Benefits of Quitting Smoking and Its Immediate Gains for you

If you haven’t already read the health benefits of quitting smoking here are a few you’d like to know. It just might help you kick the habit.

As you quit smoking, your body will show remarkable improvements as soon as 20 minutes since your last smoke. Your sense of smell and taste may improve. Your breathing will get easier, and your smoker's cough will begin to reduce. The most rewarding will be being free from the  smell, expense, and dependence of cigarette smoking.

It is important to understand that the long term effect of smoking is only temporary once you quit, and it signals the beginning of a healthier life. Once you quit smoking you start adding a number of healthy productive days to each year of your life. Most essentially, you greatly improve your chances for a longer life. You significantly reduced your risk of death from several kinds of cancer­, heart disease, stroke, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Cigarette smoking is responsible every year for various deaths from cancer, heart disease and lung disease.

Given below are the immediate and long term benefits of quitting, here is what happens after you quit, within:

20 MINUTES:

• Blood pressure drops to normal.
• Pulse rate drops to normal.
• Body temperature of hands and feet increases to normal.

8 HOURS

• Carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal.
• Oxygen level in blood increases to normal. 24 HOURS
• Chance of heart attack decreases. 48 HOURS
• Nerve endings start regrowing.
• Ability to smell and taste is enhanced.

2 WEEKS TO 3 MONTHS:

• Circulation improves.
• Walking becomes easier.
• Lung function increases up to 30%.

1 TO 9 MONTHS

• Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease.
• Cilia regrow in lungs, increasing ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce infection.
• Body's overall energy increases.

1 YEAR

• Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker.

5  YEARS

• Lung cancer death rate for average smoker (one pack a day) decreases by almost half.
• Stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker 5-15 years after quitting.
• Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus is half that of a smoker's.

10 YEARS

• Lung cancer death rate similar to that of nonsmokers.
• Precancerous cells are replaced.
• Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decreases.

15 YEARS

• Risk of coronary heart disease is that of a nonsmoker.