Healthy Life Plans

If you’re a smoker, you’ve probably tried to quit smoking many times in the past, most smokers have. It’s hard to quit even though we know the long-term health problems that we will probably have in the future. It’s also hard because lots of smokers don’t see the short-term benefits of quitting and crawl back to that cigarette. But I’m going to tell you what happens to your body right when you quit smoking, and give you some incentive to drop your cigarette habit.

20 minutes after you quit
Your body starts to “return to normal” only 20 minutes after your last cigarette. Your blood pressure drops down to normal. Your pulse rate also drops down to regular levels. Blood circulation increases and the temperature in your hands and feet increase. Poor blood circulation is a big cause of heart attacks.

8 hours after you quit
Okay, so 20 minutes was probably easy to get through, but after a few hours you probably have that craving. Don’t light up that cigarette, because after just 8 hours the carbon monoxide levels in your blood stream will drop in half. Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas that you really don’t want in your blood stream. Your oxygen will return to a normal level during this time as well.

2 days after you quit
It’s been 2 days and you’ve made it past the hardest part. That’s because after 2 days, all the nicotine in your body is now gone. You might feel withdraw symptoms, but nothing as intense as the first 48 hours. After 2 days, you’ll notice you have a lot more energy, and your sense of taste and smell will return to normal levels. Now you can taste the finish line.

2 weeks after you quit
Now you’re sprinting to the finish line, all you have to do is avoid peer pressure (and temptation) and not pick up a cigarette ever again. There’s no reason to now that you’ve been smoke free for 2 weeks. Your blood circulation will continue to improve for the next 2 months. Walking and running are a lot easier, and you are less fatigued after being active.

3 to 9 months after you quit
During this time span, coughing, wheezing and general breathing problems will disappear, and your lung capacity proves by about 10%. Problems with shortness of breath should be gone. As well as feeling less fatigued in general, your sinuses will be a lot clearer and less congested.

1 year after you quit
A big milestone in your life as a non-smoker. So what’s your anniversary present? Your risk of having a heart attack has dropped in half in just one year of being smoke-free. Cigarette smoke causes 30% of all heart disease deaths in the United States, and your risk just dropped dramatically.

5 to 15 years after you quit
Your entire body is returning to the health of a non-smoker. Congratulations. At 5 years, your risk of a stroke has dropped to the levels of a non-smoker. At 10 years, your risk of lung cancer has dropped to the levels of a non-smoker. And at 15 years, your risk of a heart attack has dropped to the levels of a non-smoker.

After 15 years of being smoke-free, your risk of death returns to the levels of a person who has never smoked before. And this is just more proof that your body is capable of doing amazing things. Healing the damage you’ve caused by smoking cigarettes is a pretty amazing feat, you just have to have the will power and the want to quit smoking.