Willpower, mindset needed to quit smoking during Ramadan

Many Muslims have attempted to quit smoking during the fasting month but were unsuccessful as they lacked support for their will to kick the habit.

In this regard, the Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) has created a '24-Hour Quit Smoking' programme to assist smokers.

PPIM training director Dr Izham Nayan said the programme under the Community Practitioners of Moral and Healthy Living (Kompas) provided training and the proper way to quit smoking.

"The decision to quit smoking can be made any time, it is just that many Muslim smokers choose to quit during Ramadan," he said when contacted by Bernama here today.

Izham said the most important factors in the move to stop smoking were the willpower and the mindset of a smoker. Those factors alone, he noted, could ensure success in kicking the habit.

"When fasting, a smoker can stop the habit for 14 hours but needs a puff every one or two hours when not fasting. Therefore, it is a question of willpower."

Izham said the will to quit smoking should be supported with exercise and light activities to wean smokers from cigarettes.

"At PPIM, we provide a session on stopping smoking for those who are interested to quit. Here, we will tell them of the detriments of smoking and rationale to quit," he said.

He said after the participants were convinced to quit smoking, a detoxification session of up to 12 hours would be carried out in a group of 15 to 20 people.

"These include light exercise, religious chanting as well as activities which could replace the yearn for nicotine," he said.

Under the Kompas programme, smokers are not encouraged to wean off their habit using medication such as mouth-spray or patch.

"Using medication still involves the element of nicotine to smokers as the brain is still influenced by the substance, which means the smoker is still dependent on nicotine.

"It cannot be denied that the technic is effective but PPIM does not advocate this method. As such, 70 percent of our participants quit their smoking habit and those who failed will return to undergo the training again," he said.