The benefits of quitting smoking to your body are significant and immediate. Lets take a look at what your body goes through when you stop smoking.

  • Within 20 minutes, your blood pressure and pulse rate decrease, and the circulation to your hands and feet improves.
  • Within 8 hours, the carbon monoxide that has been robbing your body of oxygen is decreased and your blood oxygen level returns to normal.
  • Within 24 hours, your risk of having a heart attack will decrease.
  • Within 48 hours, your nerve endings start to regrow meaning your ability to smell and taste will improve.
  • Within 72 hours, your bronchial tubes will relax making it easier to breath and giving you more energy.
  • Within 2 weeks, your blood circulation will improve, making even the easiest exercise more pleasant.
  • Within 3 months, phlegm production decreases. Within several months, you have significant improvement in lung function.  Coughing and wheezing will improve.
  • Within 1 to 9 months, cilia, tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs, regain normal function.   Your lung function will continue to improve and you will notice fewer coughs, less sinus congestion, less fatigue and less shortness of breath.your
  • In 1 year, your risk of coronary heart disease and heart attack is reduced to half that of a smoker.
  • Between 5 and 15 years after quitting, your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
  • In 10 years, your risk of lung cancer drops. Additionally, your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decrease. Even after a decade of not smoking however, your risk of lung cancer remains higher than in people who have never smoked. Your risk of ulcer also decreases.
  • In 15 years, your risk of coronary heart disease and heart attack in similar to that of people who have never smoked. The risk of death returns to nearly the level of a non-smoker.

Remember these milestones when you are struggling to stay focused.  Let these be your short-term goals that add up over time to the biggest long-term goal of your life. And remember the benefits of quitting smoking get better and better as time goes on. Keep the progress going!