IN 2008, no one can claim to not know that smoking is bad for your health. But, if the huge `Smoking Kills' labels on cigarette packets aren't going to put you off, probably hearing someone else's story of how smoking destroyed their life is not going to, either.
After all, we all think that we are going to be the one who gets away with it, that we might be the apocryphal grandad or grandma who smoked 40 a day and didn't have a day off sick in their life.
"I've yet to meet this chain-smoking grandma who lives to be 90, drinking a bottle of Jack Daniel's a night," says Jane Sunter, of Manchester Stop Smoking Service. "And, if I ever do I'll think, `What could she have been like if she hadn't? She might have been an Olympic athlete or lived to be 120'. She certainly would have had a better quality of life, even if it was just all the money she saved on cigarettes."
Jane is light-hearted about it, yet her message is serious. Smoking is a gamble with our health, but it's also an addiction. There are thousands of people in Manchester alone who want to give up, but for a variety of reasons don't believe they can.
"A columnist writing in the Manchester Evening News once called us the SS," she adds, jovially. "It made us laugh but that's a really old-fashioned view. We don't preach to people - they come to us because they want to give up smoking and we help them find the best way to suit them. We look at past attempts to give up, why they started again and what they can learn to help them this time."
There are more smokers in the north west than in any other region in the UK and more than 3,000 of these, under 64, die each year due to smoking-related diseases.
Giving up will have a positive effect on your health in only 20 minutes. Anyone going along to the Quit It bus over the next couple of weeks will get information on how to access the free, one-to-one and group stop smoking services in their area.
Opportunity
There will be a team of advisors on board plus the opportunity to try out a new technology to show the ageing effect smoking is having on your skin. Other tests on offer include carbon monoxide levels and lung age - the age of the average healthy person with similar lung function. Both are painless, involving a simple breath test into a tube.
"Because the lungs are inside, it's difficult to get people to visualise what damage it is they are doing," Jane explains.
Research shows that knowing lung function and carbon monoxide levels can help people make the decision to quit. The photos can also provide a shocking reason to quit, especially for young girls who mistakenly believe smoking is keeping them thin and therefore looking better.
Rather than being internal, the smoking damage on the face is very obvious and because it is the smoker's own face it somehow brings a reality that you don't get from seeing it happen to someone else.
"We don't like to see giving up smoking as a deprivation of something, but rather as positive lifestyle change," says Jane.
"We have people come to us because they can't visit their grandchildren in Australia, as they don't know how they will survive a long-haul flight without a cigarette, or people whose grandchildren don't visit them any more because their house is too smoky. These people feel isolated because of smoking and it's a real addiction.
"Also, there are a lot of people who say they want to give up but actually really enjoy smoking. So, it is about identifying what exactly it is about smoking that they enjoy and looking at any misconceptions they might have about giving up."
Nicotine
It is the nicotine in cigarettes that makes them addictive. It creates changes in the brain, making you want to repeat the action of smoking - which is why a smoker will often light up without even thinking about it. It is also the reason why many people who give up experience withdrawal symptoms such as irritability and restlessness.
These symptoms can last for anywhere between two and 10 days. But the good news is there are a lot of things now available to help with withdrawal symptoms so that you begin to take control of what you are doing rather than letting the cigarettes control you.
"There has never been a better time, culturally, to quit," says Jane. "The legislation last year means that it is much easier for people who are giving up not to be tempted in a social situation such as in a pub. But, any time in life is a good time to quit."
Look out for more advice and support on how to quit as part of our `I Love Me' campaign over the next few months, supported by the Association Of Greater Manchester Primary Care Trusts.
Smokers are four times more likely to quit using an NHS Stop Smoking Service. For free help and support, contact your local Service today on 0800 432 0303 or text QUIT with your name and postcode to 81066