While you want to stop, you might not know what happens to your body when you quit smoking. In addition to nicotine, cigarettes contain many chemicals that affect your health in very damaging ways. It might be difficult to believe, but healing begins within 20 minutes when you quit smoking.

Within the first 20 minutes of quitting, your healing process begins. Your blood pressure decreases, your pulse rate drops, and the body temperature of your hands and feet increases. These benefits will continue to improve your health for years.

After eight hours of quitting smoking, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal and the oxygen level in your blood increases to normal.

At 24 hours, your chance of a heart attack decreases.

At 48 hours, your nerve endings begin regrowth and your ability to smell and taste improves.

And the benefits of quitting smoking are just beginning.

Between two weeks and thee months of stopping, your circulation improves, walking becomes easier, and your lung function increases.

Your worst nicotine withdrawal symptoms subside within the first month. After that, you learn how to decipher and reprogram the psychological urges to smoke that you’ve all built up over the years.

Starting as early as a month after you quit smoking, and continuing for the next several months, you may notice significant improvements in coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath.

At one year smoke-free, your excess risk of coronary heart disease is decreased to half that of a smoker.

Once you put a year between you and the last cigarette you smoke, congratulate yourself! Be grateful for the freedom you have created for yourself. The benefits of the positive choices you’ve made will continue to grow as you move forward from here.

For all of the work it takes to shed your addiction to nicotine, the incredible feelings of freedom and control you’ll be rewarded with when you quit smoking are just the beginning of the benefits headed your way.

At two years smoke-free, your chance of achieving long-term success with quitting tobacco increases significantly. Smoking relapse rates drop off sharply after two years.

At five years after quitting tobacco, your stroke risk is reduced to that of people who have never smoked.

At 10 years smoke-free, your risk of lung cancer drops to as little as one-half that of continuing smokers and your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases. Your risk of ulcers also decreases.

At 15 years smoke-free, your risk of coronary heart disease is similar to that of people who have never smoked, and your risk of death returns to nearly the level of people who have never smoked.

It may be difficult to imagine yourself as an ex-smoker with 15 years of freedom from the habit. It is possible, and it starts with a first step of making the commitment to quit, and then taking action. From there, it’s just a day-by-day process.

Now that you’ve seen what happens to your body when you quit smoking, you’ll want to stop as quickly as possible. Don’t let smoking waste any more of your life.

While you want to stop, you might not know what happens to your body when you quit smoking. In addition to nicotine, cigarettes contain many chemicals that affect your health in very damaging ways. It might be difficult to believe, but healing begins within 20 minutes when you quit smoking.

Within the first 20 minutes of quitting, your healing process begins. Your blood pressure decreases, your pulse rate drops, and the body temperature of your hands and feet increases. These benefits will continue to improve your health for years.

After eight hours of quitting smoking, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal and the oxygen level in your blood increases to normal.

At 24 hours, your chance of a heart attack decreases.

At 48 hours, your nerve endings begin regrowth and your ability to smell and taste improves.

And the benefits of quitting smoking are just beginning.

Between two weeks and thee months of stopping, your circulation improves, walking becomes easier, and your lung function increases.

Your worst nicotine withdrawal symptoms subside within the first month. After that, you learn how to decipher and reprogram the psychological urges to smoke that you’ve all built up over the years.

Starting as early as a month after you quit smoking, and continuing for the next several months, you may notice significant improvements in coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath.

At one year smoke-free, your excess risk of coronary heart disease is decreased to half that of a smoker.

Once you put a year between you and the last cigarette you smoke, congratulate yourself! Be grateful for the freedom you have created for yourself. The benefits of the positive choices you’ve made will continue to grow as you move forward from here.

For all of the work it takes to shed your addiction to nicotine, the incredible feelings of freedom and control you’ll be rewarded with when you quit smoking are just the beginning of the benefits headed your way.

At two years smoke-free, your chance of achieving long-term success with quitting tobacco increases significantly. Smoking relapse rates drop off sharply after two years.

At five years after quitting tobacco, your stroke risk is reduced to that of people who have never smoked.

At 10 years smoke-free, your risk of lung cancer drops to as little as one-half that of continuing smokers and your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases. Your risk of ulcers also decreases.

At 15 years smoke-free, your risk of coronary heart disease is similar to that of people who have never smoked, and your risk of death returns to nearly the level of people who have never smoked.

It may be difficult to imagine yourself as an ex-smoker with 15 years of freedom from the habit. It is possible, and it starts with a first step of making the commitment to quit, and then taking action. From there, it’s just a day-by-day process.

Now that you’ve seen what happens to your body when you quit smoking, you’ll want to stop as quickly as possible. Don’t let smoking waste any more of your life.

Weaning Yourself From Cigarettes Some smokers cannot face the idea of quitting cigarettes cold turkey. Those who don’t try nicotine replacement may prefer to g.adually wean themselves, either by cutting down by degrees through the use of special filters or by switching to cigarettes with lower tar and nicotine ratings. This section reviews the relative merits of these “controlled smoking” strategies. Switching Down Brands: Nicotine Fading Let’s talk about a technique called nicotine fading. This involves switching to brands of cigarettes with progressively lower amounts of tar and nicotine until (hopefully) you’re finally able to quit. What is the idea behind this? Gradually reducing the amount of nicotine you consume may ease the process of quitting. And there’s another train of thought behind this technique: smokers who are unable to quit completely think that they are better off switching to a brand with a lower tar and nicotine rating. Unfortunately, individuals using this procedure tend to smoke more, smoke each cigarette longer, and are unhappy with the smoking process yet, they continue it. This strategy is currently used only in a few treatment programs. But the idea that it is good to switch to a brand with a low tar and nicotine rating is a popular belief that is reinforced by attractive ads for low-tar and low nicotine cigarettes. Many smokers use low-yield cigarettes as a transition to quitting, even if they have never heard of the technique called nicotine fading. Physicians have even recommended that smokers who are unable, Or unwilling, to quit switch to low-yield cigarettes for “health reasons.” What is the Truth? Low-tar and low-nicotine cigarettes are a trap for smokers. Advertisements make them seem like a great idea. They suggest tha t you can still smoke and loweI’ your exposure to tar and nicotine. In the fight for market share, low-yield alternatives to the popular higher tar and nicotine brands such as Winston, Camel, and Marlboro portray them selves as the “healthy choice.” They seem to say, “If you must smoke, smoke us.” Unfortunately, the truth is that low-tar and low-nicotine ciga­rettes do not reduce your exposure to tar and nicotine. You are no better off smoking these cigarettes than any other brand. In fact, studies of the effect of low-yield cigarettes have found no relationship between a cigarette’s published yield and a smoker’s intake of nicotine, as measured by a blood test. A study published in 1983 in The New England Journal of Medicine concluded that smokers of low~nicotine cigarettes do not consume less nicotine. Many other studies support these results. In addition, experts have stated that the increased risk of heart attacks is no different for smokers of high-yield cigarettes than it is for smokers of low-yield cigarettes. Other investigators have reported that levels of carbon monoxide in the blood are no different either. How is it possible that these low-tar and low-nicotine cigarettes are not what they say? Let’s discuss how these cigarettes are produced. Low-yield cigarettes do not contain any special, different kind of tobacco. The tobacco in these cigarettes has the same amount and concentration of nicotine as any other brand. So what’s the so-called advantage? The “benefit” is achieved by using filters that mix the inhaied smoke with some air. In addition, the tobacco burns more rapidly. These advantages, however, do not translate into lower exposure for the smoker. Remember: you do not help yourself by smoking these cigarettes. Are you confused? This whole topic is confusing. Let’s try to clear it up.