Most people pick up the habit of smoking due to peer pressure and gradually get addicted to this habit. Their dependency on smoking increases for fulfilling every activity in their lives, and it becomes quite impossible to think of a life without smoking. Quitting needs a strong resolution and if a person succeeds, then it is a life-changing and lifesaving experience. If you have managed to quit smoking, it is indeed a huge accomplishment. Getting rid of an addiction, especially smoking, is no mean feat, and this decision can completely reverse your life.
The benefit of quitting smoking comes with many healthy advantages that being a smoker may have robbed from your health. Your body starts repairing itself the minute you withdraw from this habit. A smoker is prone to life-threatening health problems such as heart disease and brain stroke, but by deciding to stop smoking, your body is less prone to these hazards. So, if you are a smoker, quitting the habit is the most crucial decision you can take in your life. Health benefits are reasons enough to persuade someone who is genuinely thinking of quitting.
Quit smoking Timeline
- 20 minutes after quitting smoking
The heart rate and blood pressure return to normal
- 8 hours after quitting smoking
Drop in carbon monoxide levels in the blood increase in oxygen levels improvement of body’s ability to carry oxygen to vital organs
- 24 Hours After quitting smoking
Risk of heart failure increases
- 48 Hours After quitting smoking
Improvement in the sense of taste
- 2-3 Days After quitting smoking
Nicotine starts leaving the body, lungs begin to clear all smoking related debris.
- 1-3 Months After quitting smoking
Improvement in lung function enabling breathing, blood circulation. Decreasing coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
- 1-9 Months After quitting smoking
Cilia (tiny hair-like structures) in your lungs begin to regain normal function.
- 1 Year After Quitting Smoking
Heart attack chances reduced to half compared to a smoker
- 5 Years After quitting smoking
Risk of stroke is reduced
- 10 Years After quitting smoking
Risk of cancer reduced
- 15 Years After Quitting Smoking
Risk of heart disease is nearly the same as that of a non-smoker
Let us help you get a brief overview of the benefits of quitting smoking
- The quality of your life is improved in many ways
- Life expectancy increases by 10-years
- The risk of premature death decreases
- The risk of adverse health issues caused by smoking which include poor reproductive health outcomes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstruction of pulmonary disease (COPD) and cancer can be reversed.
- Quitting smoking is crucial for people suffering from coronary heart disease
- Pregnant women's foetuses and babies are protected from the ill effects of the smoke
- Saves those around you from becoming passive smokers
- You save money as smoking is an expensive habit
The earlier you quit smoking, the better the benefits. Leaving Tobacco at whatever stage of addiction will leave the body a little less damaged. People smoking for years must not feel discouraged to give up. Whenever you quit, you are doing your health a great service.
Gone are the days when smoking was considered the ‘in thing’, staying fit and healthy is more of an ‘in thing’ now. Most people around you, especially the youth, are inspired by healthy bodies, and if you have taken over this deadly addiction, you can step out of the feeling-fit healthy squad. But you can always get back to it with an earnest effort and resolution of quitting.
Quit smoking to look and smell better
Your decision to quit smoking can make a noticeable difference in your life. How you look and smell matters. A fresh-looking person has a more positive impact and is more personable. Smoking leaves a lingering effect of tobacco on you that nonsmokers are sensitive to. For example, if you are facing an interview and your interviewer is a nonsmoker, you may just annoy the person with the whiff of tobacco smell left behind. Once you quit smoking you will realize a change in the way people look and feel about you. The difference will surface on your face over time, that is bound to improve your confidence considerably.
A smoker’s breath, clothes, and hair start smelling of nicotine, and people close to the person are left with no choice but to bear with the pungent smell out of love for the person, even though it makes them uncomfortable. When you resolve to quit smoking, your breath, hair, and clothes start smelling better and people just don’t tolerate you but love to have you around.
Habitual smokers will find their nails and teeth growing yellow. It happens with time, and no amount of spa or beauty treatments can remove the stains. The only way you can remove the stubborn stains is when you quit smoking, and once you do, the yellow residue on the surface of your teeth and nails clears within weeks of holding on to your nonsmoking resolution.
A smoker is highly prone to develop bags under the eye and premature wrinkles over the years of smoking. Smoking invites signs of early ageing. But as you stop smoking, premature wrinkles on the skin, gum diseases and tooth loss caused by the damaging effects of tobacco are stopped. You may not be able to reverse the damage, but you can stop further damage from happening.
Stop smoking to enjoy your senses fully
Food is such an integral part of our life. We live to eat. If you are a food connoisseur, you are not doing enough justice to your pallet by being a tobacco addict. Nicotine is a damper on the tongue. You will get a better taste of your favourite food and delicacies when you stop smoking. Your taste buds respond to nuanced and subtle tastes of food that your tongue missed earlier when you were a smoker.
