

“The chances of having relapse and smoking again are so much higher,” he warns, adding that “it takes a lot of attempts” to give it up. On the gov.uk website, they detail what the No Smoking  Day 2025 Campaign is all about. Directing people to an NHS page, it explains: “Eery time you smoke a cigarette, your body is flooded with thousands of chemicals, many of which are poisonous. The day you stop, your body starts clearing itself of all those nasty toxins and the repair process begins.”

You will notice some benefits within days or weeks:

• your senses of taste and smell improve
• you start to breathe more easily
• you have more energy

Other benefits will follow, including:

• better blood circulation to your heart and muscles, which will make physical activity easier
• improved lung function, leading to reductions in any cough, wheezing or other breathing problems

Not only will you notice you have more energy and can breath better, but by quitting, it can reduce your risk of smoking-related diseases. The NHS adds that your longer-term risks of cancer, lung disease, heart disease and stroke will be significantly reduced, and:

• after 1 year, risk of heart attack halves compared to a smoker’s
• after 10 years, risk of death from lung cancer falls to half that of a smoker
• after 15 years, risk of heart attack falls to the same as someone who has never smoked

You will also be less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, bone disease including osteoporosis, eye disease and dementia.