Tobacco users who wish to stop smoking may or may not wait until health symptoms appear before making their decisions. Even if they feel healthy, their lungs, heart, blood vessels and cellular DNA have already undergone the stress of cigarette, cigar or pipe smoking. Many smoking health risks, such as cardiovascular problems, can be reduced immediately when people stop smoking. Quitting smoking before respiratory symptoms become chronic is the only way to keep the lungs healthy. As the Mayo Clinic reports, long-term lung damage resulting in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is irreversible and may cause death.
Health Improvement
Several health problems associated with tobacco use combine to decrease smokers' exercise tolerance. Acute symptoms such as coughing and breathlessness contribute to physical activity restrictions.
Quitting smoking turns this trend around, restoring normal heart function and blood oxygen levels, and halting the progression of atherosclerosis as well as carcinogenesis caused by smoking. The American Lung Association reports that quitting reduces smokers' risks for heart attack, stroke and cancer.
Health Issue Resolution
Individuals with existing health problems, such as coronary heart disease or osteoporosis, may be hampered in treating their diseases until they stop smoking. For instance, the American Heart Association notes that managing heart disease requires a cessation of the ongoing cardiovascular stress from tobacco use.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that smokers are considered poor surgical risks due to their lowered immunity. Quitting smoking may allow an osteoporosis patient, for example, to undergo joint replacement surgery.
Financial Improvement
The high prices and taxes on cigarettes meant as deterrents to smoking disappear from smokers' burdens when they give up cigarettes. The American Lung Association relates that a yearly pack-a-day habit can cost upward of $1,800.
The CDC adds that the medical expenses associated with smoking, as well as time lost from work, push that figure much higher. Employers are aware of smoking employees' likely reduced productivity, which is why so many businesses offer paid programs to stop smoking. In addition, employers don't have to hire known smokers, thus ending tobacco use can improve smokers' career opportunities.
Quality of Life Improvement
According to the American Lung Association, lung tissue not irrevocably damaged returns to better function within a year of quitting smoking. Nonsmokers can get around more easily and join in previously excluded activities, such as sightseeing on foot and playing sports.
Without the scent of stale smoke on their clothes and in their homes and cars, ex-smokers will become more attractive companions to other nonsmokers. Freedom from addiction and from the need to smoke provides more time for work and play, enriching life as it increases the chances for living a full life span.
