Quit smoking - your body recovers quickly
May 6, 2015
Quit smoking - your body recovers quickly
Cigarette smoke contains more than 200 toxins that harm your body. But shortly after you stop smoking, it begins to recover.
20 minutes without cigarettes
20 minutes after your last cigarette, your blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal. They’re raised during smoking because nicotine activates the sympathetic nervous system, putting your body in fight-or-flight mode.
12 hours without cigarettes
12 hours after quitting, carbon monoxide levels in your blood drop and blood oxygen levels increase to normal. Carbon monoxide, a component of cigarette smoke, impedes the transport of oxygen in the blood.
2 days without cigarettes
2 days after your last cigarette, your senses of smell and taste, which are impaired by smoking, begin to return.
3 days without cigarettes
After 3 days, your bronchial tubes relax and breathing becomes easier. At this point, your body will be completely free of nicotine, so nicotine withdrawal symptoms are especially severe. They can include headaches, nausea and cramps, cravings, frustration and anxiety.
A few months without cigarettes
A few months after the last cigarette, the body's blood supply has improved. The lungs' oxygen uptake has risen by 30 percent. Coughing fits are rarer because the cilia, the tiny hairs in the lungs that sweep up foreign matter, have regrown.
One year, ten years, 15 years without cigarettes
After a year without smoking, your risk of heart disease is lowered by 50 percent compared to that of a smoker. The heart attack rate for smokers is 70 percent higher than for non-smokers. After ten years, the risk of dying of lung cancer is about half that of a person who is still smoking. After 15 years, the risk of coronary heart disease is the same as that of someone who has never smoked.
Quit smoking - your body recovers quickly
Cigarette smoke contains more than 200 toxins that harm your body. But shortly after you stop smoking, it begins to recover.
20 minutes without cigarettes
20 minutes after your last cigarette, your blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal. They’re raised during smoking because nicotine activates the sympathetic nervous system, putting your body in fight-or-flight mode.
12 hours without cigarettes
12 hours after quitting, carbon monoxide levels in your blood drop and blood oxygen levels increase to normal. Carbon monoxide, a component of cigarette smoke, impedes the transport of oxygen in the blood.
2 days without cigarettes
2 days after your last cigarette, your senses of smell and taste, which are impaired by smoking, begin to return.
3 days without cigarettes
After 3 days, your bronchial tubes relax and breathing becomes easier. At this point, your body will be completely free of nicotine, so nicotine withdrawal symptoms are especially severe. They can include headaches, nausea and cramps, cravings, frustration and anxiety.
A few months without cigarettes
A few months after the last cigarette, the body's blood supply has improved. The lungs' oxygen uptake has risen by 30 percent. Coughing fits are rarer because the cilia, the tiny hairs in the lungs that sweep up foreign matter, have regrown.
One year, ten years, 15 years without cigarettes
After a year without smoking, your risk of heart disease is lowered by 50 percent compared to that of a smoker. The heart attack rate for smokers is 70 percent higher than for non-smokers. After ten years, the risk of dying of lung cancer is about half that of a person who is still smoking. After 15 years, the risk of coronary heart disease is the same as that of someone who has never smoked.