{"id":37032,"date":"2010-08-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-25T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/08\/25\/wellness-wednesday-unmc-kristin-watkins-celebrate-a-tobacco-free-year\/"},"modified":"2022-09-02T20:21:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T01:21:15","slug":"wellness-wednesday-unmc-kristin-watkins-celebrate-a-tobacco-free-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/08\/25\/wellness-wednesday-unmc-kristin-watkins-celebrate-a-tobacco-free-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Wellness Wednesday – UNMC, Kristin Watkins celebrate a tobacco-free year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pictureAs the UNMC campus prepared to officially designate itself tobacco-free last August, Kristin Watkins decided it would be a good time for her to do the same thing personally. <\/p>\n

This week, she and the medical center celebrate a year of being tobacco free. Below, Watkins — librarian and grants coordinator in the Center for Preparedness Education — comments on quitting and what the past 12 months were like for her. <\/p>\n

How long did you smoke? <\/B><\/p>\n


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\nKristin Watkins<\/span>
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\n<\/TABLE>I initially started smoking when I worked in the theater in college. I stopped after a few years and didn’t smoke for 10 years. I started again while dealing with the death of my step father and I smoked again for about six years. <\/p>\n

How did you quit? <\/B><\/p>\n

I used Chantix. It really helped a lot and I experienced none of the side effects that others have. I had very strong cravings in the first few months but I really think the Chantix made it a lot easier. I also found it to be very helpful to hear how others had had difficult times with quitting and that I wasn’t alone in my struggles. <\/p>\n

How did you get through cravings? <\/B><\/p>\n

One thing I found very helpful was to keep the phrase, “This too shall pass,” in mind. <\/p>\n


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\nA year later
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\nUNMC celebrated a year of being tobacco free on Tuesday. UNMC Today ran a series of stories in the weeks after the campus officially declared itself tobacco free. The stories, which were aimed at helping people on campus quit tobacco, can be accessed via the links below.
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