Most of the smokers know that smoking cigarettes is rotting their body from inside and slowly have started destroying their health. They are generally very eager as well as concerned to quit smoking cigarettes. But many of them are quite wary of the quitting process because it is one of the hardest things they may have to do in their entire life.
Curbing your smoking habit can assuredly improve your life and make you live healthier. Quitting from smoking can be very tedious as it requires desire, determination, and commitment, but the outcome is very satisfying.
Any time you change something in your body, the body reacts. So when you quit smoking you will face some effects of it. The side effects of stopping smoking cover a variety of mental and physical symptoms. If you are actually considering stopping smoking then you should take into account the positive effects. Here is a list of effects that your body has to endure once you quit smoking.
- Within 20 minutes: Nicotine increases your blood pressure and heart rate, which leads to increase in the risk of a heart attack. Within 20 minutes of you quitting smoking, your heart rate and blood pressure will drop to normal.
- Within 8 hours: Nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in the blood are greatly reduced; this also leads to reduced risk of a heart attack. Oxygen level in your blood increases to normal.
- Within 24 hours: Your chances of a heart attack decreases. All Carbon monoxide and nicotine is flushed from the body. Your nerve endings start re-growing leading to enhanced ability to smell and taste.
- After 48 hours: Here comes the difficult part; the completion of 48 hrs results in bad side effects like stomachache, vomiting and it also develops the probability of hypothermia. But there is decline in lung damage and excess risk of lung cancer halts.
- After 72 hours: Bronchial tubes begin to relax and breathing becomes easier.
- After 2 weeks: Lung function increases up to 30% resulting in improved blood circulation. Walking becomes easier. But it may also lead to withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, headaches, and anxiety, which is why the antidepressant drugs work well in smoking cessation.
- Between 1-9 months: Your appearance improves. Your skin loses its grayish pallor and becomes less wrinkled. Coughing, shortness of breath, stuffy nose and tiredness decreases. Cilia in the lungs start to function properly by cleaning the lungs of mucus, thereby lessening the risks of infection.
- After a year: Your risk of smoking-related heart disease is one-half of what it was one year ago.
- After 10 years: Risk of heart attack and lung cancer falls to the same as someone who has never smoked. The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease, too.
Quitting the smoking habit is always going to be tough whatever method or system you choose. But the net results can be immense. It is also important to understand that the after-effects of quitting are only temporary and signal the beginning of a healthier life.
