Sometimes customers may not be aware that smoking themselves or exposing others to second hand smoke can worsen or prolong many common conditions such as asthma or respiratory tract infections like the common cold.

Smokers can mistakenly believe that they have smoked too long for there to be any health benefit from stopping as irreversible damage has already been done to their body. This is not the case and you can see in the chart below how the benefits of stopping smoking can happen very quickly and add up as time progresses:

As well as the health benefits quitting smoking can bring to a person, there are other lifestyle factors which can act as motivation for people to make the decision to quit:

• Physical factors – a smoker’s hair, clothes, breathe and skin will smell, which will go unnoticed to them. Quitting will improve skin tone and slow down the appearance of wrinkles.
• Financial factors – smoking is expensive. Encouraging people to visualise the money they will save can be another incentive to stop. Alongside this, there will be a huge cost saving for the NHS and will support the sustainability of the department and tackle health inequalities