What Happens When You Quit Smoking – A Timeline

Every year more than 7 million people die as a result of tobacco use. Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths in the US, of which more than 41,000 are second-hand smoking.

What's alarming is that by 2030, more than 8 million people around the world will die as a result of tobacco disease if smoking behavior does not change!

Smoking can have dangerous consequences for your health and well-being. It can damage your cells and increase the risk of life-threatening diseases like cancer.

They must have encountered many people who wanted to quit smoking, but could not. While some of them are too addictive, some others think it's too late to stop. Here's a timeline that motivates you to kick your ass. It explains how your body heals in the moment you quit smoking and in the years to come. Scroll down and get started.

Timeline - What happens to your body when you quit smoking?

20 minutes

Your blood pressure and heart rate start to return to normal. Her hands and feet also return to their normal temperature.

8 hours

Eight hours later, the levels of nicotine and carbon monoxide in your blood are reduced by half. Nicotine is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, while carbon monoxide can consume all the oxygen in your blood and cause other health problems. At this point, you can also feel early cravings and doubts. However, that feeling will pass if you distract yourself.

24 hours

People who smoke about a pack of cigarettes a day get a heart attack twice as likely as nonsmokers. After a whole day of not smoking, the risk of heart attack decreases. In this short time also increases the oxygen content, which facilitates physical activity and exercise.

48 hours

Treat yourself to your favorite dish or candy after you have not smoked for two days. By this time, your olfactory and taste senses may have become much sharper as your nerve endings begin to heal. At this time, a lot of tidying up. Their lungs begin to throw out excess mucus and other slags that might be left behind by the cigarettes. At this point, there are no more nicotine residues in your body.

72 hours

After three days (72 hours) your lungs recover considerably. Breathing also becomes easier, and as a result you have more energy.

One week

Once a smoker has passed the one-week milestone without smoking, it is nine times more likely that he will stop smoking in the long term. If you made it a week, you can turn it into a life.

Two weeks

In two weeks you will find that you can breathe much easier thanks to improved lung health due to increased oxygenation and circulation.

A month

One of the major changes you will experience after a month of smoking cessation is a feeling of increased energy. You will also notice a reduction in many smoke-related symptoms, such as nasal congestion and shortness of breath during exercise.

Three months

In the next three months, the blood circulation and thus also your physical health improves. This can also reduce the risk of early delivery.

Six months

If you have not smoked for six months, you will find that you can handle stress situations much more easily without the urge to smoke. You will also find that you exhale less mucus and mucus compared to earlier, indicating reduced pneumonia.

One year

One year later, your lung would have dramatically improved both in terms of capacity and functionality. Long-term quitters also report less desire and withdrawal symptoms. They would also have saved a lot of money in a year spent on cigarettes.

Three years

After not smoking for three years, your heart attack risk has dropped to that of a non-smoker.

Five years

In three to five years after smoking cessation, the overall survival rate of a smoker drops by half along with the mortality rate after a heart attack. The risk of mouth, throat, esophageal and bladder cancer is also reduced by half.

10 years

In a decade, your risk of dying from lung cancer will be that of a non-smoker. Your risk of developing lung cancer is 30-50% lower than that of surviving smokers. The cancer precursors in your body are now being replaced by healthy cells.

15 years

After 15 years, your risk of developing cardiovascular disease is similar to that of a non-smoker. In the meantime, your body has undergone a lot of recovery and healing to eliminate the effects of smoking.

Conclusion

Quit smoking can have a long-term positive effect on your health. Your risk for high blood pressure, cancer, cardiovascular disease and lung disease begins to decline. Although this may take several years, every year you give up smoking improves your overall health.