Smoking might look cool, but it is a fact that it is very dangerous for health. A cigarette not only has nicotine, which is a harmful addictive psycho-stimulant that, if exceeds a certain limit, can be fatal; but the mode of nicotine insertion is also very harmful since it involves inhalation of harmful gases like carbon monoxide and tar. It damages the lungs, and can lead to emphysema, bronchitis and even lung cancer. I am sure you are going to say that you feel perfectly fine, and your lungs feel great, which is why this is the right time to get out!
You might be wondering what would happen if you quit smoking, whether you can handle it or not, and whether all the damage can be reversed or not. Well we have some good news for you, the benefits of quitting smoking far outweigh the liabilities of continuing. Let’s go through some effects that quitting smoking has on the body.
Here are some quit smoking benefits:
- After as little as 20 minutes of quitting, your heart rate which had been elevated drops back to a relatively normal level.
- About two hours later, your circulation begins improving and blood pressure normalizes.
- Smoking causes high levels of carbon monoxide to enter your body, which gets absorbed by the blood and levels in the body begin to rise. After 12 hours of withdrawal, the carbon monoxide levels in the body begin to decrease and oxygen saturation rises.
- A day after quitting, the risk of having a heart attack reduces significantly.
- Three days later, nicotine will be completely out of your system.
- After 3 weeks, stamina and lung capacity will improve, allowing you to exercise more and breathe easily. These are two of the most important quit smoking benefits.
- After about a year, the damage in your lungs begins to be healed. Your risk of heart disease is now about half of that you would have if you were still smoking. Congratulations! You are now out of the woods. The rest of the way should be pretty easy.
David Loew is a health blog author and editor for a variety of publications. He has written on a wide range of topics, from fitness to nutrition to mental health. He loves working with people who are passionate about improving their lives through bettering their bodies and minds by eating right and staying active as well as those who want to improve their mental health by living life authentically without feeling ashamed or embarrassed about what they’ve been through.