Quitting Smoking and Tobacco Forever
It's never too late to quit the tobacco habit. To quit, smokers must overcome their psychological dependence on nicotine and cut their strong psychological and social ties to tobacco use. There are major health benefits for people of all ages who quit tobacco.
Health Benefits of Smoking Cessation
Immediate benefits
- Within 20 minutes of last cigarette—blood circulation increases.
- Within 20 minutes—blood pressure and heart rate return to normal.
- Within 12 hours—carbon monoxide and oxygen levels in the blood return to normal.
Intermediate benefits
- Women who stop smoking before pregnancy or during the first three to four months of pregnancy reduce their risk of having a lower birth weight baby to that of women who never smoked.
- One to nine months after smoking—shortness of breath decreases.
- Sense of smell and taste improve.
- One year after quitting tobacco—excess risk of heart disease is reduced by half.
Long-term benefits
- Five to 15 years after quitting tobacco—the risk of stroke for an ex-smoker is equal to that of a person who has never smoked.
- Within 10 years of quitting tobacco—a former smoker's risk of developing lung cancer is 30–50% below that of a person who continues to smoke.
- The risk of developing cancers of the mouth, throat and esophagus decrease significantly after five years.
- Decreases risk of lung cancer and other cancers, heart attack, stroke, and chronic lung disease.
