I recently read an article in the Independent about the rise of vaping and it being a gateway to smoking, particularly for Gen Z. Reasons cited for switching from vaping to smoking included:
- finding it easier to view smoking a cigarette as a time-limited event (rather than continuously vaping)
- a response to increased levels of stress and isolation, particularly post-pandemic
- considering it as meditative, ritualistic act
However, the reason that really struck me was the lure ofthe Fag Break. One smoker cited this as the reason he switched from vaping to smoking, because in his place of work everyone else was a smoker and got a fag break, which non-smokers didn’t. This got me thinking about the concept of the fag break. As a non-smoking GP from a fairly middle class background you would be right in assuming that my initial response was both outraged and judgemental. How on earth did the concept of a fag break ever arise? We’re all entitled to breaks as workers, of course, whether it’s to eat, make a cuppa, go to the toilet, or just to stretch our legs and take a breath. But the idea of a break that is taken largely for no reason other than to smoke…really? To me this feels like we are treating smokers as a protected group who need some extra workplace-based consideration compared to their non-smoking colleagues…who may well have lives that are at least as challenging but it doesn’t result in them taking regular breaks from work to indulge in their drug habit. Come to that, when was the last time that you heard a work colleague explain that they just needed to pop outside to take a swig from their hip flask, inject some controlled drugs, or participate in other forms of self harm?
Having worked myself up into a self-righteous lather, I then started to think about how this should be reflected in workplace policy. Maybe smokers should get paid less per hour, depending on the frequency of their fag breaks. Or every fag break either coming off their annual leave, or counting as unpaid leave? Then I did some maths. Assuming a fag break takes an average of 5 minutes, and occurs 3 times a day in addition to any of the normal breaks, that’s 15 minutes a day, 75 minutes a week, 5 hours a month, or 60 hours a year. Depending on your working hours and how much annual leave you get, that could be about 2 weeks of work! 2 weeks of work that you’re getting paid for not doing, and presumably dumping on your non-smoking colleagues! At this stage I was now almost puce with indignation as I contemplated this inequity.
Then my lifestyle medicine physician brain then started to ask some questions. How about, instead of getting worked up and looking to penalise smokers, we turn this into a health creation opportunity? What opportunities might we offer to those, smokers and non-smokers, who want to engage in something more salutogenic activities? What about a Walking Break? A Stretching Break? A Mindfulness Break? A Prayer Break? Or a pure and simple Putting Your Feet Up Break?
In my surgery we have official timed breaks in our day (well, the non-doctors do, at least) but these are often spent eating food in front of a screen, catching up on admin or soaked up by our clinics running late and additional, urgent on-the-day stuff that inevitably comes up.
When I started walking into town at lunchtime as part of looking after my health and helping me to be a good and safe doctor, I used to feel a bit guilty. It felt as if I was sneaking out of the surgery. I assumed that everyone else was working harder than me, and that having a break was a massive luxury and probably indicated that I wasn’t doing my job properly. If I spotted another team member in town, we’d acknowledge each other briefly in an almost embarrassed, apologetic, let’s-keep-this-between-us, kind of way. Over time, we’ve seen changes. Everyone knows that I go for a walk before work in my own time, and again at lunchtime, and I now often see colleagues in town, with whom I now exchange a smile and a wave. If I’ve got the time and am on top of my paperwork, I will do some resistance band exercises or micro workout in my room with some music on. This has led to some interesting conversations when people come knocking on my door!
I’m still hot on equity and fairness and open to conversations about pay and conditions for smokers and non-smokers alike. However, if I had to choose I’d rather use than lose the opportunities afforded by discussions around the Fag Break. Being explicitly offered health creating opportunities as part of our working day, and being given the protected time that we need to take advantage of them, is something that would benefit all of us and encourage us to make the best choices for ourselves, individually and collectively.
