Posted on April 8, 2010.
What happens to your body when you quit smoking? If you want to stop, you might not know what happens to your body when you quit smoking. In addition to nicotine, cigarettes contain many chemicals that affect your health so very harmful. It may be hard to believe, but healing begins within 20 minutes when you stop smoking.
During the first 20 minutes of quitting, your healing process begins. Your blood pressure decreases, your pulse rate drops and body temperature of your hands and feet increases. These benefits will continue to improve your health for years.
After eight hours of quitting, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal and the oxygen level in your blood increases to normal.
At 24 hours, your chances of a heart attack decreases.
At 48 hours, nerve endings begin regrowth and your sense of smell and taste improve.
And the benefits of quitting smoking are just beginning.
Between two weeks and months you stop, your circulation improves, walking becomes easier and your lung function increases.
Your worst relieve symptoms of nicotine withdrawal in the first month. After that, you learn to decipher and reprogram the psychological urge to smoke you have all been built over the years.
From the earliest one month after quitting, and during the next few months, you may notice significant improvements in cough, sinus congestion, fatigue and shortness of breath.
A year without smoking, your excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker.
Once you put a year between you and the last cigarette you smoke, you are welcome! Be thankful for the freedom you have created yourself. The benefits of positive choices you've made will continue to grow as you move forward from here.
For all the work it takes to make your nicotine addiction, feelings of incredible freedom and control you'll be rewarded with when you quit smoking are only the beginning of benefits directed your way.
At two years, without smoke, your chances of long-term success with smoking cessation increases significantly. relapse rates are significantly reduced after two years.
Five years after quitting smoking, your risk of stroke is reduced to that of people who have never smoked.
At 10 years smoke-free, the risk of lung cancer drops to as little as half that of continuing smokers and the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decreases. Your risk of ulcer also decreases.
A 15 year old non-smokers, the risk of coronary heart disease is similar to that of people who have never smoked, and the risk of death returns to nearly the level of people who never smoked.
It may be difficult to imagine yourself as an ex-smoker of 15 years of freedom from the habit. It is possible, and it starts with the first stage of making the commitment to quit, and then take action. From there, it's just a process every day.
Now that you've seen what happens to your body when you quit, you'll want to stop as quickly as possible. Do not waste your life smoking more.