Benefits of Quitting Smoking
The following table shows the benefits of quitting, and how quickly you might hope to reap them:
| Length of Time After Quitting | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Immediately | You are way cooler than when you were a smoker! Everybody likes you even more. |
| 30 minutes | Pulse and blood pressure return to normal; temperature of extremities (fingers/toes) raises to normal. |
| 1 day | Improvements in heart tissue, blood pressure and blood quality. CO2 levels in blood decrease to normal. Your clothes, hair, and breath don’t stink. |
| 2 days | Sense of smell and taste rebound; sensory nerve endings begin to grow back. |
| 3 days | Bronchial tubes relax; breathing becomes easier; lung capacity increases. |
| 2 weeks to 3 months | Lung ability increases by as much as 30%; blood circulation improves. |
| 1 to 9 months | Body’s energy level increases; lungs increase their ability to handle mucus, reduce infection, and clean themselves; decrease in sinus congestion, coughing, fatigue, shortness of breath. |
| 1 year | Risk of coronary heart disease reduced to ½ that of continuing smokers. |
| 5+ years | Risk of stroke is reduced to that of never-smokers. |
| 10 years | Risk of lung cancer reduced to less than ½ that of continuing smokers; risks of many other cancers also decrease; death rate from lung cancer about equal to that of non-smokers; pre-cancerous cells in body replaced. |
| 15 years | Risk of coronary heart disease is similar to that of never-smokers; overall risk of death is nearly the same as never-smokers – especially is the smoker quits before illness develops. SO QUIT NOW WHILE YOU’RE STILL HEALTHY! (...We hope you’re still healthy!) |