Benefits of Quitting Smoking and Chewing

If you read the section How Does Smoking Hurt You?, you already know about the effects of smoking and chewing tobacco on your body. It causes bad breath, stained fingers, and rotting teeth, as well as long-term problems like lung cancer, oral cancer and heart disease. But is there any good news?

Yes. When you quit smoking or chewing tobacco, your body can actually heal from the damage. How does your body heal when you quit?

• Twenty minutes after you quit smoking or chewing, your blood pressure drops to a more normal level and your hands and feet warm up. You can probably imagine the value of warm hands and feet, but if not, ask anyone who has been deployed to a colder climate.
• About 8 hours after you quit, the level of carbon monoxide in your body drops to normal. As soon as you light up, it goes up again. Click here for information about the poisons in cigarette smoke. After 8 hours, the mucus also clears out of your lungs. That nasty smoker’s cough is on its way out.
• One day after you quit, your chance of having a heart attack goes down. You might not think a heart attack could happen to you, but your future will be here before you know it.
• Within 2 weeks to 3 months after you quit, your blood will circulate better and your lungs will work more efficiently. You may have noticed breathing more easily and having more energy during basic training when you weren’t smoking. These are two big reasons why.
• Ten years after you quit smoking or chewing (and stay tobacco free, of course), your risk for lung cancer drops to about half what it is for people who continue smoking or chewing. The risk also goes down for other types of cancer—such as mouth cancer, throat cancer, and cancers of the lip, esophagus (the “food tube” that connects your throat to your stomach), bladder, kidney, prostate, cervix, and pancreas.