Smoking increases your risk for developing severe medical conditions like heart disease, and cancer that can lead to an early death. While the benefits of quitting smoking are widely known, here’s a timeline of what to expect once you stop.
20 Minutes After You Quit
Smoking tobacco increases your heart rate and elevates your blood pressure. Your body starts to recover from smoking within 20 minutes of quitting, and your heart rate returns to normal levels.
Between 8 And 12 Hours After Quitting
Blood levels of the toxic gas, carbon monoxide, start to drop, and the oxygen saturation increases.
Two Days After You Quit
48 hours after you stop, nerves damaged due to smoking start to regrow. Nerve regrowth improves your ability to smell and taste.
14 Days To Three Months After Your Last Cigarette
Along with improved oxygen levels in your blood, your risk of a heart attack starts to reduce. Your lungs start to function better along with lower levels of blood pressure and heart rate between two weeks and three months post quitting.
A Month To Nine Months After Quitting
Between one and nine months after stopping smoking, you can expect to feel more energetic and less prone to coughs and sinus congestion.
One Year After You Kick The Habit
Staying off cigarettes and tobacco products for a year can cut your risk of heart disease by 50%
Five Years After Your Last Smoke
Smokers tend to be at a much higher risk of developing a stroke. Staying off cigarettes and smoking products for five years significantly reduces your risk of suffering a stroke.