Quitting smoking is difficult, but you will experience numerous benefits from the moment you finish smoking your last cigarette. Giving up smoking has long-range physical benefits, including a lower risk of cancer, heart disease and other diseases. Most public campaigns about smoking focus on these long-term benefits, but you also experience benefits almost immediately that can help give you the momentum to keep going and remain a nonsmoker.
Healing
Your body begins to heal and repair itself from the damages caused by smoking as soon as you quit. According to the National Cancer Institute, your blood pressure, pulse and body temperature return to normal, after having previously been elevated by nicotine. Your nerve endings and the tiny hairs in your lungs, called cilia, begin to grow back. You also begin to breathe better and have more energy.
Appearance and Senses
When you stop smoking, your breath, hair and clothes will smell better, your fingernails will stop being yellow and your teeth and clothes will be whiter. The National Cancer Society also says that when you quit smoking, you will have a stronger sense of smell, and food will taste better.
Convenience
Being a smoker in today's society is inconvenient and often challenging because most indoor public environments do not allow smoking. Once you quit smoking, you no longer have to inconvenience yourself to go outside and smoke or spend time feeling anxious about when you will be able to smoke again.
Save Money
Smoking is an expensive habit, so you save money as soon as you quit. According to the website SmokeFree.gov, the average cost of a pack of cigarettes in 2010 was $5.31 and rises every year. Since some people smoke a pack a day or more, it can easily add up to thousands of dollars a year.
