What If I Quit Smoking Today?
Let us look at the health benefits you will enjoy by not smoking. If you stopped smoking right now you would experience almost immediate health benefits. Obviously, the true extent of these benefits depends on how much and how long you have smoked but you can be sure that you health will be improved by a noticeable degree by not smoking.
Within the first day of not smoking you will probably observe a number of improvements in your health. As early as the first 20 minutes of abstaining from smoking your blood pressure would have decreased to more normal levels. Associated with this would be a drop in your pulse rate. One positive result of this would be an increase in temperature in your hands and feet as your circulation improves. After only eight hours of non-smoking, the oxygen levels in your blood would be increased, returning to a more natural level, as the levels of carbon monoxide in your body drop.
After as little as 24 hours, your statistical risk of suffering a heart attack is reduced. Mucus and debris also starts to become cleared from your lungs. And all of this after only one day!
Within the first week of not smoking the improvements would continue. Your sense of taste and smell will have become keener after only two days. There would be no nicotine left in your body. After three days your bronchial tubes are no longer constricted and breathing becomes easier. Your blood's clotting agents return to normal, reducing the risk of thrombosis.
Within the first year of not smoking you would enjoy even more health benefits. After a few months your lung functions and circulation would continue to improve. Your lung function may improve by up to 10%. You would gradually notice that the incidence of past problems such as sinus congestion, fatigue, wheezing, coughing, and the general shortness of breath associated with smoking have become reduced. After one year your chances of developing coronary heart disease would be approximately halved.
After refraining from smoking for around five years you would have halved your chances of suffering a stroke. It is now at a level comparable to someone who has never smoked.
After ten years your system has been given even more of a chance of returning to normal. The risk of now developing lung cancer has been halved. The chance of developing other cancers, such as cancer of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, kidneys, pancreas or bladder, is reduced. The chance of developing ulcers is also less.
After fifteen years the risk of you developing coronary heart disease would now be around the same as someone who had never smoked. You would now have no greater chance of death than a life-long non-smoker.
Sounds good, doesn't it? Less circulatory and coronary problems, less chance of a stroke, more energy, renewed ease in breathing, an improved sense of taste and smell, no 'smoker's cough', the reduced chance of cancer and an improved life expectancy. It is not too hard to put together a convincing argument why you should stop smoking. It makes sense to quit smoking if you are worried about your health or your family's health. It also makes sense financially when you think of all the money that you will save by not having to buy all those packets of expensive, highly taxed cigarettes all the time. Not to mention the enormous costs should your health deteriorate to the point where you need surgery. Who wants to keep paying higher premiums for their insurance? What doesn't kill you does not necessarily make you stronger and it often makes you poorer.
If you stop smoking your personal appearance will improve. Your teeth will be less stained and you are less likely to suffer from chronic bad breath. Your skin will have less of a dry, greyish complexion and your sense of smell and taste will return. You may not think that you currently have such an aroma but rest assured that the stench of the smoker follows you wherever you go. It is really obvious to non-smokers even if you remain oblivious to it. It permeates your house, your clothes, and your possessions. If a non-smoking friend borrows one of your CD's, you can be pretty sure that they will remember to whom it belongs. The aroma of the CD case should be sufficient to jog their memory.