What Happens to Your Body when You Quit Smoking

When you quit smoking, what happens to your body? How long do you have to quit smoking for to feel different, feel healthier? When does your body start repairing itself from all the smoking damage? How long does it take the nicotine to leave your body? I wanted to know, and here is what I found out…

Within 20 minutes of quitting smoking, your blood pressure and pulse rate both decrease, and the body temperature in both your hands and feet increase. So, even in 20 minutes, your body begins improving after quitting smoking! (well, to be fair, within 20 minutes of finishing a cigarette as well- then goes back to square one after the next smoke, but still…)

Within 8 hours, the carbon monoxide in your body, which is increased from smoking, goes down to a normal level. As a result, the oxygen in your blood increases back to a normal rate as well. This is also approximately the length of time it takes for nicotine to exit the body (about 4-8 hours, depending on level of nicotine consumed) via the kidneys.

Within 24 hours, risk of heart attack decreases. With proper blood flow (normal blood pressure and pulse) and oxygen being carried through the body at a normal rate, the heart can function at a normal level, keeping your risk of heart attack way down. In 48 hours, your nerves start to repair themselves, so your sense of smell and taste start to improve as well.

Within 2 weeks to a few months, you notice that you don’t get short of breath as often. Your circulation gets better, and you don’t cough as much. By 9 months, your cilia (those little hairs in your throat that are damaged by smoking) heal up and you quit coughing all the time. Your lung tissue begin to rebuild. Your fatigue, sinus congestion, mucous clearing in the throat, and lungs all improve. You don’t wheeze anymore, or get short of breath just talking.

In a year, your risk of heart attack and heart disease is cut in half. Within 5-15 years, your risk of stroke goes to the same risk as a non-smoker. In 10 years, your risk of lung cancer (and other cancers, like throat, bladder, and mouth) decrease dramatically (though never as low as a non-smoker). But if you remain smoke-free for 15 years, your risk of death returns to a rate very similar to that of a non-smoker, making you just as susceptible to health risks as anyone else, without improving your odds by smoking or having smoked in the past.

Within a single day, your body will be improving from quitting smoking, and within just a few weeks, you will notice dramatic improvements in your body. Stick with it, and your body will improve so much you will be surprised that you ever lived with your unhealthy smoker’s body to begin with!

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