The goal is 21 smokeless days and nights for UNM staff and students who signed up for a Smoke Stoppers class on Monday.
Participants meet in eight class sessions for two weeks to engage in activities, meet with health experts and exercise to deter their smoking urges.
Judy Wright, program manager for UNM Employee Health Promotion Program and instructor for the class, said group members will learn to identify what triggers smoking and how to quit.
"Participants will learn about their habit, how to control smoking urges by using exercise and other techniques, and dealing with stress management," Wright said.
She said the success rate of the program depends on the participant's willingness to quit, but on the average she sees about 35 percent of her class stop smoking after 21 days.
"This is not a psychoanalysis session nor group therapy, but an educational program that will teach things about smoking that smokers may have not known before," she said.
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Wright said the most common reasons that people smoke is because they feel it is relaxing and comfortable.
"Many people feel that smoking calms their nerves and releases stress, but smoking actually works as a stimulant and causes even more tension," Wright said.
Wright has been teaching the Smoke Stoppers class for 10 years and is a former smoker.
The program offers all participants anonymity, Wright said. Participants sometimes identify each other as students or by other traits agreed upon during their first session.
One participant who signed up for the class said he has been smoking about five cigarettes a day since he was a teenager and realizes that it is time for him to stop.
"I was able to stop smoking for awhile but unfortunately came back to it and haven't been able to stop again," he said.
Another participant said he remembers his grandmother smoking a pipe when he was a child and said the smell of the tobacco comforts him. He has been smoking for more than 30 years.
Wright said people have a wide variety of reasons for why they smoke and that the class session will help smokers to identify those reasons and work to find alternative ways to handle those urges.
"Getting rid of cigarettes is like getting rid of the garbage in our home. We just need to learn how to do it," she said.
Wright pointed out the significant amount of money that a person can save by not purchasing cigarettes.
"A motivation members will learn is how much money is needlessly spent on an addictive habit that can be used on more important things," Wright said.
According to a pamphlet by Smoke Stoppers, the average pack of cigarettes is $3 and if a person smokes one pack a day for one month, the cost is about $90 a month, $1,080 a year, $10,800 after 10 years and more than $21,000 after 20 years.
Wright said the group members will do exercises and small homework activities for the week prior to the day set to quit smoking. The activities are used to prepare the members for the 21 days that they will not be allowed to smoke.
Former smokers and University of Michigan psychologists founded Smoke Stoppers in 1977. There is a $50 fee for the kit that will be used in the sessions. UNM students who complete the course will be reimbursed $20 at the end of the class.
For more information about the class, contact Judy Wright at 272-3710.
