cigarettes
No Smoking Day 2014 xvaughanx/Flickr

Thousands of people across the UK will stop smoking for one day today – for No Smoking Day 2014.

However, while taking a break from the cigarettes for 24 hours is great for the nation's health, most will light up again tomorrow or the next day or in a few weeks' time.

World expert on nicotine addiction Robert West has offered some advice on how to quit smoking and stop for good.

In an article in the Independent, he provides several tips on how to become a non-smoker. IBTimes UK looks at some of the top tips on offer:

Quit by your mid-30s

While it's great to quit before, the damage smokers do after they reach their mid-30s gets worse. Smokers at this age will lose an average of six hours of their lives for every day they smoke.

However, West says your chances of stopping before your mid-30s are greatly increased if you start trying to quit in your 20s, as the chances of quitting on the first attempt are low.

Don't cut down to quit

West says going cold turkey is a much more effective way of quitting than trying to stop gradually by phasing out the fags. Research suggests smokers who cut down to quit are half as likely to succeed than those who just stop.

This is because as you have fewer and fewer cigarettes, they become more and more rewarding.

Use breathing exercises

Using breathing exercises such as those used in yoga people can learn to control how oxygen enters the blood stream, which some evidence suggests reduces cigarette cravings. A study by West found that people who performed breathing exercises craved cigarettes less than those who did not perform exercises.

Change what you eat and drink

According to the NHS, changing what you eat and drink will help people stay off cigarettes. Smokers build up habits around smoking, including taste associations, so if you have a cigarette with a pint of beer or glass of wine, swap for a spirit and mixer. Same with foods, swapping foods you associate with cigarettes will help stop the craving.