AN estimated 1.3million people decided to give up smoking from midnight on Friday. Many will now be wavering or have admitted defeat. Local journalist HAROLD HEYS has some timely advice as someone who has been nicotine free for a full six months.

SO how's the no-smoking resolution going, then? Badly? Well, I suppose most folk will hardly have managed longer than a day or two so you are in good company.

Make that bad company. Smoking cigarettes damages your health. You know it; I know it; anyone with an IQ in double figures knows it. And yet we continue to puff along, throwing away hard-earned cash on something that we know is both expensive and dangerous.

Well, not me. Not any more. I stopped more than six months ago. Not one fag; not one drag. And it really doesn't bother me. If I can do it then so can you.

Who pays any attention to official figures for tar absorption, carbon monoxide concentration and the complex effects of nicotine on the central and autonomic nervous system?

So what if tobacco smoke contains 4,000 different chemicals. Benzene. Folmaldehyde. Ammonia. Acetone. Arsenic. Not to mention hydrogen cyanide. And they are just a few of the ones we've heard about.

Thirty thousand deaths a year from lung cancer of which close on 85% are smoking related. Around 25,000 deaths from bronchitis and emphysema and again, close on 85% are smoking related. Deaths from coronary heart disease are five times those figures and, again, a lot can be traced to the "pernicious weed."

Smokers double their risk of dying from coronary heart disease - unless they also suffer from high blood pressure or high cholesterol in which case there's an eight-fold increase in risk. Yes, yes. But those Health Education Authority figures relate to "other people". Folk you've never met.

Your blood isn't carrying up to 15% of carbon monoxide around your body. And 70% of the tar in the smoke you inhale isn't deposited in your lungs. It must go somewhere else. And of course smoking doesn't affect your blood pressure; it doesn't clog up your arteries and it doesn't make your breath smell.

However, perhaps we could agree that smoking is the biggest cause of ill-health and premature death in England.

Most smokers do think about stopping; most try it, often without much conviction. Yes, it's unhealthy; yes it's very expensive - if you smoke on average 14 a day you probably need to earn £1,000 extra a year to cover the cost.

But you need a fag. You're feeling stressed out. So how do you stop? It's easy. You just stop.

These days there are dozens of ideas to help you stop smoking. Patches, acupuncture, hypnotism, nicotine chewing gum and mouthwashes, herbal cigarettes, scented inhalers, capsules and tablets, plastic look-alikes, nasal sprays . . .

How about cutting down? Forget it. No such thing. Doesn't work. Never has.

So how do you stop? You just stop.

The tricky part of the operation is, of course, staying stopped. It is probably a good idea to fix a date, perhaps a week or two ahead so you can get used to the idea. And, rather important, you can announce to your friends and family that you are going to stop.

For me it was the end of the local snooker season last June. It could just as easily have been the Queen's official birthday or the night after the Grand National. What's that? You've done it a dozen times and it hasn't worked? After a few days you were back on 'em?

Right, but this time it's going to be different!

How did you start up again the last time - and the time before that? Probably by saying to a pal in the pub: "Gimme a fag; I've stopped but I just fancy one."

You might bum a couple. The following night you might bum a couple off someone else; you might force a quid on a pal for three or four of his fags. The night after you buy "just ten" to last for two or three days.

And you are dead in the water.

So when I stopped six months ago everybody said I'd never keep it up. I'd put on weight and get even more ill-tempered. A couple of pounds max; and I'm not any more ratty than I ever was. "It's only will power," I told them all. And left myself facing a wall of jeers the moment I weakened.

It hasn't been easy, I'll be the first to admit. Every now and again I fancy a fag. But on none of those occasions has the need been as desperate as the frantic late-night search through every drawer and every pocket when I was smoking up to 20 a day.

Not half as bad - and I certainly feel a damn sight better; I shifted the snow from around the house the other day and didn't even break sweat.

One big incentive is that your body quickly begins to repair the damage from its daily assault of nicotine, carbon monoxide, tar and other poisons.

One last point which influenced me. A journalist friend was at some big promotion thrown by one of the leading tobacco companies a few months ago. He was chatting to a couple of executives from the United States and he dug out his free pack of their leading brand and offered them round.

"No thanks," growled one of the suits as though he's just got a waft from the pig farm.

"We just sell the rubbish." explained the other.

Forget all the facts and all the figures. Just remember that little cameo next time you fork out nearly £4 for a pack.

Sucker. THERE are many serious and often fatal diseases caused by smoking. The most common are:

Coronary heart disease

Cancer of the lung

Chronic bronchitis

Your heart and circulation take a battering. Fatty deposits build up in the artery walls and can lead to strokes, gangrene and aortic and other aneurysms.

Cancers affect the lungs and also the mouth, nose and throat, larynx and oesophagus as well.

Bronchitis and emphysema are just two of the lung diseases which lead to recurrent infections in the airways and damage and loss of efficiency in the lungs.

Ulcers, defective vision, coughing, sneezing and shortness of breath when you exert yourself can also be caused by smoking. It's quite a list.

So far the doctors haven't found a link between smoking and an ingrowing toe-nail, but don't hold your breath (that could be dangerous, incidentally, if you are a heavy smoker) FACT: Smoking among adults has declined steadily in recent years, but the proportion of young people who smoke has risen slightly. Among 15-year-olds, 33% of girls and 28% of boys are regular smokers. That's pretty scarey, isn't it?

FACT: Quitting smoking is the greatest single step smokers can take to improve their health. The body quickly begins to repair damage and benefits such as improved breathing and a better sense of taste, become apparent within weeks.

FACT: Main barriers to quitting given by smokers are: The withdrawal symptoms, their lack of willpower, the need for a social prop, boredom, stress. And the main reasons for wanting to stop? Health, cost and the effects of passive smoking on their family.

FACT: Every cigarette you smoke knocks 11 minutes off your life, according to a recent survey. That's about six years for someone on 20 a day from age 17 to 71. Work it out yourself. It's excellent therapy.

FACT: You can get free help and advice from Quitline on 0800 002200. It is funded by the Health Education Authority whose e-mail address is: www.hea.org.uk Your local library or health centre will have useful leaflets.

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