According to the American Heart Association (AHA), approximately 46 million American adults smoke cigarettes. However, since 1965, more than 49 percent of all adults who have ever smoked have quit. The benefits of quitting smoking occur immediately after quitting and continue to accrue over time.
Physical Benefits
After you quit smoking, your body feels more energized and more alive, overall. Your skin begins to look healthier and the likelihood of wrinkling diminishes. Your senses, such as smell, taste and touch, return to normal and become more enhanced. Your hair, breath, skin, clothes and even your car begin to smell better and not reek of smoke. Physiologically, your body will rejuvenate and reverse the effects of smoking.
Psychological Benefits
When you quit smoking, you will feel a sense of accomplishment and feel more in control of your life. You will not need to worry about finding a place to smoke or worry about your smoke bothering others. You will acquire a sense of empowerment and satisfaction that you overcame an addiction and took back your health. You can feel more relaxed about not having a crutch for the rest of your life. The cost of cigarettes may not have placed a strain on your finances; but, regardless, you will have more money in the bank. Having more money in the bank is psychologically boosting.
Immediate Benefits
As outlined by the American Cancer Society (ACS), within 20 minutes to 48 hours, you will immediately benefit from quitting smoking. After 20 minutes, your blood pressure and pulse drop to normal, while your body temperature increases to normal. Within eight hours, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal and the oxygen levels in your blood increase to normal. After 24 hours, the chance of lung cancer, heart attack and other smoking-related illnesses decreases. Within only 48 hours, nerve endings start re-growing, and the ability to smell and taste is enhanced.
Gradual Benefits
As time goes on, your body continues to heal and rejuvenate, explains the ACS. Within one week to three months, all harmful chemicals, including nicotine, leave your body. Circulation improves, and walking becomes easier. Lung function increases up to 30 percent. Within one to nine months, coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue and shortness of breath decrease. The cilia rejuvenate in your lungs, increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs and reduce infection.
Long-Term Benefits
If you remain smoke-free, the ACS says you will benefit over the span of your life. After one year, the excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker's. After five years, your stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smoker. After 10 years, lung cancer death rate is about half that of a person who is still smoking. The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix and pancreas decreases. After 15 years of quitting, the risk of coronary heart disease is that of a nonsmoker's.
