It's No Smoking Day on Wednesday. STEPHEN LEWIS speaks to a York man who's already managed to quit, thanks to hypnotherapy

FOR all those smokers desperate to quit on No Smoking Day on Wednesday, Paul Crump holds out a glimmer of hope.

The 34-year-old Thrall worker had been a smoker from the age of 15, puffing his way through 30-40 cigarettes a day.

He tried a couple of times to give up, worried about the cost and uncomfortably aware he was getting out of breath after just a few minutes every time he tried to play football with his children.

But, like so many smokers who try to quit, he had always succumbed to the craving again.

Until ten days ago.

That was the day he went for a session of hypnotherapy with Richard Jackson, who was featured on this page last week.

Richard, who runs the Holgate Caf in Acomb road, is also a trained hypnotherapist. Every afternoon he takes off his white chef's jacket to hypnotise clients in a quiet room at the back of his caf.

Paul, from Acomb, pops into the caf for his breakfast when he is on the early shift at Thrall, and spotted the ads for hypnotherapy. What interested him was the 'no cure, no pay' guarantee.

"I thought I might as well have a go," he says. "There was nothing to lose. If it doesn't work, you don't pay. And I really wanted to give up."

He and his wife Joanne, also a heavy smoker, went for an initial session with Richard at which he assessed how easy they would be to hypnotise.

Then, on March 1, Paul went back for a second session, at which Richard put him into a trance and then placed a psychological 'smoking patch' in his subconscious mind as an aid to quitting.

This is intended to take away the anxiety and craving for a cigarette - and, for Paul, it worked.

The hypnotherapy session, he says, was enormously relaxing. "And when I came out, I felt on top of the world."

Even better, he found he just didn't want to smoke any more. "I went down to the pub that evening and had a couple of pints," he says. "Normally, I can get through a packet down the pub, but I didn't even want to smoke. It was strange, but I just felt it was right to say 'no'."

He's been off the cigarettes ever since, and hasn't once felt tempted. Now, he's hoping Joanne will go for a second session too, so she can quit as well.

"It really has worked for me, and it's good to set an example for the kids," he says.

Giving up smoking has these effects...

Within 20 minutes: blood pressure and heart rate return to normal

After one hour: circulation improves, hands and feet warmer

After eight hours: Nicotine and carbon monoxide levels fall - oxygen in the blood returns to normal

After 24 hours: Lungs begin to work better - carbon monoxide removed from body

Within 48 hours: final traces of nicotine leave the system; nerve endings start to re-grow; ability to taste and smell enhanced

Within 72 hours: bronchial tubes relax, making breathing easier; lung capacity increases; energy levels increase

Two weeks to three months after: withdrawal symptoms ease; circulation improves; walking and running become easier; lung function increases by up to 30 per cent

One month to nine months after: withdrawal symptoms should have stopped; risk of heart attack, cancer and other 'smoking' diseases begins to fall; decreases in coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue; improvements in shortness of breath; lungs cleaner and reduced risk of infection; overall body energy levels increase

Five years after: risk of stroke returns to normal; lung cancer death rate decreases

Ten years after: pre-cancerous cells are replaced; reduced risk of other cancers (mouth, larynx, oesophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas)

15 years after: risk of coronary heart disease and death returns to normal.

Information supplied by the National Pharmaceutical Association with acknowledgements to Action On Smoking and Health (ASH)

Updated: 09:23 Monday, March 11, 2002