Smoking is no doubt one of the hardest habits to break. It is addictive and highly damaging to every part of the body. Despite this, did you know that just 20 minutes after quitting, your body begins to recover from the effects of long term smoking habits? This means that when you have your next cigarette, you reverse the healing process that your body has begun back to square one. Here is a timeline of how your body mends itself after you decide to quit smoking…
After 20 minutes: Food will begin to taste better almost immediately, your risk of having a heart attack lowers and your lungs begin to repair themselves. Plus, your heart rate will drop back to normal levels.
After 8 hours: The carbon monoxide levels in the body, which is toxic at high levels, decreases to much lower levels and the oxygen in the blood increases back to normal.
After 48 hours: The damaged nerve endings start to re-grow which means that your ability to smell and taste improves significantly.
After 72 hours: As your lungs begin to revitalise, you will have the ability to draw deeper breaths. The risk of having a heart attack continues to lower as the cilia in the lungs repair themselves.
After 2 weeks: You will be able to perform exercise without a nauseating feeling thanks to your lungs clearing themselves. It will become easier and easier to breathe.
After 3-9 months: The skin will repair itself and, after a number of months, it will look and feel soft again. The blood circulation in your body will also improve as the skin produces more collagen, meaning that the skin puts off creating wrinkles.
After 1-5 years: Your risk of heart disease is cut by half compared to when you were a smoker. Effects such as yellow fingers and teeth, depending on how long you were a smoker, generally disappear after 1 to 5 years. The risk of smoker-related cancers are lowered by 50%.
After 10-15 years: After this long, your risk of heart disease and cancer is the same as non-smokers and all the health risks associated with smoking have vanished!
Here at the Healthy Living and Fitness, we’re all about clean eating and looking after the body. Smoking can be a hard habit to leave behind- however, with benefits seen after just 20 minutes, maybe 2017 is the year to look after your body the way it looks after you? Let us know your 2017 health plans! It’s never too early to think of new year’s resolutions…