Timeline for Quitting Smoking

No matter how old you are now, and no matter how long you’ve been smoking, quitting smoking now will give you some immediate benefits. For instance, you’ll have more money to spend on the good things (because you’re not throwing it away on supporting your addiction any more) and more time to do the things you want to do (because you’re not spending half your day smoking or planning how to get away to smoke).

Most importantly, your body starts to heal itself almost immediately after you smoke your last cigarette. I was 45 years old at the time I was diagnosed with emphysema, and I’d been at least a pack-a-day smoker for over 30 years by that point, and I can personally attest to many of the effects described below:

  • Within 20 minutes of smoking your last cigarette, your blood pressure decreases, your pulse rate drops, and the blood circulation to your hands and feet will improve dramatically (when I was a smoker, my hands and feet were always cold, and I always blamed it on having gotten frostbite in my hands and feet many years ago. The day after I quit, I was sitting in my easy chair, reading, and I put my hand on my chin — like you do when you’re thinking about something or concentrating really hard — and I thought there was something wrong with me because my hand felt so warm, but it was just that my circulation had improved that much overnight, it was amazing).
  • Within 8 hours, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal, allowing the oxygen level in your blood to increase to normal (a couple of days after I quit, I went to Thanksgiving dinner at my sister’s house; she remarked on the color in my face and told me that for as long as she could remember, I always looked a little grey, but now I looked “healthy”. I put the back of my hand against her face, and she said, “Oh my God! Your hands are warm!”).
  • After 24 hours, your chance of a heart attack decreases (I don’t have a personal story about this one. Sorry).
  • After 48 hours, nerve endings start regrowing, and your senses of smell and taste are enhanced (I remember being really surprised by how much better food started tasting in the first few days after I quit).
  • At 2 weeks to about 3 months, circulation improves, walking becomes easier, and lung function increases by as much as 30% (this was definitely true for me; I had just had my lung capacity tested when I was diagnosed with emphysema, and when I went back for a checkup a couple of months later, my lung capacity had increased almost exactly 30%).
  • At 1 to 9 months, coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease.
  • In a year, your excess risk of coronary heart disease is decreased to half that of a smoker.
  • In 5 to 15 years, your risk of stroke is reduced to that of people who have never smoked.
  • After 10 years, your risk of lung cancer drops to as little as one-half that of continuing smokers.
  • After 15 years, your risk of coronary heart disease is about the same as people who have never smoked (all other factors being equal), and your risk of premature death returns to about the level of people who have never smoked.

What beneficial health effects are you looking forward to the most once you quit? (If you’ve already quit, what beneficial health effects have been the most gratifying for you do far?)

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