The Benefits of Quitting Tobacco
Within:
- 20 minutes: Blood pressure, heart rate and the temperature of your hands and feet return to normal.
- 8 hours: Oxygen level in your blood increases to normal and carbon monoxide level drops to normal.
- 24 hours: The risk of a heart attack begins to decrease.
- 2 days: Nerve endings start to re-grow and your ability to smell and taste things increases.
- 3 days: Your body is free of nicotine. Bronchial tubes relax, making it easier to breathe. Your lung capacity increases.
- 1 to 9 months: Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease. Cilia or tiny hairs reactivate in the lungs, increasing your ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce infection, like coughs or colds.
- 1 year: The risk of heart disease from smoking is reduced by 50%.
- 5 years: Lung cancer death rate for the average smoker (one pack a day) decreases from 137 per 100,000 to 72 per 100,000.
- 5 to 10 years: Risk of stroke for ex-smokers return to that for non-smokers.
- 10 years: Risk of Lung cancer drops to as much as half of that of current smokers. Lung cancer death rate for the average smoker drops to 12 deaths per 100,000 or almost the rate of non-smokers. Pre-cancerous cells are replaced. Other cancers, such as those of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decrease.
- 15 years: Health risks are similar to non-smokers.