What Happens When You Stop Smoking?

What Happens When You Stop Smoking?

After…

20 Minutes

• Your blood pressure returns to its usual level
• Your pulse rate slows to normal
• Your circulation has improved enough that your hands and feet warm to normal temperature

4 Hours

• Half the carbon monoxide from your last cigarette has left your bloodstream

8 Hours

• Your carbon monoxide from your last cigarette is now gone from your bloodstream
• Your blood now carries the normal amount of oxygen

24 Hours

• Your chance of a heart attack is lower

48 Hours

• Damaged nerve endings start to regrow
• Your sense of smell and taste have improved

2 Weeks- 1 Month

• Your circulation is better
• Walking is easier
• Lung function increases up to 30%

1-9 Months

• You cough less
• Your sinuses are clearer
• You have more energy
• You don’t become short of breath as easily
• Your cilia regrow in your lungs, so you will have less phlegm and less infection

1 Year

• Your heart attack risk has fallen to the halfway mark between that of a current smoker & that of  someone who never smoked

5 Years

• If you used to smoke a pack a day, you have now cut your risk of dying of a lung cancer in half
• Your risk of a heart attack and stroke is approaching that of a nonsmoker
• You have cut your risk of mouth, throat and esophageal cancer by half

10 Years

• Your chance of dying of lung cancer is almost as low as a nonsmoker
• Your risk of mouth, throat, esophageal, bladder, kidney and pancreatic cancer continues to fall

10-15 Years

• Your risk of dying of any cause is almost the same as that of someone who never smoked