Cigarette smoking is one of the hardest addictions to break. The nicotine in cigarettes is the drug that smokers are addicted to. Long-term cigarette smokers have a hard time quitting because of not only the nicotine that provides a serotonin uptake to their brain but also the act of smoking itself. There are many benefits to quitting smoking at any age.
Lower Risk of Disease
Quitting smoking at any time reduces your risk of lung disease, atherosclerosis or hardening and narrowing of the arteries, heart attack, stroke, gum disease and eye disease that can lead to blindness. Quitting smoking also enables your body to heal better from illnesses.
Benefits for Surgery
Quitting smoking will help your body to heal from surgery. When the oxygen supply is restricted to your cells, it delays your wound from healing. According to Harvey J. Woehlck, M.D., of the Medical College of Wisconsin, smoking before surgery can reduce blood flow to the heart. Patients who smoked during the 24 hours before outpatient surgery with general anesthesia had episodes of inadequate oxygen supply to the heart 20 times more often than did those who were nonsmokers or former smokers.
General Health Benefits
Within 12 hours of your last cigarette, the level of carbon monoxide in your blood drops to normal. Between two weeks and three months after quitting, your circulation and lung function improve. Over the next few months, you will cough less and your shortness of breath will improve, lowering the risk of a lung infection. After one year, your risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smokers. After five to 15 years, your risk of having a stroke is the same as that of a nonsmoker. The risk of developing cancer in the mouth, throat, kidneys, bladder or pancreas also decreases. Fifteen years after you quit smoking, your risk of coronary heart disease is the same as a nonsmoker's.
Your Baby's Health
Quitting smoking increases your chances of conceiving a child. Quitting smoking improves the chances that your baby will be born at a normal birth weight. Low birth weight babies have an increased risk of health problems and long-term disabilities.
More Benefits
Immediate benefits from quitting smoking will be that your hair, clothes and breath will smell better. Over time, your teeth will appear whiter and brighter. Your skin will become moister and will not wrinkle as quickly. Your sense of smell and taste will return to normal. and you will have more energy. Also, if you spend an average of $5 a day on cigarettes, you will save about $150 a month, $1,800 a year, or $18,000 after 10 years. If you are in a state where cigarette prices are higher, you will save substantially more.
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