"Ask any of the 12 million smokers in the UK and the chances are they'll say they'd love to stop but just can't. In fact several have tried many times and failed and have therefore concluded that it's impossible," says Lysette Offley of Sounds Positive Hypnotherapy.
We know that every smoker will suffer some sort of illness or damage as a result of smoking and half will be killed by their habit: half of these in middle age. Most die from lung cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease (bronchitis and emphysema) and coronary heart disease, painful, long drawn out, messy deaths needing numerous operations, medication and hospital stays becoming more and more debilitated.
An estimate by a joint ASH Medical Association in June 1999 put the number of UK men in their 30s and 40s, impotent as a direct consequence of smoking, at 120 000. Approximately 90% are unaware of the link. Cigarette packets now often warn of that risk.
But it's not just our own health at risk. More than 17,000 children under the age of five are admitted to hospital every year because of the effects of passive smoking.
The baby has a much greater risk of suffering cleft palate, cerebral palsy, glue ear and infections, tonsillitis, asthma, coughs, croup, allergies, behavioural problems and reproductive problems later. Many cot deaths are attributable to parents smoking at home.
44% of house fires are caused by cigarettes and the casualties are very often the children, trapped upstairs, overcome by smoke and unable to escape and unable to be rescued by their desperate parents below.
Children learn by imitation and so are far more likely to smoke if their parents do. In the United Kingdom about 450 children start smoking every day and more than 80% of smokers began their habit as teenagers.
Meanwhile, successful quitters have taken on average of 6 times to succeed and 20% have managed to give up first time. And according to ASH, the stop smoking charity, 21% of all women and 27% of all men in the UK are ex-smokers.
So, if they can stop, so can you.
Says Lysette," Ask the successful quitters . . . it doesn't have to be hard providing you find the right method and motivation for you. For many people, it's hypnotherapy that does the trick. You can expect to become a non-smoker, rapidly and permanently in just one relaxing session with a clinical hypnotherapist. Alternatively, you can use hypnotherapy products at home to re-programme your unconscious mind and support you in achieving your goal."
For more information visit: http://soundspositive.com/
or ring Lysette Offley BA (Hons), PGCE, Dip Hyp, GHR, GQHP on +44 (0)1491 414 122
