Virtually the minute you quit smoking, your health begins to improve.
The negative effects of smoking are clear: One in every three people who starts smoking will die prematurely of a smoking-related illness, according to the American Lung Association. And one in every five deaths stems directly from tobacco exposure. But the good news is that it’s never too late to quit smoking. The benefits of smoking cessation begin within a few minutes of your last cigarette and continue for life, even for people with lung disease.
The Risks of Smoking
Although the link between smoking and lung cancer is well known, smoking is even more likely to cause a range of other illnesses. According to a survey published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, some 8.6 million Americans were living with a major smoking-related illness in 2000. The most common smoking-related illness was chronic bronchitis (35% of cases), emphysema (24%), heart attacks (19%), non-lung cancer (12%), strokes (8%), and lung cancer (1%).
The true number of people affected by smoking is probably much higher than the researchers stated because this study depended on people to report whether a doctor had ever told them they had a certain condition. People tend to underreport their own illnesses. In addition, the researchers did not look at non-debilitating conditions, such as impotence and sinusitis, that are often caused by cigarette smoking.
The Benefits of Quitting Smoking
Regardless of how long you’ve been smoking, your health begins to improve shortly after your last cigarette. And the longer you are cigarette free, the greater the benefits become. Look at the timeline below:
- Time Since Last Cigarette -- 20 minutes: Elevated blood pressure levels begin to drop, and the temperature in your extremities begins to return to normal.
- Time Since Last Cigarette -- 8 hours: You achieve normal blood levels of carbon monoxide.
- Time Since Last Cigarette – 1 day: Your risk of a heart attack begins to decline.
- Time Since Last Cigarette – 2 weeks–3 months: Circulation improves, and lung function increases, decreasing the risk of lung infections.
- Time Since Last Cigarette -- 1–9 months: Shortness of breath, sinus congestion, coughing, and fatigue improve. A few months of smoking cessation improves lung function about 5% in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and the risk of death from COPD declines.
- Time Since Last Cigarette – 1 year: Your risk of having a heart attack is cut in half.
- Time Since Last Cigarette – 5 years: The risk of cancer in the oral cavity and esophagus is already half that of continuing smokers, and the risk continues to decline with continued cessation.
- Time Since Last Cigarette -- 5–15 years: The risk of a stroke becomes similar to that of a lifelong nonsmoker.
- Time Since Last Cigarette -- 10 years: Your risk of developing lung cancer is 30–50% lower than it would be had you continued to smoke, and the risk continues to decline with continued abstinence. Also, you’ve significantly decreased your risk of developing cancer of the bladder, cervix, esophagus, kidney, mouth, pancreas, and throat.
- Time Since Last Cigarette -- 10–15 years: Your odds of dying of any cause are the same as those of someone who never smoked.
- Time Since Last Cigarette -- 15 years: Your risk of having a heart attack is the same as a lifelong nonsmoker.
