HOW hard can it be to give up smoking? For some it can be the easiest thing in the world.

Everyone knows one of those annoying people who has puffed away for 20 years before stubbing out their last cigarette on New Year’s Eve – never to smoke again.

But once you have been a smoker, do you ever truly give up?

Áine Harris, 57, from Malton had her first taste of nicotine at the tender age of seven, when her cousin gave her a cigarette on holiday. She says she eventually took up the habit “professionally” at the age of 16.

In her late twenties, following the birth of her son, she gave up and didn’t smoke for 20 years.

It is, however, a testament to the addictive nature of the evil weed that all it took was for her husband, whom Aine described as a social smoker, to come home from a night out with half a packet of cigarettes in pocket and she was hooked again – as easy as that.

As we approach National No Smoking Day on Wednesday, Aine told us how a brush with cancer and the news she was about to become a grandmother, finally led her to do something about kicking the habit.

“I had always enjoyed smoking,” she said: “In September I had an operation for breast cancer. A lot of people had put a lot of effort into making me better and I wasn’t helping myself by smoking.

Then – to top it off – I was given the news on December 30 that I was going to be a grandmother and I thought ‘right – that’s it’.”

Áine smoked her last cigarette on January 2 and immediately began to use E-cigarettes – which look and feel like a regular cigarette but give the smoker a hit of vapour, laced with nicotine. The concentration of nicotine can gradually be reduced until the devices deliver just a small amount of water vapour.

“I made my mind up though that I didn’t really want to be even doing that. While I was using them I didn’t crave a cigarette but I was still getting the nicotine fix which I didn’t want; I wanted to be free from nicotine completely.”

To help free herself from the grip of the nicotine, áine decided to visit York hypnotherapist Rob Williams, who specialises in addiction. He held an initial consultation to decide which kind of treatment was best, and gave Aine a relaxation CD to listen to, which he said was vital to preparing a client for therapy. “Hypnosis is deep relaxation,” he said.

“Craving or addiction is a form of anxiety. I let clients get into the CD for a week and that teaches them how to relax and deal with cravings when they come up.”

In áine’s case, Rob decided she was best suited to a therapy known as Emotional Freedom Technique, which involves tapping on various acupuncture points on the body. The good thing about EFT is that the patient can learn the techniques for themselves and use it times when they fear they may succumb to their cravings.

Rob said he tells clients the importance of setting a date for giving up - that date being the first therapy session. “My goal is to make sure that at the end of the session a person’s atititude to cigarettes has completely changed,” he said. “Any positive feelings should have gone. It is those positive feelings which are keeping the habit going.”

And that’s exactly what happened for Áine. Where once she would have had her first smoke of the day as soon as she got out of bed, now the very thought of lighting up makes her feel ill.

She said: “At the beginning of the session Rob produced the tobacco that I used to roll. By the time we had finished I had gone from loving the smell of that pile of tobacco to it making me feel nauseous – in fact talking about now makes me feel nauseous.”

That was at the end of February, and áine has gone from 20 or more a day to zero. She said: “I would have had one first thing in the morning upon getting down stairs and by the time I left the house I would maybe have had three or four.”

However, the benefits are already being felt. “I have no cough now – the cough disappeared the following day – it just went,” she said. “I am feeling ten times better.

“Since the therapy I really have no inclination to have cigarette – absolutely none. I just don’t want one – I don’t even think about them.”

For more information on Rob Williams and his techniques for giving up smoking, visit his web page at robwilliamshypnotherapy.co.uk

How to beat habit

SMOKING carries many risks – smokers are twice as likely to have a heart attack compared to non-smokers; their heart rate increases by up to 30 per cent within the first ten minutes of smoking a cigarette; the carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke reduces their hearts’ ability to carry oxygen and their blood pressure increases in response to the nicotine.

Smoking also makes blood more likely to clot, reduces the ratio of HDL “good” cholesterol to LDL “bad” cholesterol and causes atherosclerotic plaque to build up and narrow the coronary arteries. Ultimately, the heart has to work much harder to pump oxygen around the body, so it’s no wonder it doesn’t last as long.

Give your heart a break and get back on track with these top tips for quitting:

• if at first you don’t succeed, try again, again, and again. As many ex-smokers will tell you, it can take several attempts and you may relapse along the way. However, each go at ditching the habit brings you one step closer to quitting for good. The first step is making the decision to do it.

• dedication, planning and support are essential. Check out websites like nosmokingday.org.uk or smokefree.nhs.uk for helpful resources and seek help from your GP and local pharmacist to find a nicotine replacement therapy that suits you.

• avoid the smoking area at work and go for a heart healthy brisk walk instead.

• save some money and treat yourself. Cigarettes cost many smokers more than £2,000 a year.

• even light smokers have an increased risk of heart disease and “light” and “low-tar” cigarettes are not suitable replacements. You must give up completely to protect your heart and those around you.