Smoking cigarettes tops the list of major risk factors of our number one killer -- heart and blood vessel disease.  In fact, almost one-fifth of deaths from heart disease are from smoking.  The long list of diseases and deaths due to smoking is frightening.  Smoking also harms thousands of nonsmokers who are exposed to cigarette smoke.  It causes infections, disease and death in infants and children.
     If you smoke, you have good reason to worry about its effect on your health and the health of your loved ones and others.  You could become one of the more than 417,000 deaths smoking causes every year.
     When you quit, you reduce that risk tremendously.

No matter how much or how long you've smoked, when you quit, your risk of heart disease goes down.  Three years after quitting, your risk of heart disease is almost the same as if you'd never smoked.  That's like gaining back the health you almost lost!              

Step One

	List reasons to quit and read them daily.
	Wrap your cigarette pack with paper and rubber bands and when you smoke, write down the time of day, how you feel, and how important that cigarette is to you (on a scale of 1 to 5)
	Rewrap the pack.

Step Two

	Keep reading your list of reasons and add to it if you can.
	Don't carry matches and keep you cigarettes a bit out of reach.
	Each day, try to smoke fewer cigarettes, trying not to smoke the ones that aren't most important.

Step Three

	Continue with Step Two.
	Don't buy a new pack until you finish the one you're smoking.
	Change brands twice during the week, each time for a brand lower in tar and nicotine.
	Try to stop for 48 hours at one time.

Step Four

	Quit smoking completely.
	Increase your physical activity.
	Avoid situations you relate with smoking.
	Find a healthy substitute for smoking.
	Do deep breathing exercises when you get the urge.

It's hard to stay a nonsmoker once you've had a cigarette, so try everything you can do to avoid that "one."  The urge to smoke will pass.  The first 2 to 5 minutes will be the toughest.  If you do smoke after quitting:

	This doesn't mean you're a smoker again -- do something now to get back on track.
	Don't punish yourself -- you're still a nonsmoker.
	Think about why you smoked and decide what to do the next time it comes up.
	Sign a contract to stay a nonsmoker.

Take a few minutes to write your own questions for the next time you see your doctor.
For example:

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