Before you start

This is a short book. You can read it in two or three evenings.

It's about one belief. You smoke, and you know what it costs. Nobody needs to tell you again. You carry on partly because the cigarette seems to do something for you. It settles you after a bad phone call, it gets you through a long afternoon, and it's the one reliable pause in the day. Giving that up looks like volunteering to feel worse for the rest of your life.

I'm going to argue that the cigarette does far less than it seems to. Most of what it does is relieve a need that the previous cigarette set up. The calm is real. But it's the calm of getting back to where a non-smoker already was, and it lasts about an hour before the need starts again.

The title overstates this by a little, and I'd sooner say so now than have you catch me at it. Nicotine is a drug with some small effects of its own, and chapter 5 says exactly what they are. "The cigarette does almost nothing you couldn't have for free" is more accurate. It's also a worse title.

I won't spend pages on lungs and hearts. You've read the packet. Health comes up briefly where it bears on a decision, and that's all.

I won't ask you to stop smoking before you've finished reading, and I won't ask you to carry on either. If you want to stop tonight, stop tonight, and read the rest as you go. The practical chapters are 11 to 13.

Three cautions before we start.

The first is about medicines. Smoking changes how the body handles some drugs. The NHS says this applies to some antipsychotic medicines and antidepressants, and that doses may need checking and can sometimes come down once you've stopped. If you take either, talk to your GP or psychiatrist before you stop. Don't change a dose yourself. If you take regular medicine for anything else, tell your pharmacist you're planning to stop smoking. It costs nothing to ask.

The second is about mental health. If you live with depression, anxiety or another condition, you may have been told, or told yourself, that now isn't the time. Chapter 4 looks at the evidence, which is more encouraging than most people expect. But you deserve support while you do it, and your GP or a stop smoking service can arrange that.

The third is about pregnancy. If you're pregnant, tell your midwife or GP that you want to stop. They'll be glad you asked, and they can advise on which stop smoking aids suit you.

One more thing. This book is about understanding, and I think understanding helps. It doesn't replace the help that's been shown to work. Stop smoking services, nicotine products and prescription medicines all improve your chances, and chapter 11 sets out how much. You can use this book alongside any of them.

The notes at the back give the studies I've relied on and their limits. The rest is my own reasoning, and I'll say so where it matters.