IT'S Stoptober, when smokers are encouraged to give up cigarettes for 28 days in a bid to help them quit in the long term. Kate Liptrot speaks to Maria Lewis, who stopped smoking a year ago and hasn't looked back.

MARIA Lewis first tried smoking when she was 14. 

In a memory which will ring true with a lot of people, she remembers how she used to go the park with her friends to smoke. They then rubbed Polos on their hands to avoid smelling of cigarettes, Maria said. 

"We used to think nobody would be able to tell and to be fair I was 31 before my dad realised I was smoking," Maria said, "From being a teenager it was just a pack of ten here and there and it wasn't until I was 25 that it became a proper habit and gradually built up."

Maria quit successfully on a couple of occasions - even stopping for three years when she became pregnant with her son - but she kept coming back to the habit, finding it a chance to have a chat with colleagues and a quick break at work. 

Her turning point came last year when a group of work colleagues decided they were going to quit for Stoptober. 

"My son had been studying smoking at school and he would say 'mum, please stop, you're going to die,'"

Maria said, "I would brush it off and I told him I had and I would only smoke at work. 

"I had seen Stoptober and every year I thought I was going to stop but I would convince myself I didn't need to because I enjoy it. 

"At the end of September last year I had gone outside for a cigarette and one of my team said, 'shall we stop for Stoptober?' and I just said yes.

"I just didn't buy any more. I didn't take Nicorette or anything."

As the weeks passed by a friend in the group found it too hard and took up the habit again, but Maria said she became more determined. 

"I wanted to stop a couple of days before Stoptober began so I could feel I had done it for me. I wanted to say to my mum and son, 'I have made it to a month, three months, six months'... then when you get to six months you really want to get to a year."

Having previously lapsed when she went on holiday, Maria's biggest challenge came this year when she went on holiday to Morocco. But rather than start smoking again, she found she had no interest in it. This time she's confident she's in it for the long term. 

"I'm glad I did it," she said, "My skin is clearer, I feel healthier. I did the Race for Life 5km this year with my family. I go running now. Where I used to get the lift for two floors - because I would be out of breath - now I take the stairs. I used to struggle to walk to my car but now I speed walk it. Each time I run I can run further, to start with it was only 100 metres now I can easily do a few kilometres." 

Maria, 44, who now works as the classified advertising manager at The Press, lives with her partner and son in Market Weighton. She even started knitted in the evening as a distraction from smoking. Working from a pattern, she started knitting hats for premature babies in hospital. 

"If you want to stop smoking, keep yourself occupied and take it a moment at a time," she said, "I make tea when people go out to smoke at work. I started knitting at home to keep my hands occupied - in the evening, after tea when I used to have a cigarette I've started knitting. If your brain is engaged in keeping your hands busy, you won't want a cigarette."

The timeline of stopping smoking
-After 20 minutes
Pulse rate returns to normal.
-After 8 hours
Nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in blood reduce by more than half and oxygen levels return to normal.
-After 48 hours
Carbon monoxide will be eliminated from the body. Lungs start to clear out mucus and other smoking debris.
-After 48 hours
There is no nicotine in the body. Ability to taste and smell is improved.
-After 72 hours
Breathing becomes easier. Bronchial tubes begin to relax and energy levels increase.
-After 2-12 weeks
Your circulation improves.
-After 3-9 months
Coughs, wheezing and breathing problems improve as lung function increases by up to 10 per cent.
-After 1 year
Risk of heart disease is about half compared with a person who is still smoking.
-After 10 years
Risk of lung cancer falls to half that of a smoker.
-After 15 years
Risk of heart attack falls to the same as someone who has never smoked.

For information and support over the nation’s biggest mass quit attempt, search Stoptober online or visit www.smokefree.nhs.uk/stoptober.