Ray D'Arcy was joined on air by Operation Transformation leader Stefano Sweetman and Professor Niall Moyna to discuss Stefano's recent lifestyle changes including giving up smoking and cutting out his huge soft drink and coffee habits.
Stefano lives in Clonmel in Co Tipperary with his husband Gerard. Over the past year, the 32-year-old hairdresser says he's noticed his weight creeping up and is tired of constantly worrying about what clothes to wear that make him feel comfortable before leaving the house.
Stefano has been a smoker since he was 12 years of age and currently smokes between 30 and 40 cigarettes a day. He told the OT experts that he wants to start cutting back and give up them up while he’s still young.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1, Stefano said that his OT experience so far has been "amazing" and a big step in both his physical and mental health journey.
"I went to QUIT there on Tuesday last week," he explained. "It was quite a hard day for me, it was like an emotional day. Just going that first step. I think when it's put in black and white in front of you and when you see what's going on, it's hard to hear it all. But I had to make the first step to go there."
During the various COVID-19 lockdowns, Stefano says his smoking habit had climbed to new heights and he was beginning to feel the repercussions. Although he had tried to quit previously, he told Ray that the attempts had been half-hearted and he was often "fooling" himself. This time, though, he means business.
"In the past two or three years, especially with lockdown, I've been smoking more so I can feel my health is actually getting worse. I think when I met Professor Niall on assesment day, that scared me, when I couldn't even pass that test."
'That test' was a spirometry test which measures the amount of air a person can expire in one second. And it was clear from the results that there was damage to the young man's lungs.
"His lungs were not functioning properly," Professor Moyna told Ray. "There was evidence of lung disease and the problem with lung disease is that it's irreversible, and he's young."
"The nice thing about it is," he adds, "he's only 32 and the data clearly indicates that if you stop smoking - regardless of how many you smoked - if you stop before the age of 35 you lower your lifetime risk of dying the same as someone who has never smoked."
Following the QUIT method, Stefano is currently following a two week "cool down" where he reduces his habit by a few cigarettes at a time. Incredibly, he is already down to 16 a day.
To find out more about Stefano's health and fitness journey, listen back to The Ray D'Arcy Show on RTÉ Radio 1:
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