Anyone who has ever been addicted to cigarettes knows how hard it is to stop, and the UK led the way in helping smokers by being one of the first countries to offer free stop smoking support.

Over the years the NHS has adapted its approach to help all sorts of different people to stop their smoking habits. They now offer lots of different approaches, recognising that different people respond better to certain techniques than others.

Overall, since the NHS Support has been in place the percentage of smokers in the UK has dropped from 28% to just below 21%. This is a great achievement and is also due to the result of government policies of not allowing smoking in public places. However nothing can be taken away from the support that the NHS has offered those thousands of people who have now successfully stopped smoking.

Let’s hope that eventually with NHS support the number of people smoking can be reduced to an even smaller percentage of the population.

For children cot death is twice as likely to occur in babies whose mothers smoke. Exposure to second-hand smoke increases the risk of children developing asthma and asthma attacks as well as other respiratory infection. Babies and children who are exposed to second-hand smoke are more likely to get coughs and colds as well as middle ear disease which can cause deafness.

This week anti-smoking campaigners from a youth group called D-MYST made a display in central Liverpool against the display of smoking in films aimed at younger audiences. The group want to see films containing smoking being given an 18 certificate in the same way those containing sex, violence and bad language do. The group had made papier mache heads of cinema stars including Samuel L Jackson and Jessica Rabbit and walked through the centre to raise awareness of their campaign.

The local council is now considering whether to impose age restrictions on films containing smoking. If this was implemented then other places could follow suit and this could lead to a reduction in films showing smoking.

I have been out and bought some celery, carrots, low fat houmas and low fat dips as this seems to keep me busy and also fill me up as i used to have a cigarette when i was hungry in order to keep my weight down.

I found a rubber toy which i can sit and squeeze so i have been playing with this without me even noticing as this keeps my mind on something so i dont tend to think about nipping out for a cigarette.

If anyone has any other good tips let me know.

I am now on my 10th day of giving up and have not had a single cigarette but there have been times i have been tempted to have one.  I dont think it is due to craving though it is mainly due to habit.

On a night out i usually get dressed and have one than put my shoes on and swap my handbag over so was confused when i was ready, at lunch i usually eat my food than go out and call my boyfriend whilst having a cigarette but now the lunch hour is dragging as i dont go out for my 2 cigs.

As my boyfriend is a smoker i thought it would be a lot harder but he has been really good and not smoked in the car with me and he goes outside to smoke now but the smell on his breath is really hitting me.

I have noticed the spare money i have in my purse so that is always a good thing and to keep me going i bought a new pair of sunglasses!

One way of tackling this is to find alternative activities at these times. This might be as simple as having a game of Sudoku (my phone has the game automatically installed but you can probably buy it as an application) which probably takes about the same time as smoking one or two cigarettes. If you’re a bit creative you might fancy doing a bit of painting or creative writing. At first it might be hard to focus your mind on anything except that you want a cigarette, but as you condition your brain to think about the activity instead of the craving, you might find the creative side of you becomes a good distraction. Another good activity that takes concentration is a jigsaw, if you have it in a prominent position in your house you might start to be more tempted by a few minutes finding the next piece!

If you have a smoke before work, why not get up a little earlier and go to the gym, for a run or a swim? You can’t smoke and do these things at the same time, and you’ll have the added pleasure of knowing you’re making a double impact on your health by substituting your unhealthy habit for a healthy one. Also, you’ll feel physically tired when you get to work but your brain will be more alert and engaged from the early morning stimulation. The same goes for lunchtime – why not go for a walk in the fresh air instead of sitting at your desk or workstation wishing you could have a cigarette?

Everybody’s different but there must be activities that will interest you and take your focus away from the fact that you are withdrawing from cigarettes. Give a few different things a try and see what’s right for you.

There are already schemes like this running in other countries, such as Germany, where contributions for social insurance (NI) are reduced if people go to classes for smoking cessation. The UK pilot schemes are in their early stages at the moment, and there is as yet no word on their effectiveness in increasing quitting rates, but more NHS trusts are being urged to give financial incentives a go. This is a totally different way of working than the usual negative incentive method of increasing prices through added tax.

Keep your eye out for schemes such as this in the future!