Although smoking has been repeatedly shown to damage the lungs, heart, other organs, increases the risk of cancer, and despite the fact that this bad habit costs a lot, millions of people still continue to smoke. The Stoptober Challenge takes place in the UK every October – heavy smokers are offered to quit smoking for 28 days in October. Studies show that if you have been able to not smoke for a month, the likelihood of giving up this habit completely increases fivefold.
Site online mail in time to the publication Stoptober, which told what happens to the body during the first minutes, hours and years after quitting smoking. And even if it’s already November, no one can stop you from quitting now! Especially if the beneficial effects of this action manifest themselves so quickly.
20 minutes
You will be surprised, but the benefits can be felt after only 20 minutes after having smoked the last cigarette: the heart rate will start to decrease, the pressure will return to normal. The fact is that nicotine makes the heart beat faster and blood vessels narrow, as it stimulates the release of the hormone adrenaline.
However, how pronounced this effect will be depends on how long you smoke. Because prolonged smoking causes damage to the heart muscle (myocardium) and blood vessels, which threaten to disturb the heart rhythm (tachycardia). In addition, long-term smoking contributes to the development of hypertension.
This is why smokers have a higher risk of myocardial infarction.
8 o’clock
Eight hours after the last cigarette, blood oxygen levels will begin to rise and toxic carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide) levels will begin to decline, approximately in half. Carbon monoxide is released when tobacco, which contains carbon, is burned. During smoking, this tasteless and odorless gas displaces oxygen in the blood. As a result, your lung function is compromised, your heart starts working harder, and cells and tissues lack the oxygen they need, which can lead to a stroke or heart attack.
48 hours
After spending two days without cigarettes, you will be very surprised at how delicious that familiar cheese sandwich you eat for breakfast is. This is because your senses of taste and smell are starting to recover. Smoking can damage the olfactory nerves in the nose, making it difficult for smokers to distinguish between smells and tastes.
Furthermore, at this point the body is completely cleared of carbon monoxide and the airways begin to reject the mucus accumulated in them.
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72 hours
On the third day, you will notice how much easier it is for you to breathe. This is because the alveoli and bronchioles, the parts of the respiratory system that have been irritated and damaged by smoking, are starting to regenerate. Additionally, you will feel energized when blood oxygen levels are increased.
Two weeks
Just two weeks without cigarettes and your circulation will improve significantly, blood will start pumping through the heart and muscles much more efficiently. The fact is that the toxic substances contained in cigarette smoke, mainly carbon monoxide, contribute to the formation of plaques in the arteries, become clogged, their function is impaired and atherosclerosis develops, which leads to a heart attack.
Three months
Three months after smoking the last cigarette, lung function will increase by 10% and coughing, shortness of breath and other breathing problems will begin to disappear.
At the same time, if the cough has not yet disappeared, you shouldn’t worry: your lungs and bronchi continue to be cleared of the mucus accumulated over the years of smoking.
Year
If you don’t smoke a cigarette in a year, rejoice – your risk of heart attack and other heart disease is now half that of smokers.
10 years
After a decade without cigarettes, the risk of dying from lung cancer is half that of those who continue to smoke.
Keep in mind that cigarette smoke contains over 5,000 different chemicals, most of which are toxic to the body. Smoking increases the risk not only of lung cancer, but also of at least 15 other cancers: cancer of the mouth and throat, rectum, liver, pancreas, and so on.
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