Quit the smoking habit (From Bournemouth Echo)

Quit the smoking habit

8:00am Wednesday 10th March 2010 in

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Anyone who’s ever tried to give up smoking knows it’s not easy.

Research has shown that giving up cigarettes for good can take as many as five separate attempts.

But, luckily, that hasn’t stopped smokers wanting to try.

Nearly half of all smokers in England (44 per cent) resolved to give up smoking this year, according to recent NHS research.

And even if they only try once, it’s worth it, says Professor Robert West, of the Health Behaviour Research Centre at University College, London.

“For those that can make it a whole week without smoking, the chances of success are four times greater than when they started,” he explains.

“Quitting for good is hard and takes willpower and determination, especially during the first few weeks.

Considering that smoking has now been proven to cause over 2,000 deaths every week in the UK and kills more people under the age of 70 than breast cancer, Aids, traffic accidents and drug addiction combined, it does seem strange that anyone should still be smoking at all.

But as a Department of Health spokesperson explains, nicotine is highly addictive.

“People get physically addicted so you need a huge amount of will-power to give up smoking.

“Smoking also becomes a part of your everyday routine. From your first cup of coffe, to meeting friends who also smoke, and going for breaks at work, habits form around it.”

When you try and quit smoking, it’s as much about breaking your behavioral associations with smoking as weaning yourself off the physical addiction, he explains.

But does that mean giving up your friends and social life in order to quit?

Absolutely not, says the Department of Health.

“Your friends should be encouraged to support you, we don’t recommend you cut yourself off from your own life.”

The NHS provide smokers with quit kits which are useful for the smoker.

While primarily aimed at people wanting to quit, the organisation has also found that many friends order them for their mates, to encourage them to quit.