Dear Mr L,

Thank you for returning the smoking questionnaire recently.

You intend trying to stop smoking in the next six months, but have no immediate plans to try.  Making a definite decision to stop involves deciding that the things you don't like about your smoking are more important than the things you do like about it.  Once you have made that decision, there are ways of making it easier for yourself to stop successfully.

Looking first at the good about your smoking, you felt smoking helped you break up your working day, and helped you relax.  Are there any other ways you could do this without smoking?  We have included a sheet with some suggestions for other ways of relaxing which you might find useful if you were to stop smoking.

On the hand, there are many things you don't like about your smoking.  You seem particularly aware that your smoking can be unpleasant and harmful to other people, including your family.  You are quite right on this; recent research has proven that passive smoking can cause serious health problems, including heart disease and lung cancer.

You are also quite concerned about smoking affecting your own health.  You already suffer from cough and chest infections, which you rightly think may be due to your smoking.  You think it very likely that your smoking will increase your risk of serious disease in the future, and again you are quite right.  Smoking 10-20 cigarettes per day increases your risk of heart disease by XXX and your risk of lung cancer by XXX.  If you stopped smoking, your risks would return almost to normal within two or three years.

You would be fairly confident of stopping smoking if you did try.  In fact, there are several things in your favour.  One is the amount of support you would expect from your family and friends, and another is the fact that your partner doesn't smoke.  Both of these things increase you chances of successfully stopping smoking.

Overall, your reasons for wanting to stop smoking seem to outweigh your reasons for continuing to stop smoking.  Yet you have never tried to stop before, and although you intend to try within the next six months you don't intend to in the next few weeks.  It may be worth thinking about why you don't feel ready to try at the moment.  What would need to change for you to make that decision?

Some people get stuck at the stage of always intending to stop but never doing anything about it.  Sometimes it can be a start to make some small changes in your smoking routine.  For example, try putting off the first cigarette of the day for a longer time each day, or try cutting out cigarettes which you feel you could easily do without.  These kind of actions can help you to prepare for a definite all-out attempt.

Finally, if you do make an attempt to stop, you could consider using nicotine patches.  For people like yourself who smoke 10-20 cigarettes per day, patches double your chances of success if you are determined to stop.  You can get more information on patches from your local pharmacist or GP.

We wish you every success when you do make that attempt.

Yours sincerely,