Stop buying cigarettes. Your friends will allow you the occasional 'borrow' but they'll soon get fed up with you bumming cigarettes off them! You will benefit from having oodles of extra cash available.

Decide on a day from which you will stop smoking. It might be today, tomorrow or next Thursday. It doesn't matter which day - just make it sooner rather than later.

Be ruthless and decide to simply quit. Don't torment yourself by smoking occasionally - all you'll be doing is triggering cravings.

Remove all smoking paraphenalia from your home, handbag, pockets and car. Remove ashtrays, lighters, the mints you always carried to freshen your breath. Get rid of it all.

Make changes to your diet to break any association you may have with smoking. If you always had a coffee with your morning cigarette, start drinking tea. Eat more fresh fruit to leave your mouth feeling clean. Try to avoid alcohol whilst you are giving up smoking and drink lots of water as this will help to detox your body from the effects of nicotine.

Keep busy. Do some physical activity - walking, swimming, horse riding, cycling. Breath that fresh air and enjoy it.

Save the money you would have been spending on cigarettes and once a week go and treat yourself. Have a reward for the progress you are making.

Don't give up! It doesn't matter if you have a bad day - just start again, straight away. You will succeed in kicking the smoking habit.

Be reassured that cravings will diminish, especially if you are drinking your water and keeping busy. Don't do the things you have always done. You will associate those activities with smoking! Give yourself a chance - think and behave differently to kick the habit.

If you remain unconvinced about the need to give up smoking consider for one moment the risks and costs of continuing to smoke.

Did you know that 22% of all male deaths and 11% of all female deaths have the same cause - smoking.

Smoking causes the arteries to narrow and harden which leaves smokers with cold hands and feet, peripheral vascular disease, decreased fitness levels and impotence.

Calcium loss leads to weakened bones and osteoporosis.

There are more than 4,000 different chemicals in cigarette smoke. All of them harmful. Most of them are colourless and odourless and difficult to detect but when these chemicals are present in the workplace employees are required by law to wear protective clothing and face masks. That's how dangerous they are.

Nicotine is the substance that causes the problems with addiction. In large doses nicotine is extremely toxic. No-one in their right mind introduces poison into their body. I have a 21 year old daughter who won't eat a yoghurt from the refrigerator if it is one day past its sell-by date and yet she smokes. Can anyone explain that to me?

The costs of choosing to smoke are more far reaching than just cash. In addition to the financial costs, smoking has physical costs: wheezing, infertility, foetal damage in pregnancy, damage to the cardio-vascular system, impaired sense of taste and smell, nicotine-stained skin on fingers and face, increased risk of heart attacks and lung cancer.

Then there are the social costs to consider of introducing carcinogenic particles into the atmosphere, ruined clothes and home furnishings, smelly ashtrays......I'm sure you hate me already so I won't go on.

I am now a passive smoker. Despite the fact that I have never smoked I am regularly inhaling a toxic mix of those 4000 chemicals when I breathe in smoke second hand. Lovely.

Children are at particular risk from the effects of passive smoking with those who are brought up with smokers being more likely to suffer from a whole range of respiratory diseases.

But the good news is that the risk of developing any of the smoking related illnesses is reduced when you give up smoking. As soon as you give up smoking your body begins to self-heal; your circulation will improve, you will breath more easily, your skin tone and condition will at least stop worsening and eventually begin to improve and your risk of heart disease starts to fall.

Are you still wondering whether you really need to give up smoking?

Acupuncture is a form of Traditional Chinese Medicine that dates back to ancient times. During an acupuncture session very fine, metal needles are inserted at very specific points on the body that correspond with one or more of the energy meridians.

Acupuncture can be used to support anyone who is giving up smoking. It is especially good for anyone who is already on prescription medication and who doesn't want to take any more drugs.

When acupuncture is used to help give up smoking the needles are usually inserted in locations on the face. The stimulation of the energy meridians at these points helps to reduce cravings and reduce the symptoms of addiction.

It is always best to seek a recommendation or referral from your doctor when looking for a suitably qualified acupuncturist. A lot of the alternative health fields remain unregulated, dependent on your Country of residence, and this leaves scope for unscrupulous practitioners to offer their services with little or no training.

Also, be prepared to interview your prospective acupuncturist to ask what success they have had in helping people who want to give up smoking.

Don't be afraid to ask for testimonials from other clients when you go to the acupuncture clinic.

An alternative for the needle-phobic person who wants to quit smoking is to locate a practitioner who uses lasers rather than needles.

In fact 'laser-acupuncture' is showing a higher success rate in stopping smoking programmes than traditional acupuncture.

Using acupuncture to support you in your attempts to give up smoking is just one of the alternative options I shall be exploring here. If anyone has any experience of using acupuncture to stop smoking perhaps they would share their experiences with us?