Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of smokers - smokers who smoke for pleasure and smokers who draw when stressed. The former use cigarettes when they feel good -for stimulation and relaxation. The latter use cigarettes as a coping mechanism to deal with stress, anger, tiredness, anxiety and so on. Pleasure smokers typically smoke fewer cigarettes a day and may go for extended periods without smoking at all, only having a puff when they are in a place (the bar, for example) they associate with the habit. Smokers who use their habit as a coping mechanism tend to be far more reliant on cigarettes though, smoking regularly throughout the day, and larger quantities overall than pleasure smokers. Their overdependence on cigarettes makes the task of quitting much harder because, whereas pleasure smokers can simply look for a substitute stimulant, smokers who use their habit as a coping mechanism must solve the underlying problems that compel them to want to smoke as much as they must kick the habit itself.

That said, quitting is possible so long as the smoker is at least in contemplation mode. There are six different modes smokers can find themselves in. The first, pre-contemplation, is typically the most difficult point from which to start quitting. This person has never really thought about quitting before, nor sensed any necessity or urgency to quit. He or she is likely going to be poorly motivated and willpower is a major hurdle that may prove too much to overcome with such low motivation levels. These smokers tend only to say that they will try to quit when pressured to do so by a loved one, but really they have no desire whatsoever to give up.

Such individuals are unlikely to be affected by public health warnings and rarely listen to the negative publicity smoking receives in the media or place any importance on the wider society’s view of them and their habit. They are relatively content and the prospect of success in their quitting, in the long term, is low, unless they have some direct personal experience of the ill effects of smoking, like, for example, a close-family bereavement or a smoking-related health scare they (or someone close to them) have had, as only this sort of fright will give them the motivation to genuinely want to change their attitude and quit.

Someone who genuinely wants to quit is in what we term “contemplation" mode. These people, the contemplators, are of a mind to quit but still lack the motivation to try. They are constantly saying that they will quit, and often set vague far-off dates for when the act of quitting is likely to occur. A husband might say to his wife, for example: 'when we have our first child, I will stop smoking'. Part of him means it, and, to even acknowledge the need to stop and the implication that smoking would have adverse effects on his children’s health is a step in the right direction. However, in reality, while the smoker knows he should quit, his motivation to do so is still not high and he seriously doubts his own willpower which is why he draws attention to a time when, as he perceives it, his willpower will have increased - such as after the birth of his firstborn.

Really, the only way to ever successfully give up smoking is to just get on with it. Don’t put it off until tomorrow; the task starts now. Each time we allow ourselves another excuse to have even just one more cigarette, our willpower has folded and we have succumbed to our nicotine cravings. The action mode, then, is the one all current smokers must try to place themselves in. Here, they really are trying to quit and not just talking about it.

People have different approaches to action mode; some change brands initially, some cut down on the amount they smoke, others wear patches or take other nicotine substitutes, and a few try to go cold turkey, a practice that does not actually have a very high success rate. The key thing that everyone in the action mode has in common is the will to try. Likely though it may be that this will will be broken at some point or another, the smoker that is resolute in his determination to keep trying to quit will, statistically, succeed. For example, more than 70 percent of ex-smokers (that is, former smokers who have been off cigarettes for in excess of one year) tried and failed to give up once before they were successful. Almost one fifth of all ex-smokers fall into the tried-and-failed-between-two-and-four-times category. There is one clear message then to be got from this: keep trying!

When you get to the maintenance phase, the phase in which you have stopped smoking completely, but are still within that first year of having quit, there is a tendency to assume that you are out of the woods. Sadly, this is where many people are let down by their over-confidence. Phrases such as ‘I’ll just have one - sure I don’t need them anymore’ are not uncommon at this point, and all the hard work it took to quit is undone in a moment or two of madness where one cigarette quickly becomes two, two become three and before you know it, you are a fully fledged addict again. It is important, therefore, to be conscious of the possibility of reverting to type during the first year, and to be on your guard. That said, failure is not the end, so despair not; you have simply entered another phase - relapse.

Relapse is a return to daily smoking after a period of non-smoking. Almost three quarters of smokers will find themselves here the first time they try to quit. There is, however, a danger of giving up on trying to give up at this stage, which is the wrong attitude to take. Failing in the quitting smoking stakes actually makes you less likely to fail the next time you try -practice really makes perfect in this game. Pluck up the courage to try again and you will find yourself in a very familiar place to smokers: renewed-action mode. In this mode, you are as determined as ever to quit, but you have an edge - you can learn from your past mistakes and keep your expectations realistic.

