1) Lung cancer - in 2002 over 28,000 people died of this disease: 90% of lung cancers are caused by smoking.
2) Bronchitis - 95% of the people who suffer from this disease are smokers, and in 2002 over 23,000 people died of it.
3) Heart disease - the nicotine and carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke can harm the heart and blood vessels, and smokers are between 2 and 3 times more likely to die of this disease than non-smokers.

The substances in tobacco smoke can also cause emphysema, and cancer of the mouth, throat and windpipe. In addition they may lead to, and prevent the healing of, stomach ulcers. Forty per cent of heavy smokers die before retiring age (65) compared with 15% of non-smokers.

Since the early 1970`s the proportion of adult cigarette smokers in Great Britain has fallen by over a quarter. Smokers have been a minority (now less than one third) of the adult population since 1976. Under 20% of professional men and women are smokers. It is estimated that there are now nearly 10 million ex-smokers in the population of Great Britain, and opinion surveys show that over 65% of them say that they found it surprisingly easy to stop smoking.

When people stop smoking they almost immediately start to become free of the pollution from tar, carbon monoxide and other poisons. In addition breathing should start to improve within days, and blood circulation within weeks. For heart disease, the risks reduce quickly, and the chances of getting lung cancer and many other diseases caused by smoking get less and less over the years until, eventually, they are hardly any higher than if they had never smoked.

There is no 'miracle cure' for smoking, and the most important factor is a genuine desire to stop. However, if this is present, many people find that hypnotherapy can help them to break the habit, by strengthening their will-power, and reducing the desire to smoke. This can often be achieved in just one session lasting about an hour.