Timeline of a Smoker…You can ALWAYS Quit!
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According to Lake Region General Hospital, it’s never too late to quit smoking. Here’s some interesting information that they put together for those who are thinking of quitting smoking. The following information is based on what happens to a smoker after they put out their last cigarette.
What Happens After:
20 Minutes: Your blood pressure returns to normal. Your circulation has improved enough that your hands and feet warm to normal temperature.
4 Hours: Half of the carbon monoxide from your last cigarette has left your bloodstream.
8 Hours: The carbon monoxide from your last cigarette is now gone from your bloodstream. Your blood now carries a normal amount of oxygen.
24 Hours: Your chance of having a heart attack is lower.
48 Hours: Damaged nerve endings start to re-grow. Your sense of smell and taste have improved.
2 Weeks-3 Months: Your circulation is better. Walking and physical activity is easier. Lung function increases up to 30%.
1-9 Months: You cough less. You have more energy. The cilia re-grow in you lungs, causing less phlegm and chances for infection.
1 Year: Your heart attack risk falls to the halfway mark between that of a current smoker and that of someone who has never smoked.
5 Years: If you used to smoke a pack a day, you have now cut your risk of dying of lung cancer in half. You have also cut your risk of mouth, throat and esophageal cancer by half.
10 Years: Your chance of dying from lung cancer is almost as low as a nonsmoker’s.
10-15 Years: Your risk of dying from any cause is almost the same as that of someone who never smoked.
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What happens if someone who quit smokes maybe one cigarette like once a month? Does the timeline start over?
I’ve tried so many times to quit smoking but always failed. Maybe due to my surrounding environment. Most of my friends are smokers.
I quit 3 months ago and i am very depressed, i miss my old friend,nothing seems right.wish i never started( 30 years ).
I quit smoking October 1. I gained a lot of weight. I still get cravings. Sucks. At least I can breathe again tho.
i cant sit and watch people smoke themselves 2 death anymore, im fed up n sick of this n i need 2 vent. how can u sit n ruin ur life if u got family, kids, important friends? start making the right choices , i dont wanna see any in the hospital hooked up to breathing machines. save those for all the idiots who smoke during pregnacy so there kid can have a fighting chance for once.
Who has 15 years to wait for results? Keep smokin’….live until you die….If you’re so concerned about your health, then you should have more than enough will power to quit….otherwise don’t waste your time attempting to quit….if you can’t quit smoking due to lack of will power, then there’s no point in even trying…. you have already failed. I think smoking is disgusting…people who “can’t quit”….?? I say don’t even try…..keep going…you’ve already lost the battle…very weak.
i have been smoking for seven years, which is not a long time as far as smoking goes, but i feel it has been long enough to convince me that cigarettes truly are the best thing ever. so what if they kill you in the end? why worry about something that could kill you in ten years when you could get hit by a bus tomorrow? life’s too short man…
you can’t always quit, only if you haven’t quit already.
you can always smoke, even if you haven’t smoked before, even if you’ve quit.
i would challenge anyone who read this article and thought “i’m gonna quit” to take a good long look at a cigarette and then say with any conviction in their eyes that they really hate smoking enough to quit.
“4 Hours: Half of the carbon monoxide from your last cigarette has left your bloodstream.
8 Hours: The carbon monoxide from your last cigarette is now gone from your bloodstream. Your blood now carries a normal amount of oxygen.”
I have a REALLY hard time believing removal of carbon monoxide from the blood is a linear function
I smoke but not much. This is heartening, because it means that I can quit later on and become just as healthy. Quitting shouldn’t be hard for me. Well, quitting cigars will…
Nearly died of a heart attack at 41 cos of those little bastards. None for 3 years now and never felt better!
I smoked for 15 years and have not smoked for maybe 13 years now. You just keep trying and you will make it.. good luck. I used patch and gum. Also never have just one.
my mother smoked for over 50 years and has now stopped for 4…never too late!…she’s now 77
I lit up a cigarette when I saw the title of this site.
I’ve smoked since I was eight… I’m now 18. My theory on life… I’m going to keep on smoking, keep on supersizing anything, keep on living because heck I could cross a road one day and get hit by a bus and it won’t matter how many cigarettes I’ve smoked in my life time.
bxf & Bukator:
I am a 12-year smoker, and completely despise it. It’s cost me countless dollars, it’s filled with WAY more chemicals than nicotine, and it’s been the largest detriment to my health. I have a burning desire and the willpower to quit. I’ve come very close, but in the end, these things WERE DESIGNED to be more addictive than natural tobacco. And I don’t need a medical report to tell me that, I can feel it. I kicked heroin, narcotic painkillers and xanax addiction cold turkey many years ago — which wasn’t easy, but I knew they would kill me be it slowly or quickly. My anger levels rise out of control anytime I don’t light up a smoke for a long period of time, and eventually I will conquer all the withdrawal symptoms. But it is remarkably discouraging to see people calling me “weak” and “start making the right choices”. An addiction of this nature goes well beyond the hemisphere of simply choosing not to smoke.
And Jonas: Believe it. Perhaps you are thinking of carbon dioxide, not monoxide.
These death sticks should’ve been made illegal a long time ago. Anyone who is still a tobacco aficionado should be permitted to grow their own or buy from a local merchant, but these overpriced pieces of toxicity are one of the many things destroying humanity today. BUT, seeing that the government makes fat bucks off of taxing the life out of them, do you really think they will take the necessary measures to eliminate big cigarette business?
Quitting is easy. I’ve done it hundreds of times.
I get violent after one day… they don’t mention anything about withdrawal in this article.
I punch things, push things over and people overly annoy me… I’ve tried to quit once but failed. I’ll try again next week.