Health App Encourages Calling it Quits
Tech plus mindfulness helps extinguish smoking
By Malia Jacobson May 17, 2016
This article originally appeared in the June 2016 issue of Seattle magazine.
A half-century ago, in the Marlboro Man’s heyday, nearly half of American adults smoked. Far fewer light up today, but the 20 percent who do face steep odds when they try to quit: According to the American Cancer Society, only 4–7 percent of efforts to quit smoking succeed without medicines or other assistance. Now, there’s an app for that. Last fall, psychologist Jonathan Bricker, Ph.D., of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, received a $3.1 million, five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study SmartQuit, a smoking-cessation smartphone app offered free to Washington residents through the Department of Health (doh.wa.gov).
Bricker is an expert in acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT, which SmartQuit employs to help smokers mindfully accept urges to smoke without acting on them. According to the Department of Health, SmartQuit boosts quitting success rates threefold; the NCI grant will fund a randomized, controlled trial to yield greater insight into how this marriage of mindfulness and tech can help more smokers clear the air, for good.
Follow Us
Mother’s Day Gift Guide
Shop local and give her something she’ll love.
Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday, May 10, and the right gift really depends on the mom. Maybe she wants flowers. Maybe she wants lunch by the water. Maybe she wants something useful, pretty, or delicious. Whatever the day looks like, a little thought goes a long way. It can also be a complicated…
Here’s Your Earth Month To-Do List
Local cleanups, trail work, and ways to get outside this April.
In the Pacific Northwest, a region deeply connected to water, forests, and ecosystems, the climate conversation has never been theoretical. It shows up as shrinking snowpack, severe flooding, and warming streams. If the planet’s future—and that of our own backyard—can feel overwhelming, this year’s Earth Day theme, “Our Power, Our Planet,” puts the action back…
A Clear Vision for Growth
Local optometry clinic Eye Eye celebrates a decade in business and prepares to debut its first line of frames.
In Leschi Park, overlooking Lake Washington, towers one of Seattle’s many historic trees, a giant sequoia planted sometime in the early 20th century. Just down the street on Lakeside Avenue is the second location of eye clinic and shop Eye Eye, where Dr. Will Pentecost seems to be borrowing some of the leafy specimen’s energy….
Floating with Friends
The benefits of sauna go beyond the physical, and Seattle’s newest wellness experience—which glides around the waters of Lake Union—equally taps into the non-tangible positives.
It only took a few minutes to settle in before I knew—these are my people. I met Emma Griffith, one of the founders of Wild Haus Floating Saunas, on a crisp, clear, late-summer morning to chat about the project she helped start last January. In simple terms, the team of eight created two saunas on…