This is how long nicotine stays in the body and this is how you get rid of it

How long nicotine stays in your body depends on how often you smoke and the type of sample taken.

Nicotine can be detected in the blood for about three days but in the urine for up to three weeks, even in the hair for about three months, sometimes up to a year.

With a combination of drinking plenty of fluids and a healthy diet, you can help get rid of nicotine faster.

Every time you consume tobacco, you get Nicotine in your body. Nicotine tests can be used to find out how long the substance actually stays in the body. For this purpose, samples are taken from hair, urine, saliva or blood.

Although nicotine may also be present in non-smokers who smoke passively, the amount will be significantly less. How long nicotine can be detected also depends on the sample taken.

• blood: Nicotine can be detected in the blood for about three days.
• Urine: For a regular smoker, nicotine can last up to three weeks detected in the urine want. For an infrequent user, nicotine remains in the urine for only about four days after smoking.
• Saliva: The nicotine stays in the saliva for about four days.
• Hair: Nicotine can stay in the hair for about three months, but it can be detected for up to a year in a regular smoker.

Here’s how long nicotine stays in your body. Of course, whether you can detect the substance in your hair for three months or a year depends on how often you smoke. The more tobacco enters the body, the higher the concentration of nicotine in the body.

But your age also plays a role. As people age, their metabolism tends to slow down and they tend to become less active. This means that the body metabolizes nicotine slower, so it stays in the body longer.

Medicines can also change how quickly your body processes nicotine. For example, antibiotics can speed up your metabolism, while some hypertension medications can slow down your metabolism. The faster your metabolism, the faster the nicotine gets out of your system.

And there is a gender difference: women tend to metabolize nicotine faster than men because the hormone estrogen, which women have more of, facilitates the metabolism of nicotine.

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How to get rid of nicotine from your body

There are a few things you can do to quickly eliminate nicotine from your system.

Stop smoking
Logical: Avoiding tobacco products is the best way to eliminate nicotine from the body. When you and the people around you quit smoking, the nicotine leaves the body and no new amounts of the chemical enter.

drinks water
Drinking more water and other fluids can help the body eliminate nicotine, because more nicotine is eliminated.

Eat healthy
Eating healthy foods rich in antioxidants can activate liver function and help nicotine move faster through the body. This is because these foods increase metabolism. Oranges, carrots, cabbage, garlic or onions are particularly suitable for this purpose.

So how long the nicotine stays in the body depends on which sample is tested, but it typically ranges from a few days to weeks. A combination of drinking plenty of fluids and eating a healthy diet can help rid the body of nicotine more quickly.

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This article originally appeared on Business Insider in October 2020. It has now been revised and updated.