The British Heart Foundation states that smoking is the lead cause of cardiovascular disease and smokers are twice as likely to have a heart attack compared with people that have never smoked.
There are many benefits to giving up smoking and your health will significantly improve soon after you do.
If you are looking to stop smoking there are many methods and services which offer support and guidance to help you achieve this.
Locally you can go to your GP, nurse or pharmacist and they can provide you with the local stop smoking groups or provide you with nicotine replacement therapies. The NHS has a Stop Smoking service which provides you with information, advice, tools and the free NHS smoking helpline. There are also NHS stop smoking advisors which provide free, friendly and flexible appointments to work with you.
The British Heart Foundation have a website called We Quit which provides information, tools and puts you in touch with other people working towards giving up smoking through their forum. There are also publications you can download from the British Heart Foundation which explain the benefits of stopping and provide you will helpful tips and approaches to succeed.
There is a large variety of help and support available in your local area; you just need to find out which service will benefit you the most. Below are sources for you to take your first step towards improving your health.
NHS Smoke Free Helpline
England 0800 022 4332
Scotland 0800 84 84 84
Wales 0800 085 2219
Northern Ireland 0800 85 85 85
