Everybody knows the health dangers of smoking and many smokers would tell you that the fear for their health and would like to quit but many, unfortunately cant find the will power to quit. Some smokers feel so trapped that they wont even try to quit in spite of the many number of benefits related to quitting. Benefits that will occur can start in the first few days and you will continue to receive positive benefits for up to 15 years down the road. In this article I would like to talk about the benefits and how soon each will occur after a person quits their smoking habit.
The immediate benefits of quitting smoking will result in the first 2 to 3 days and some people feel that these are some of the most dramatic. In the first 24 hours after a smoker quits, their blood pressure drops, their pulse rate drops, and the temperature of their extremities starts to increase. Their carbon monoxide and oxygen levels will return the level of a non-smoker and after only 1 day, their risk of a heart attach has already decreased. Within 48 hours, the nerve endings of a smoker start to heal and their ability to smell and taste will start to improve. Within 72 hours after quitting a smokers body will be 100% nicotine free and 90% of the nicotine metabolites will have passed out of body through urine starting the process of removing the chemical withdrawal. The bronchial tubes have begun to relax and lung capacity has started to increase making it easier to breath. The next stage of benefits a quitting smoker will get are from the 10 day to 3 month period.
Within the first 2 weeks the brain and body of an ex-smoker will have physically adjusted to life without nicotine and the 3,500 other chemicals in tobacco smoke that they had become accustomed to. With 2 weeks to a month, the body will no longer have the dreaded nicotine cravings. On a side point, if this is what worries you about quitting, there are products and methods available to manage your cravings until this time passes. A word of caution here: Nicotine replacement therapy can indeed help with cravings but you are infusing your body with nicotine and it will take that much longer to completely lose the cravings. With that said, after 3 months of not smoking, the bodies circulation will have increased, it will be easier to walk and workout and the overall lung function will have increased making the symptom of breathlessness much less.
After quitting for a year, you will experience less coughing and less sinus congestion. You will also experience less fatigue and your overall energy level will have increased dramatically. The shortness of breath symptoms that you experienced as a smoker will have declined even more and the cilia that work to clean the lungs will have re-grown. This will make it possible for the lungs to stay cleaner which will also help the body fight infection. After 5 years of quitting your risk of stroke will have dropped to the level of a person that never smoked.
Long range benefits can lead to an increase in life span and decreased risk in smoking related diseases. 10 years after quitting, the risk of lung cancer is around half of what it would be for somebody who had continued to smoke. The risk of oral and throat cancer will have also dropped and the risk of ulcers will have also decreased. After 15 years as a non-smoker, your risk of coronary heart disease will be the same as somebody that never smoked but you must keep in mind that many other factors affect this disease and it is important to keep a well balanced diet as well as quit smoking. The life expectancy of someone who quits smoking will increase but the amount gained will depend on your gender and how long you wait before quitting. Male smokers who quit between the ages of 35 to 39 can add up to 15 years to their life while female quitters in this age group can add up to 12 years. Men and women who quit at ages 65 to 69 increase their life expectancy by up to 3 years.
It is my sincere hope that after reading this article you have a more detailed idea of how quitting smoking can benefit you and has given you a greater desire to quit smoking. Smoking is a deadly habit and if you wish to live a long and healthy life then you should consider quitting today.
