The year of health and social crisis that has just passed has overcome the goodwill of former cigarette addicts, or occasional smokers. According to the latest study from Public Health France (SPF) published Wednesday, May 26, the number of smokers has stopped falling, increasing again even among people with the lowest incomes. For the general population, tobacco consumption stopped declining between 2019 and 2020.
In response to a call for testimonials launched by The world, many readers say they have “cracked” for a cigarette when stress invaded them in March 2020, or when depression was approaching, in the depths of winter, when the 6pm curfew forced them to go home . On the occasion of the World No Tobacco Day, Monday May 31, we gave them the floor and tried to understand the mechanisms linked to this resumption of smoking in a context of unprecedented health, economic and social crisis.
Eight cigarillos a day
Director of a hypermarket in Reunion, Yoann experienced, from March 2020, “A succession of stress peaks linked to protocols, hygiene procedures to be implemented, social conflicts due to working conditions”. After quitting smoking for more than seven years, he finally accepted the cigarette offered by one of his employees in November. “Since then, I have resumed thoroughly, ten to fifteen cigarettes a day. My biggest valve to clear my head was the gym next to my house, but this crisis forced them to close ”, he confides.
Emmanuelle, accounting assistant in Lyon, followed for a chronic inflammatory disease of the bronchi, also thought in “To have definitively finished with tobacco”, but with “The establishment of the curfew at 6 pm, the burn-out of a colleague in December, the impression of living only to work, without any social life”, she ended up buying a pack of cigarillos in january. She now lights eight a day.
In the same state of mind, Frédérique, an IT manager who teleworks five days a week, has resumed smoking in order to “Break the monotony of confinement and give it an air of celebration”. Since February, she consumes one pack per week and “Hope to stop when we can come back face to face”.
Often “short-lived” relapses
During her consultations at the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital, Anne-Laurence Le Faou, head of the outpatient addictology center, saw many people having “Relapses” last year, but they were most often ” of short time ” : “We explain to patients that the shorter the duration of exposure to smoking, the less illnesses linked to tobacco consumption will appear. ” Among the reasons indicated by patients to the doctor to explain the resumption of smoking, there was “Lack of physical activity, stress related to working conditions – teleworking, in particular –, and concerns related to maintaining their professional activity ”.
“Today, due to confinement, student stress, dreary and arrested life, I went to around thirty cigarettes a day”
Under pressure in 2020, Gabriel, 19 years old, has also multiplied the cigarette breaks in March while he was preparing for the bac with his parents, then when he entered in September in preparatory letters in a large Parisian high school. “Today, due to confinement, student stress, dreary and arrested life, I have gone to around thirty cigarettes a day. And the effects on my health are obvious: I can no longer climb the two floors to reach my high school library without being out of breath. ”
Lung problems which Tristan, unemployed, living in Nancy, is also confronted. Before the start of the health crisis, however, he was in contact with Tabac Info Service and, thanks to an electronic cigarette without nicotine, coupled with patches, he had succeeded in drastically reducing his consumption. “I hardly smoked anymore when I was forbidden to play sports and cultivate myself [à la suite des différentes restrictions liées à la crise sanitaire]. I have gone back to more than a pack a day now. I lost the 5 kg of muscles that I had gained while playing sports and I am pushing back a lot ”, he explains.
“One of the rare pleasures”
In addition to health concerns, this resumption of consumption is expensive. At 10 euros a packet, tobacco represents an important budget item for people with modest incomes, who nevertheless increased their consumption between 2019 and 2020. “The cigarette costs me a hundred euros, even 150 euros per month between tobacco, leaves, filters, testifies Gabriel. As a student, it’s hard to balance a balanced budget at the end of the month. I therefore cut back on all the adjustment variables: food, soap, linen… ”
Santé publique France analyzes this high prevalence of smoking among populations of lower socio-economic status: ” Cigarette [est] used to manage stress or to overcome everyday difficulties, despite the increasing cost of this product. “
“Addictive behaviors, and smoking in particular, are quite linked to mental health, anxiety and depression. However, mental health and financial conditions are themselves closely linked, abounds Fabienne El-Khoury, researcher in social epidemiology at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and at Sorbonne University. Due to their living conditions, disadvantaged people face a lack of long-term projection: they may wonder if they are going to be paid next month. (…) Tobacco is then perceived as one of the rare pleasures. ”
And the health agency concludes: “In a context of unprecedented health, psychological, economic and social crisis, one of the challenges is to reinstate a downward trend, and to further strengthen the fight among the populations most vulnerable to smoking, social inequalities being very marked. “
Who to turn to to quit smoking?
To know its physical dependence on substances present in tobacco, and in particular on nicotine, it is possible to carry out a rapid test, called the Fagerström test, on the Tabac Info Service website.
There are effective ways to do without smoking, as long as you feel ready. Some do it on their own, others need to be accompanied by a doctor, tobacco specialist or pharmacist. Numerous anti-smoking consultations are available in France. The list of hospitals and health practices offering this type of appointment is also available Tobacco Info Service.
Today, three methods of quitting smoking are recognized as effective: nicotine replacement therapy, behavioral and cognitive therapies and drug treatments (Bupropion and Varenicline). Other methods such as the use of electronic cigarettes, hypnosis or acupuncture can be used.