A

Officially the Bundesautobahnen, which, when translated, means federal expressways, we know them more commonly as the autobahns - Germany's impressive system of motorways. There is nothing extraordinary about them, fine feats of engineering though they may be, so why has the term autobahn become so well known? The simple answer is that people living outside of Germany have had their curiosity more than a little tickled on account of the fact that Germany's motorways are, in one specific way, very unique indeed. They are not the longest system in the world, this plaudit going to the Interstate Highway System of America, nor are they even second or third (China and India respectively), and though they come a healthy fourth in the length stakes, this is really neither here nor there. No, indeed, what fascinates us about the autobahns has nothing to do with their technical or design features. It is though, a lot to do with how fast you can go on them. The autobahns, you see, are the only stretch of motorway in the world on which you can drive your car (provided it is not towing a trailer) at, well, any speed you like. Now that's a very attractive proposition for many boy-racers out there who would salivate at the prospect of being able to drive as fast as they wanted, and, therefore, on that rather scary point, perhaps we should consider asking the, well, obvious question: what on earth were the Germans thinking when they did this? Surely having no speed limit whatsoever is a recipe for disaster.

B

To clarify, there is a 'recommended' speed limit of 130km/h on all stretches of German motorway, and a hard limit is imposed on some vehicles. Buses carrying standing passengers and motorbikes pulling trailers cannot go faster than 60 km/h. All other buses, as well as passenger cars and trucks with trailers, and all vehicles weighing in excess of 3.5 tonnes are not allowed to exceed 80km/h. Rare exceptions include buses that have been officially certified to travel at 100km/h and passenger cars carrying trailers that have received similar certification. Nonetheless, the fact remains that all other cars, trucks and motorbikes, while encouraged to adhere to the 'recommended' speed limit, are by no means bound to it and can, in effect, travel as fast as they please. Indeed, many of them do and it is not uncommon to see a car racing past you on the autobahn travelling in excess of 140km/h.

C

In such circumstances, it would not be at all surprising to learn that Germany has an awful record on road safety, except that it doesn't. Indeed, Germany's road safety record is comparable, and in some cases superior, to that of all other industrialised European countries. So is this just luck rewarding recklessness? Well, first of all, it's important to concede that speed limits do apply at junctions and other danger spots, such as sections under repair, and that there are even weather-related speed limits on some stretches of the autobahn (lower speed limits are used in cases of wet lanes). To fail to point this out would be to paint a picture, rather unfairly, of speed-hungry officials putting the travelling public in jeopardy on roads in order to gratify their own thrill-lust. Of course, this is not the case. Indeed, safety considerations aside, the Germans have even imposed speed limits for other purposes, such as to reduce pollution and noise on some stretches of the autobahn, so there is no crazy speed-fuelled agenda here. 'Mad' you may say, but the Germans actually seem to think this is safe.

D

And the statistics appear to back them up though. After all, the International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group's research indicates that there are 2.2 road-user fatalities per billion vehicle kilometres on German autobahns each year. Using the same statistics, 4.5 fatalities occur on United States motorways each year. In fact, when you look beyond the myth of the motorway without speed limits, where drivers regularly clock up speeds in excess of 200km/h, and uncover the more sober reality, you realise that the German approach might not be so daft as it first seemed. For a start, only 2% of all traffic regularly travels on the unrestricted stretches of motorway as, despite the vast area they cover, they are strategically located in rural areas with low traffic volume. The other 98% of vehicles on the road do in fact have their speeds very strictly regulated, and these regulations are also heavily enforced. Speed cameras are everywhere and the motorways are patrolled by unmarked police cars ready to pull over speed offenders and reckless drivers. The Germans have also taken into consideration statistics which show that very few road accidents occur on motorways in low-volume traffic each year. In fact, these stretches of motorway offer up some of the safest driving conditions, statistically speaking, of all. The Germans have therefore reasoned that they don't need to regulate rural motorways a great deal, and it would seem they are right.

E

Furthermore, the myth of limitless speed is also quite misleading. In reality, all German car manufacturers (and most international ones) keep to a gentlemen's agreement whereby they limit the top speed of their cars to around 150 km/h for safety reasons as, unless tyre pressure is optimally maintained and cars are constantly serviced (as would happen, say, in motor racing), travelling at higher speeds than that is, well, extremely risky and can lead to blowouts and other physical and mechanical failures that have the potential to cause death. Therefore, the situation is a little different than we might have assumed because while there is no official speed limit in theory, car manufacturers self-regulate so, in practice, a limit on the maximum speed vehicles can travel at has been put in place. In addition, the few vehicles which are capable of clocking speeds in excess of 150km/h seldom get the opportunity (the time and space) to build up to these speeds on the German autobahns, and, if they do, well, the way the German government sees it, they might as well be driving that fast there rather than in the suburbs, so let them do it!

