Anyone who's ever tried to give up smoking knows it's not easy.

Research has shown that giving up cigarettes for good can take as many as five separate attempts.

But, luckily, that hasn't stopped smokers wanting to try.

Nearly half of all smokers in England (44%) resolved to give up smoking this year, according to recent NHS research.

And even if they only try once, it's worth it, says Professor Robert West of the Health Behaviour Research Centre at University College, London.

"For those that can make it a whole week without smoking, the chances of success are four times greater than when they started," he explains.

"Quitting for good is hard and takes willpower and determination, especially during the first few weeks.

Considering that smoking has now been proven to cause over 2,000 deaths every week in the UK, and kills more people under the age of 70 than breast cancer, Aids, traffic accidents and drug addiction combined, it does seem strange that anyone should still be smoking at all.

But as a Department of Health spokesperson explains, nicotine is highly addictive.

"People get physically addicted so you need a huge amount of will-power to give up smoking.

"Smoking also becomes a part of your everyday routine. From your first cup of coffee, to meeting friends who also smoke, and going for breaks at work, habits form around it."

When you try and quit smoking, it's as much about breaking your behavioural associations with smoking as weaning yourself off the physical addiction, he explains.

But does that mean giving up your friends and social life in order to quit?

Absolutely not, says the Department of Health.

"Your friends should be encouraged to support you, we don't recommend you cut yourself off from your own life."

The NHS provide smokers with quit kits which are useful for the smoker.

While primarily aimed at people wanting to quit, the organisation has also found that many friends order them for their mates, to encourage them to quit.

It's never too late to try

As no one method of quitting works for everyone, smokers may have to try a few different treatments until they find one that works for them.

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), in the form of patches, gum or tablets or the inhalator (which looks like a plastic cigarette and releases nicotine vapour into your mouth and throat) are the most popular and most successful methods, with research showing that they can double chances quitting successfully.

Counselling, medication and alternative therapies have also been shown to be useful.

In addition, medications such as Zyban or Champix, or alternative medicine like acupuncture or hypnotherapy, can also help reduce people's cravings for nicotine.

"It is never too late to quit," says Dr Mary O'Brien, head of the Lung Unit at London's Royal Marsden Hospital.

"The human body is incredibly resilient and, while you are much better off quitting earlier rather than later, an awful lot of smoking damage is reversible. Even people who have operations for lung cancer are twice as likely to live if they stop smoking.

"So your motto should be 'Never quit quitting'," she adds. "There is so much help available to you now - that you have no reason not to."

She is right that there are loads of treatment options available to smokers.

Be inspired

While some might feel too powerless to overcome their addiction to nicotine - despite the help that might be available to them - two former smokers, Una McCormack and Bryan Dales, below, recount how they were able to kick the habit themselves.

The social smoker

"I first started smoking when I was 14," says Una McCormack, 27, a beautician from Essex. "I'd buy single cigarettes from the shop and sit in the park and smoke them with my friends - it made us feel grown up.

"By the time I was 17 I was buying boxes of 20 and sharing them with friends on nights out. I always kept my habit social, but then I found that if I was stressed - like from work or after an argument - I'd smoke a few to calm me down.

"Soon enough I was smoking about 60 cigarettes (3 packs) a week, but I never felt like I needed them or considered myself a smoker. In fact, I didn't even realize I was addicted until I decided to give up.

"I'm getting married this year and now that I'm approaching 30, thought it was time to get healthier. I decided to go cold turkey before Christmas and phoned the NHS Stop Smoking service for advice, who sent me a Quit Kit - a sort of 'toolbox' with a calendar, stress toy and expert advice to help smokers like me quit.

"My skin has totally cleared up, I don't feel so groggy anymore, and I can taste food and smell better, too. People are even telling me how well I look! The only problem now is that because my friends are all smokers, they want me to start smoking again.

"But whenever that happens I try to remember why I stopped in the first place and look at the calendar to see how many days its been. It reminds me of all the reasons why quitting is a good idea, even if my friends don't!"

The 60-year-old habit

"I was just seven years old when I had my first puff of a cigarette," says Bryan Dales, 65, a retired dustman who smoked for 58 long years until he quit last month.

"I'd smoke dog ends I'd find on the pavement, or pinch my dad's fags when he wasn't looking. He caught me once, and rolled a strong fag and gave me a puff to teach me a lesson. Unfortunately, it did nothing but encourage me more.

"I used my pocket money as a kid to buy packets of five cigarettes at a time and smoked whatever chance I could get. At my worst a few years ago, I was smoking 60 a day: I'd light one up and get talking and then light another, over and over and over again.

"I tried to give up once about 20 years ago - didn't manage very long. But since my sister died last year of lung cancer, I thought I'd give it a go again.

"I got some patches from the doctor, have been using the NHS services at smokefree.nhs.uk, and am amazed at how great I feel. I can actually taste food for the first time - like jacket potatoes, which I'd always thought were flavourless. When I do the washing, I can smell the powder - when I go out, I can smell perfume, scents that were lost on me before.

"I calculated that I was spending about £340 a month on fags, so I've used the money instead on a treadmill. I used to puff and pant just getting up the stairs of my house, but plan on training to run soon.

"Giving up's been made easier by the fact that my two sons have just quit too, so we have each other for support. But I'd say to anyone thinking about quitting to just do it - you'll feel a lot better and save a lot of money too."