Step 1

Are you ready to quit?

11:58 19 April 2005

Now you don't need us to tell you that smoking is bad for you.

You know about the damage it causes to your health and about the large hole it eats in your pocket.

So stop putting things off and take the bull by the horns and quit with supanet.

We take you through a step by step process from helping you decide if you are ready to quit, to setting the date, to choosing the method that is right for you and finally what to do when you feel those cravings start hitting you. Work your way through our six point plan.

Did you know:

• There are about 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke - including arsenic, formaldehyde and cyanide.
• Everyone knows about the dangers of lung cancer and heart disease, but smoking can also cause premature ageing, impotence, deformed sperm, stomach ulcers, gum disease, blindness, increased risk of strokes and cancer of the throat, stomach, lips, tongue, kidneys bladder and testicles.
• Smoking has more than 50 ways of making you sick through illness and more than 20 ways of killing you. In general, smokers endure poorer health than non-smokers.
• Deaths caused by smoking are six times higher than deaths arising from: road accidents (3,439); poisoning and overdose (3157); other accidental deaths (8,579); murder and manslaughter (513); suicide (7,066); and HIV infection (234) added together.
• A 20-a-day smoker spends approximately 1,600 on cigarettes a year. A 40-a-day smoker can spend around 3000 on cigarettes in a year. Try this cigarette calculator to see how much you could save each year.
• The more a person smokes the more likely they are to experience premature wrinkling. Smokers in their 40s often have as many facial wrinkles as a non-smoker in their 60s.
• Babies born to women who smoke are on average 200 grams (8oz) lighter than babies born to non-smoking mothers.