If you are ready to give up smoking there is help available:

You can access a website at: www.givingupsmoking.co.uk
You can ring the Stop Smoking Service at Stockport Primary Care Trust: 0161 426 5085
You can ring the NHS Smoking Helpline: 0800 169 0 169

The Costs of Smoking
22% of all male deaths and 11% of all female deaths are due to smoking. Giving up smoking can reduce the risk of developing many smoking related illnesses. Within 10-15 years of giving up, an ex-smokers' risk of developing lung cancer is only slightly greater than someone who has never smoked.

The costs of smoking are high and we're not just talking money. Consider some of the less obvious costs below and the price a smoker may have to pay.

Physical

• Wheezing, shortness of breath
• Lack of energy, poor concentration
• Dull skin, nicotine-stained fingers, premature wrinkling
• Reduced fertility, risky pregnancy, baby at risk
• Damaged taste buds, stained teeth
• Lung cancer, emphysema, stroke, heart attack - the list goes on
• Damaged circulation, gangrene, amputation

Social

• Polluting the air with carcinogens
• Children at higher risk of asthma, cot-death, bronchitis and glue ear
• Smoke gets in your eyes
• Dusty, stuffy home. Nicotine stains your walls as well as your fingers.
• Spoilt clothes and furniture
• Increased risk of fire in the home

Financial

At today's rates, a 20-a-day smoker will spend £31,025 over the next 20 years. Holidays you could have enjoyed; savings you could have built up; a home, car or important possessions you could have owned; toys and experiences you could have brought for your children.

Emotional

• Being a turn off to potential partners and the possibility of missing out on relationships
• Feeling a slave to cigarettes
• Ever present, nagging sense of guilt that you should give up
• Disapproval and dislike, increasing pressure from a society that doesn't want to be subjected to smoke