Smoking and your dating choices
Select Personal Introductions was asked to do a report for Smokefree North West to get a break down on exactly what single people were looking for when it came to smokers and their general response.
Alex Mellor-Brook of Select Personal Introductions talks live with Wes Butters at BBC Radio Leeds regarding the report released by the British Heart Foundation, which states that 50% of women do not want to meet a man that smokes. Listen to BBC interview.
Alex says, “At Select we find that non smoking men are more forgiving towards women smokers and that non smoking women are less forgiving. Yet women smokers seem to be more open on their partner’s habits than men who smoke.”
During research the dating agency found that 67% of non smoking women will not meet a gent that smokes and 47% of non smoking men do not want to meet a smoker.
Other findings were that 83% of the women that smoked would accept a smoker compared to 40% of men who smoke.
Several factors contributing to single people and their general issues with smokers seem to be strongly linked to their past and current experiences, losing family members, exposing children to it and the smell. Also, ex-smokers and people trying to quit fear failure if in a relationship with a smoker. The simple stigma attached to the habit has put smokers under more pressure and more scrutiny.
Most smokers want to stop smoking, and 11 million people in the UK have given up successfully. Alex says, “Quitting smoking has huge health benefits and it’s never too late to give up and impress your new found love.”
The British Heart Foundation offers some helpful tips,
- Make a date to give up and stick to it!
- Throw awayall your tobacco, lighters and ashtrays.
- Draw up a plan of action. Think about what could help you stop smoking, such as using a nicotine-replacement product, and have it ready before the date you plan to quit.
- Keep busy to help take your mind off cigarettes. Try to change your routine, and avoid the shop where you normally buy cigarettes.
- Get support and let your family and friends know that you’re quitting. Some people find that talking to friends and relatives who have stopped can be helpful.
- Treat yourself. If you can, use the money you’re saving by not smoking to buy yourself something special.
If that is what you call spending your valuable ‘me’ time, sitting at a computer trawling through pages of photos and details. You might even find a profile which fits the bill but then you have to hope that the other person has written the truth about themselves. Men love to gain a couple of inches in height, women suddenly drop a dress size or three, and we all like to knock a few years off our age. Is your profile and photograph attractive enough to encourage the opposite sex to contact you? The usual answer, NO. This is where it can quickly unravel. How do other people perceive us? Probably a lot differently than we perceive ourselves and it is this perception which determines the success or failure of any on-line dating venture. 
You’ve spent your whole adult life trying not to get pregnant. Then it hits you. It may be that all your friends are having babies, or you saw a child in the supermarket that made you long for your own soft, cooing piece of heaven, but how old you are plays an important part in determining your chances of becoming a Mum.