What good is a world where you cannot smell the flowers, Arabian perfumes, soft essences and so many other delightful fragrances? Smoking diminishes your sense of smell. The nasal passage is obstructed by regular smoking. Once you stop smoking, you can experience the difference, sharp and soft smells strike you more acutely than they did before.
Improve your lungs when you stop smoking
You will be aware of what smoking has done to your life when you quit. As a smoker, breathlessness becomes a part of your life as you climb stairs, carry groceries from the store, cycle etc. Quit smoking and the remarkable change in the way your body responds will make you rue what you had lost while being a smoker. Your life feels so much better when you regain your breath by breaking the smoking habit.
Prolonged smoking is damaging to the lungs, and this is not reversible. You will realize what you have gained in a matter of weeks of quitting smoking. The fact that you are causing no further damage to your lungs will emerge with your ability to climb stairs or steep hills. The shortness of breath that you experienced earlier will no longer be felt. When you quit smoking, you give yourself a renewed life.
Lungs have delicate air sacs that get damaged with tobacco, a condition called emphysema, which unfortunately cannot be cured. If you are reading this article while you are still young, try and work your way out of smoking to add years to your life. The faster you stop smoking, the lower
the chances of developing emphysema.
The smoker's cough can sound quite bad, especially if you are a parent and hear your young children’s hacking cough. The sound can be quite alarming and troubling for near and dear ones. A smoker’s cough is cured within weeks of deciding to quit smoking. You can heal your body and help it regain much of the lost health. As a word of caution, when you stop smoking, coughing increases more often than the smoking days. Don’t worry, it is a good sign; it indicates the regrowth of Cilia in the lungs, cleansing the infection and tobacco residue in the lungs. The level of healing of the lungs depends on the extent of damage. If you have been a smoker for years, the damage will be more widespread. If you love your body, give up on smoking and rejuvenate your body. Find your body being able to shield cough and cold better when you quit smoking.
Reverse hypertension, cholesterol and diabetes – stop smoking
Smoking silently messes with your body functions, shooting your blood pressure. Even without realizing it, your hypertension level will always remain higher than that of a nonsmoker. Smokers who disbelieve can try getting their blood pressure checked to notice the surge. Do you consciously want to live a better life? Then quit smoking and watch your blood pressure and heart rate return to normal. Smoking thickens blood over the years, and people smoking are more likely to get blood clots than nonsmokers. When you decide to stop smoking, blood becomes thinner with clotting less likely to happen. Blood flows much more easily within the body, thus easing circulation. This difference in your body will effectively decrease fatigue as the body will retain more oxygen.
Are you aware that smoking increases fatty deposits inside the body? The overall fat accumulation in the body tends to be more if you are a smoker. And we all know how harmful body fat is. The cholesterol buildup level is also higher creating greater havoc inside the systems. So why leave your body prone to this harmful fallout when you can easily make a difference by choosing to quit smoking? You can bring the level of cholesterol buildup down in arteries by deciding to quit smoking and watch your body embrace this response to change.
Smokers often have a habit of accumulating belly fat which is quite hard to shed. With an inclination to attract diabetes or if someone already has diabetes, smoking increases the body’s blood sugar level. Your decision to stop smoking is necessary, especially when you have diabetes. Without breaking the smoking habit the sugar level in your body cannot be lowered.
Quit smoking and add quality to life
The initial stages of quitting smoking can be a bit difficult. People end up feeling restless and reclusive. When you quit smoking, the nicotine receptors in the brain habituated to smoking feel burnt and the wires in the brain crossfire. The good thing is, if you hold on to your convictions with strength, this nagging disquiet and heartburn will gradually recede. Remember, restlessness is only a temporary phase and will pass once you return to a normal nonsmoking routine within a month of quitting.
Your decision to quit smoking can drastically improve your sexual life. Women will find their estrogenic levels return to normal when they quit smoking. Men on the other hand can lower the chances of erectile dysfunction and return to a normal and healthy sexual life. Quit smoking and you can think of a beautiful family. Good sexual health will help you become parents with the least bit of trouble.
Smoking spoils your body's defences, your decision to quit smoking will help the white blood cell count in the body to return to normal. You will find your wounds healing faster, and your immune system responding to simple ailments much better than it did when you smoked.
Did you know that breaking into rigorous exercise loses its complete effect if you are a smoker? Your muscles stop growing. When you stop smoking your muscles grow stronger, your bone health improves, and your body is less prone to fractures.
Moreover, did you know that when you quit smoking, you can enjoy your coffee better? You can sleep so much better; nicotine causes sleep withdrawals during and sleep disturbance leaving you feeling sluggish during working hours.
To conclude
Smoking is a habit that not just affects you but your family. The ill effects of your health are heartbreaking for your family. Their support and consideration are necessary if you decide to quit smoking. So, go ahead, give it your best and give it up! With Nicotex, we believe you can!