If you decided to quit smoking for your New Year’s resolution this year, you’re in good company. In comparison to 2012, twice as many people chose to base their New Year’s resolution around quitting smoking in 2013. The news comes courtesy of Legacy, a research organization that advocates smoking cessation.

Legacy sent email questionnaires to over 1,500 smokers in the U.S., all of whom were over the age of 18 and had smoked more than 100 cigarettes previously to find out how many people quit smoking on New Years. The survey found that 34% of those polled who made a New Year’s resolution had opted to quit smoking. Just 18% of the same types of individuals said the same thing in 2012. The results might indicate that more and more individuals are continuing to take the health risks of smoking very seriously.

Why Smokers Are Quitting

Legacy researchers also asked reasons for quitting, as well as other factors relevant to their smoking habits while determining how many people quit smoking for a New Year’s resolution. A whopping 67% of respondents said that they were quitting primarily in response to rising cigarette prices. In comparison, 58% said they were quitting because of health risks.

Also interesting was that 53% of respondents admitted to not speaking with their doctors about smoking cessation during the previous year. According to one of the researchers, medical practitioners should be doing more to educate smokers about health risks and provide resources for quitting.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agrees with this notion, suggesting that people will be more likely to quit if they spend even 10 minutes talking to their doctors about it. The CDC lists increased risks of chronic obstructive lung disease, lung cancer, stroke, heart disease and death as results of smoking.

Smoking Cessation Aids Can Help

Approximately 39% of those surveyed said that they’d used over-the-counter smoking cessation aids (including patches, lozenges and gums) the last time they tried to kick the habit, while 13% said the same about prescription stop-smoking products. The researchers believe that these types of products can indeed improve a person’s chances of quitting smoking.

The average person who decided to quit smoking as their New Year’s resolution in the 2012 study was successful for approximately one month. When smokers attempt to quit, they’re faced with withdrawal symptoms such as increased appetite (the reason why many gain weight when they quit), anxiety and irritability. Smoking cessation products, when used as directed, typically deliver nicotine in increasingly lower doses in order to minimize these withdrawal symptoms while supporting the end goal of quitting smoking.

How Many People Quit Smoking – The Bottom Line

A new study suggests that almost twice as many people have chosen smoking cessation as their New Year’s resolutions as last year. Talking to your doctor and creating a long-term plan for cessation can greatly improve your chances of permanently quitting smoking.