8 surefire tips to help you quit smoking

The good news: never before have there been so many tools, systems and programs available to help you stop smoking. The following eight tips will also help you to succeed.

For all the intense efforts to reduce smoking over the past two decades, the progress has not been stellar. According to Health Canada, the smoking rate for Canadians 15 and older has gone from 23 per cent in 1999 to 18 per cent in 2008.

Seventy-five per cent of Canada's smokers (or 3,670,767 people) light up every day, while the remaining 25 per cent are occasional smokers. The burden is high: Smoking kills over 47,000 Canadians every year, with 96 of those deaths being children under the age of one.

And that's not even going into the other effects, like gastrointestinal problems, bone density loss, premature aging … So why do millions still smoke? In part, because nicotine is highly addictive. But smoking also provides psychological comfort.

There's some evidence that auricular acupuncture (needles in the ears) can curb cigarette cravings.

• Sit in a different chair at breakfast or take a different route to work.
• If you usually have a drink and a cigarette after work, change that to a walk.
• If you're used to a smoke with your morning coffee, switch to tea, or stop at a coffee shop where you can't smoke on the premises.

• Don't bottle up your emotions.
• If something makes you angry, express it.
• If you're bored, admit to yourself that you're bored and find something energetic to do instead of lighting up.

• Too much caffeine while quitting can cause the jitters.

• Don't allow anyone to use tobacco in your home or car.

• Find something you can keep with you and use in place of cigarettes to quench that urge for needing something to do.
• For instance, try pistachios, sunflower seeds, sugar-free lollipops or chewing gum, carrots or celery sticks.

Studies find that you're less likely to be a successful quitter if you stop smoking when you're depressed or under a great deal of stress.

You haven't failed. Some people have to try quitting many times before they're successful.