The median adult smoking rate in the United States as of 2008 was 18.4 percent, reports the Centers for Disease Control, or CDC. Smoking can cause a variety of serious health problems and even causes nearly one out of five deaths in the United States every year. If you stop smoking you can experience a range of health benefits, no matter how much you smoked in the past.
Initial Benefits
The health benefits of smoking cessation can begin right away. The United States Surgeon General's office states that the first benefit, decreased heart rate, may begin as early as 20 minutes after your final cigarette. Blood levels of carbon monoxide, a toxic gas found in cigarettes, normalize within 12 hours of smoking cessation. Within the first month, your lung function begins to improve and your risk of having a heart attack drops. Shortness of breath, coughing and risk of coronary heart disease will all decrease during your first smoke-free year.
Long-term Benefits
If you remain smoke-free for a long period of time, your body will begin to more closely resemble that of someone who never smoked. Your stroke risk will equal that of a non-smoker after as few as five years. After 10 years, your risk of developing lung cancer is down to half of the typical smoker's risk and your chance of other smoking-related cancers such as those of the mouth, pancreas and throat also decreases. Fifteen years after you stop smoking, you will have the same risk of developing coronary heart disease as a person who never smoked in his life does.
Reproductive Benefits
Smoking has specific effects on a woman's body. If you stop smoking you may find it easier to conceive. Your risks of ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage and issues such as premature birth will also decrease. If you remain smoke-free for a longer period of time you will lower your risk of cervical cancer as well.
Other Effects
The National Cancer Institute cites nicotine as the culprit behind many ex-smokers' weight gain. Nicotine raises your blood sugar level; so once you quit smoking and stop your nicotine intake, you crave sweets to raise your glucose. Your sense of taste also improves when you stop smoking and this newfound ability to fully taste your food may lead you to eat more. You can reduce your chances of weight gain by carefully monitoring what you eat and working out.
Misconceptions
You can receive health benefits from smoking no matter when you quit. For example, if you are pregnant, quitting in the first trimester will minimize your risk of delivering a low birth weight baby. It is not even too late to quit smoking after a diagnosis of treatable cancer, as doing so can improve your body's response to your treatment.
References
- Centers for Disease Control: Tobacco Control State Highlights 2010
- Centers for Disease Control: Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking
- Centers for Disease Control: The Benefits of Quitting
- Centers for Disease Control: Health Consequences of Tobacco Use Among Women
- National Cancer Institute: Quitting Tobacco: Enjoying Meals
