?As for me, except for an occasional heart attack, I feel as young as I ever did.? (Robert Benchley)



Smokers, sadly, have to face a ?double whammy? effect of ageing. As middle age sets in, smokers suffer a relative loss in physical capacity when compared with their non-smoking colleagues. And if that's not enough, smokers? ability to kick the habit without experiencing a range of debilitating side effects diminishes steadily every year they continue to light up.

For the over 40s, finding a way to quit smoking easily has, until recently, been about as challenging and elusive as the search for the Holy Grail.

Many years ago, in the UK, that government regularly flighted an advert proclaiming: ?The best way to stop smoking is never to start.? Of course, it was a preventative effort aimed at the youth but it frustrated me terribly as it seemed to hold out a tantalizing glimmer of hope to smokers who had had enough - and then cruelly whisk it away again.

One would think that the well acknowledged seriousness of the effects of smoking over an extended period would be enough to motivate even the most hardened addicts to give up. Everyone knows by now that smoking dramatically increases the risk of horrific diseases like cancer of the lungs, mouth or throat and heart disease not to mention other socially distasteful problems such as premature tooth decay and erectile dysfunction, to name but a few.

Despite all of this many, many long-term smokers continue to persist with a habit that they, and their long suffering loved ones, acknowledge is an insidious killer.

Why?

Whereas getting into the routine is often associated with a cool venture into adulthood and an experiment with a pursuit previously denied to them, getting out of it, or quitting smoking, can be hellishly difficult and enormously stressful ? particularly for those who leave it twenty or thirty years before they confront the beast. In fact, many people find stopping smoking to be every bit as tough as giving up other forms of substance abuse such as alcohol, marijuana, prescription and other drugs.

To complicate matters, withdrawal symptoms are common after quitting. Mood swings, sleeplessness, cramping of the muscles, cravings and coughing are good examples. These nasty effects are often laid at the door of the substance called nicotine (or lack of it) that is known to cause addiction. But the truth is that cigarettes have been found to contain thousands of chemicals, many of which may be toxic and/or habit forming.

And to add a final insult to the injury, those who successfully stop smoking often find themselves ballooning in weight as they distract themselves from their erstwhile habit with frequent snacks and various other ?munchies?. These extra ?treats? and the cost of the various pills, patches and gums that many use to assist the process, often wipe out the financial gains from quitting.

But this is a message of hope, particularly for the over 40s who have the most to lose and the most to gain from ?ditching the weed?.

There are programs on the market today that can help people to quit smoking easily and quickly, without the use of supplements and nicotine replacement aids, while sidestepping all the hated withdrawal symptoms and avoiding weight gain. It sounds almost too good to be true but the truth is that these proven programs have remarkably high success rates.

Slowly but steadily, smokers who want to stop are coming to terms with the fact that there is no magic pill, patch, gum or drug out there that will simply switch off their craving for the next cigarette. No, the honorable quest for a way to quit smoking easily has finally led to the realization that the solution ? like with so many modern day ills - lies within.

Our very own personal belief system and the frame of reference that we use for deciding what we think is possible and not possible, holds the key to making dramatic and lasting changes in our lives. Quitting smoking easily is, nowadays, entirely possible and every person holds the key to making it happen ? no matter his or her age!