NHS campaign video to encourage people to give up smoking
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00:00 At this time of year, loads of people are thinking about giving up smoking,
00:04 and it really is one of the best things that you can do for your health.
00:09 Smoking is incredibly addictive and incredibly harmful,
00:13 but what a lot of people don't appreciate is that their smoking actually encourages other people to take up the habit.
00:18 When I was a child, it was common for my mum to smoke at the dinner table.
00:25 Smoking was part of life.
00:28 I think seeing my family smoke around me probably did make me think it was kind of okay to smoke.
00:34 My dad would often smoke in the living room where we would all sit around and watch TV together.
00:41 Our research has shown that between the age of 14 and 17,
00:44 children are three times more likely to take up smoking if people around them smoke.
00:50 The younger people are when they start smoking, the harder it is to quit,
00:53 and also the more likely they are to develop health problems.
00:57 I think I probably had my first cigarette around the age of 15.
01:01 I started buying cigarettes probably around the age of 16 or 17,
01:05 and then it kind of progressed. I smoked more and more.
01:09 I regret starting smoking because I don't think I realise the addiction part of it.
01:15 I thought it would be something I did as a teenager, but it ended up being maybe a 16, 17 year journey.
01:23 Even though I was anti-smoking, literally one cigarette got me addicted for 15 years.
01:29 Smoking had a massive impact on my performance.
01:33 I couldn't run two laps of an athletics track.
01:36 Two out of three people who continue to smoke will die from a smoking-related disease.
01:42 Quitting smoking is the best thing that a person can do for their own health.
01:45 It's also a really important thing to protect the health of children and grandchildren
01:49 so that they never take the habit up in the first place.
01:52 I've seen first-hand what smoking addiction can do.
01:55 My nan died of COPD and emphysema.
02:00 My children did smoke. It's not surprising because they saw their father smoke.
02:05 The good thing is that, like seeing their father smoke, they actually saw their father giving up cigarettes.
02:11 So now they are ex-smokers.
02:13 Kids are clever. Even if you're trying to hide it outside, they know exactly what you're doing.
02:18 I didn't want to smoke around my children. I didn't want it to be a normal part of their lives,
02:23 as I think it probably had been in my childhood.
02:26 I think as a role model for my children, I had to give up smoking.
02:30 I mean, I can't ask them to do one thing and then me conducting myself in a different way contradicts you.
02:36 I have quite a few nephews and a niece, and having these young people in my life
02:42 really was another key motivating factor for me to quit smoking.
02:46 My advice to anyone who is smoking, and especially those who might have children in that household,
02:52 I am proof that you can quit.
02:55 My children, well, they're proud of me. What more do you want?
03:00 For free advice, search 'Smoke Free'.
03:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]