Some 46 million American adults were regular smokers as of 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, and 45 percent of them had tried to stop smoking in the preceding year. Nicotine addiction complicates cessation efforts, but successful quitters reap many benefits. Some are substantial, while others are more subtle.
Issues
People who quit smoking face many issues because of their nicotine addiction, according to the National Institutes of Health, or NIH. They must get through the withdrawal to successfully stop their cigarette use. Symptoms include anxiety, tension, irritation, depression, nicotine cravings, problems concentrating and increased appetite. NIH explains these symptoms start within two to three hours of the last cigarette and peak two to three days later, after which they taper off.
Immediate Effects
The National Women's Health Information Center, a governmental agency, explains that smoking cessation has immediate positive effects. An ex-smoker's heart rate drops within 20 minutes of the last cigarette, and the carbon monoxide level in the blood drops to normal after 12 hours. The lungs function more effectively and heart attack risk goes down for the next several months. Within nine months, shortness of breath and coughing drops significantly. The ex-smoker's heart disease risk drops by half by the end of the first year.
Later Effects
Health benefits continue for as long as a person abstains from cigarettes. The National Women's Health Information Center states that stroke risk equals that of a lifelong nonsmoker within five years. Overall cancer risk drops significantly within a decade, and people that refrain from smoking for 15 years have the same incidence of heart disease as those that never smoked. Researchers from the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine and the Veterans Administration Boston Healthcare System found that quitting smoking reduces the risk of tooth loss. A 35-year study of 789 men that started in 1968 showed that participants that quit smoking faced half the tooth loss risk of their smoking counterparts after 15 years of abstinence from cigarettes.
Considerations
Smoking cessation has benefits beyond the immediate and long-term physical improvements. The American Cancer Society, or ACS, explains that people that do not smoke are more attractive to others in several ways. Former smokers have better breath and no longer have smoky-smelling hair and clothing. Yellow stains on the teeth, nails and fingers eventually disappear. The ACS states that sense of smell and taste improves over time.
Significance
A smoker's decision to quit is significant for nonsmokers in the same household because reap many benefits, too. The National Women's Health Information Center explains that secondhand smoke causes coughing, congestion and irritation of the eyes, nose and throat. People that are regularly exposed have higher nasal sinus cancer rates. Children that grow up in smoking households get ear infections, pneumonia and bronchitis more frequently than kids in smoke-free homes. These problems are reduced or eliminated when secondhand-smoke exposure stops.
References
- Women's Health: What Happens When You Quit Smoking?
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Cigarette Smoking Among Adults and Trends in Smoking Cessation, United States, 2008
- PubMed: Risk of Tooth Loss After Cigarette Smoking Cessation
- Women's Health: Secondhand Smoke
- MedLine: Nicotine Addiction and Withdrawal
