The Benefits of Quitting Smoking

The health risks of smoking are widely known. The benefits of quitting smoking are massive. Your health improves, the risk of heart attacks and death from lung cancer are halved. You won’t smell like an ashtray and you will save a huge amount of money.

What happens when you give up smoking? 

As soon as you put cigarettes down and stop smoking, changes in your body start to happen. As little as eight hours as a none smoker and you will start to notice changes in your body.

Let’s take a look at the quit smoking timeline and what starts to happen as you put the cigs down.

8 hours no smoking 

After eight hours the level of carbon monoxide in your blood will be halved and your blood oxygen levels are already starting to return to normal.

2 days no smoking

After 48 hours your body will have worked hard to flush all the carbon monoxide out of your system. After two days of not smoking your lungs will start to clear themselves of mucus. You might also notice an improvement to your sense of taste and smell.

3 days no smoking

After just 72 hours your bronchial tubes will start to relax. This means that breathing will feel easier. You may also notice an increase in your energy levels.

7 days no smoking

You have made it to a full week not smoking cigarettes. This is not only fantastic for your health, but for your motivation. Week one is done, now you can keep going.

2 weeks no smoking

Your circulation is starting to improve. Your heart is having an easier time pumping blood around your body and into your muscles. This will continue to improve over the next 10 weeks.

6 months no smoking

This is your half a year mark. Fantastic for your motivation to keep off the cigarettes. Your lung function will have also improved by up to 10% at 6 months no smoking. You should have noticed a decrease in wheezing, coughing or breathing problems.

1 year no smoking

Your risk of heart attack has just halved compared to the risk of a smoker.

10 years no smoking

You have made it to 10 years smokefree. Your risk of death from lung cancer is now halved compared to a smoker.

15 years no smoking

You can now say you have quit smoking for a decade and a half. Your risk of a heart attack is now exactly the same as someone who has never smoked a cigarette.

This was a look at the benefits of quitting smoking. Let us know how your smoke free journey is going in the comments below.