No Smoking Day: What happens to your body when you give up cigarettes?
IT ONLY takes 20 minutes to feel the benefits of quitting smoking.
The British Heart Foundation are hoping to encourage people to stub out their cigarettes today in aid of No Smoking Day.
The campaign, which has been running since 1983, hopes to offer advice and guidance to those wanting to quit the habit.
A new study has totted up the amount smokers spend on cigarettes each year.
The average smoker will puff on 13 cigarettes a day which equates to £4,754 a year.
However, if that doesn't make you falter when reaching for a cigarette, perhaps the realities of the physical effects will.
Perhaps understanding how giving up cigarettes directly affects the body - for the better and as soon as 20 minutes after the last puff - will help.
Non-smokers, on average, live 14 years longer than smokers
Within 20 minutes
You will notice changes in your body less than half an hour after quitting. Your blood pressure, body temperature and pulse rate will drop to normal.
Within 2 hours
Nicotine withdrawal symptoms usually start two hours after your last cigarette. This can include feelings of anxiety, an increased appetite and intense cravings for a smoke.
Within 8 hours
The carbon monoxide levels in your blood drop and the oxygen level rises to normal.
Within 24 hours
Your chance of having a heart attack decreases.
Within 48 hours
Your ability to taste and smell improves because your nerve endings have started to regroup.
Within 3 days
The nicotine will be completely out of your body. Breathing will become easier.
Within 2 to 3 months
Your lung capacity increases up to 30%. Circulation improves and walking becomes easier.
Within 1 to 9 months
Sinus congestion and shortness of breath decrease. Cilia that sweeps debris from your lungs grow back, increasing your lungs' ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs and reduce infection. Your energy increases.
Within 1 year
Your excess risk of coronary disease is half that of a person who smokes.
Within 2 years
Your heart attack risk drops to near normal.
Within 5 years
Lung cancer death rate for the average former pack-a-day smoker decreases by almost half. Your risk of having a stroke reduces. Your risk of developing mouth, throat and oesophageal cancer is half that of a smoker.
Within 10 years
Lung cancer death rate is similar to that of a person who does not smoke. The precancerous cells are replaced.
Within 15 years
Your risk of coronary heart disease is the same as a person who has never smoked.
Long-term benefits
Non-smokers, on average, live 14 years longer than smokers.
Benenden can offer advice and guidance for those wanting to quit smoking. See, www.benenden.co.uk.