Trips to Austria are more commonly associated with commerce or winter skiing than they are with summertime fun and entertainment, but, in the last year or so, a surprising trend has begun to develop in the British foreign holiday market. Tour operators have identified a desire among holiday-goers - even budget travellers and package-holiday devotees - to broaden their horizons somewhat beyond the traditional haunts of Spain and the Canary Islands and look towards other new, less crowded and, perhaps, more exciting destinations. Enter the Austrian package holiday - the answer to

the tour operators’ prayers. You see, Austria, for all its natural beauty, has traditionally fared well in attracting tourists only during the winter ski season. During the summer, however, tourists - foreign tourists especially - neglect her lush mountain meadows, fresh air and wildlife in favour of cheap beach holidays, and drench themselves in equal measures of drink and suntan for a week or so before returning home strawberry-red and with about as much of a cultural experience to tell the neighbours about as could be had from scratching well, erm, your... how do I put this politely... posterior!

The ‘cheap and cheerful’ package holiday has always had narrow horizons and members of the ordinary public, traumatised by years spent holidaying on a meaningless beach somewhere in Malaga, have sand coming out of their ears at this stage. Clearly a change was needed. But who would have thought of an expensive place like Austria as the perfect alternative? After all, isn’t it the domain of that rich and privileged ski crowd? Don’t you have to pay a small fortune on flights just to get there?

It’s true that, in winter, Austrian mountain resorts charge a pretty penny for accommodation, but what, in snowier times, costs an arm and several legs, costs nothing in comparison come spring and summer when the snow has melted and the ‘rich kids’ have returned home. But in some ways, the Austrian Alps are even more beautiful in summer than they are in the snow-covered winter, and it was this realisation that enabled the tour operators and package holiday companies to come up with something new. Suddenly, the internet was awash with cheap summer holiday alternatives offering seven nights in the Austrian Alps in three- and four-star hotels, some with as much as full-board, and half-board typically being provided as standard. The Austrian hoteliers and restaurateurs, having geared up for seasonal winter trade, were only too happy to satisfy this new summertime demand at reduced prices - after all, anything is better than vacant rooms and they looked on any profit to be made from this opportunity as, well, a bonus. There was no need to be too greedy or demanding with prices as that would put people off coming and, besides, their winter business was their bread and butter and it wasn’t going anywhere.

A profusion of new budget flights were also appearing, with airline companies like Ryanair flying direct to Salzburg return for little more than £50, including taxes. Suddenly, vacationers had a choice; an alternative to the same old sandy monotony. What is perhaps more surprising given how budget travellers are depicted in the media - as ignorant, undiscerning folk - is how many wanted to embrace this new opportunity. Thousands of Britons discarded their sandals and lidos and donned their hiking boots instead. Yodel-ley-he-hoo.

Should the popularity of Austria as a summer holiday destination for budget travellers continue to grow over the coming years, health experts claim this could be a huge turning point in the health of our nation. There is really no comparison between a drink-fuelled static beach holiday and what the Alps has to offer’, claims Nora Korton of Medicare Analysis. The Austrian holiday phenomenon is just the tonic those of us who work every day in healthcare have been hoping for. When guests arrive at their hotels they are being given leaflets and brochures on all kinds of wonderful outdoor activities; hiking, hill walking, horse riding, mountain biking, fishing, boating, you name it... That people are being encouraged to try out such healthy activities is fantastic and hopefully the experience will give more people the desire to make more permanent lifestyle changes and continue to be active when they return home from their holidays.’

An East Ender, Ed Brown, a local musician and teacher, says of his holiday experience, ‘On my salary, I could never afford to go on anything but a package trip in the past. I never envisaged ever being able to go to the Alps and take my little daughter horse riding or anything like that. We didn’t even like the beach, but those package holidays were the only thing within budget, so we used to just go on them anyway. But now look at us this year; little Anna, the wife and I have been on such an adventure. We drove to the top of Austria’s highest mountain and then hiked on a glacier. We went hill walking and brought a picnic and I couldn’t get over the weather - 29 degrees yesterday. We hired a boat and went out on the lake. Anna had always wanted to go riding, so we hired a guide to take us on horseback through the hills. We... well, it was just amazing. What a good time!’

Mark Jones, another holiday-goer wowed by Austria had this to say as he stepped off the plane: My children love this (pointing - towards Austria presumably). I didn’t use to mind the beach, to tell you the truth. After a long week at work, it’s nice to lounge around and relax. But I wanted to do this for the kids; to show them there was more to life than suntanning, if that’s even a word! We did so many amazing things and they loved every moment of it. But, stranger still, so did I; I have been running around all week and yet, strangely, I feel more refreshed than I ever got sitting on my sunbed. Brilliant!’