The Quitting Timeline

I am going to show you a quitting timeline that will show what happens to your body the moment you give up. I feel this is an important thing to read as it shows how things start "to happen" litterally as soon as you stubb out that last smoke.

So....you have just put out your last cigarette, this is what is happeneing inside your body:

20mins:

Your heart rate will return to normal, as will your blood pressure, straight away the chances of a heart attack are greatly reduced. Body temperature of hands and feet return to normal.

8 Hours:

The Oxygen levels in your blood will increase to the normal level, which will in turn start improving the quality of your hair and skin, which will have suffered whilst inhaling all the different toxins found in cigarettes. The nicotine and carbon monoxide levels will reduce in the blood by half....and yes, that is the same carbon monoxide found in the fumes sent out of the back of cars, in high doses it will kill instantly, the low levels found in cigartettes will be enough to give shortness of breath and increased heart rate.

24 Hours:

At this stage all of the carbon monoxide will be now gone, and you will find that your lungs will now start clearing out all the mucus that has built up. It is possible you may find signs of a dry cough as new tissue starts to grow.

48 Hours:

Things just get better and better, the last of the nicotine will now have gone from your body, and your sense of taste and smell will now be improving (you just dont realise how badly affected your senses are until you give up smoking). Nerve endings are now also beginning to regrow.

72 Hours:

The bronchial tubes in your lungs begin to relax which will give you ease of breathing, you will now begin to breathe like you haven't breathed in a long time. Your concentration may be starting to waver as the withdrawal symptoms from the nicotine kick in, but your energy levels will start to increase, giving you a boost.

2-12 Weeks:

During this period your whole circulation will improve no end, your ability to walk any sort of distance will be so much easier, and to cap it all off your lung function will have increased by a massive 30%.
But this is also a very hard period in the fact that, during this part of the withdrwal process you will find you are getting more and more restless, irritable and depressed. These side effects are normally felt during the first 4 weeks of quitting......the urge for a cigarette is now at its greatest, get through this period and you are in good stead to be a non smoker.
Dont give up here.....you have done so well.

3-9 Months:

Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease.
Cilia regrow in lungs, increasing their ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce infection.
The body's overall energy increases.

1 Year:

The risk of you now having a heart attack is roughly half of that of a smoker.

5Years:

Stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smoker, and risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, and esophagus is half that of a smoker's.

10years:

The death rate of lung cancer is now at the same level as a non smoker.
The pre-cancerous cells in your body caused by smoking are replaced by new, healthy cells. Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, cervix, and pancreas decreases even more.

15 Years:

Your risk of having a heart attack returns to the same level as someone who has never smoked. Your skin should also have completely recovered from the damage associated with smoking.

As you can see there are just so many benefits to giving up smoking, above are just health reasons......there are so many others which i will talk later.

Vattie