Quitting smoking has short, mid and long-term benefits. Here you can find the most common ones:
Short-term benefits
- After 20 minutes: blood pressure and heart rate levels decrease and return to normal.
- After 8 hours: carbon monoxide (CO) levels decrease and oxygen levels in blood increase up to normal levels.
- After 24 hours: the risk of sudden death decreases. Carbon monoxide in blood is cleared from the body.
- After 48 hours: nerve endings of taste and smell are restored and the ability to smell and taste improves.
- After 72 hours: cough, pulmonary congestion and shortness of breath disappear and lung capacity increases.
Mid-term benefits
- Between 2 weeks and 3 months: blood circulation improves, pulmonary capacity increases up to 30% and coughing disappears.
- Between 1 and 9 months: the risk of respiratory infections and symptoms such as nasal congestion decrease.
- Gingivitis, the incidence of tooth loss, halitosis and teeth stains are reduced.
- HDL cholesterol levels increase, which is associated with a decrease in the progression of atherosclerosis.
Long-term benefits
- After 2-5 years: the risk of a heart attack is similar to that of people who have never smoked.
- After 5 years: the risk of mouth, oesophagus and bladder cancer is reduced by half.
- After 10 years: the risk of a former smoker is equal to that of a non-smoker.
- After 10 years: the risk of lung or laryngeal cancer is reduced by half.
- After 15 years: the risk is reduced by 85%.