Wiltshire worker reveals health boost just days after quitting smoking
Haytham Shabaan said his addiction impacted every part of his life
Last updated 8th Jan 2025
A man who has quit smoking with the help of Wiltshire Council is urging others in the county to follow in his footsteps.
The council's offering a free 12-week support programme to slash the number of smokers in the county down from 42,000.
Haytham Shaaban, who works at the Council, has been smoke free for a week and says he's already feeling the benefits.
Before quitting, his dependency on cigarettes left him feeling ashamed of himself.
He said: "I felt so bad about myself emotionally each time anytime I needed to do anything, I needed to have a cigarette before."
Haytham added that his addiction was impacting his health: "I felt bad about my health. I can't run like I used to do, I gained some weight because of this and I wascraving bad habits not only about smoking. I used to have a lot of bad habits, sleeping issues and bad breath.
"Everything was bad."
But after just a week, Haytham says he already feels 'much better'.
He told Greatest Hits Radio that the programme was made easy for him, with the advisors helping him every step of the way.
Marie Fitzgerald from the Public Health Team told us it's a 'person-centred' programme.
"We recognise that smoking is an addiction, it's not a choice and people are supported to make changes such as managing cravings, switching up their routines, having a plan in place to manage times when it might be a bit tricky to not smoke and ultimately stay in smoke free," she said.
She added: "We know that using support services more than triples a person's chance of successfully quitting than if they just try to go cold turkey."
It's estimated that stopping smoking can save a person on average £2,000 per year.
Haytham told us that's one of the benefits he's already enjoying.
"I'm saving a lot of money. Sometimes I spend more than £14 or £20 a day on smoking," he said.
But the benefits haven't stopped there, with Haytham's entire outlook now more positive as a result.
He's joined a gym to get fitter and is improving his diet to maximise the health benefits.
He said: "It's really precious because life's too short. So we need to live our life in a healthy way."
Marie told us the health benefits arrive just minutes after we stop.
She said: "Just after 20 minutes your pulse rate returns to normal, you'll start to breathe more easily, have more energy in your sense of taste and smell, improve even your skin looks brighter with more oxygen."
Quitting also reduces our chances of developing cancer, heart disease, COPD, type 2 diabetes and dementia, as well as boosting eye and mouth health.
Marie stressed that people aren't alone on their quitting journey: "Support is available for you whether you've tried to stop smoking many times before or are just considering it now. Never give up on giving up. There are so many options and combinations of tools now, and you will find the one that works for you."