Health
Smoking: Can you recover from years of the habit?
It’s something that the authorities are trying almightily hard to tackle, but few would disagree that smoking is a difficult habit to eradicate.
Amongst all of the nicotine replacement therapy options, which stretch as far as innovative blackjack e-liquid and other flavors, it’s still a difficult journey to halt.
It’s something that you have probably lived with for years, amongst both highs and lows.
Unfortunately, it’s also something that you know needs to stop. This comes from a health point of view, as we all know, but also a financial perspective with the typical smoker said to spend thousands every year on their habit.
One of the biggest myths that does the rounds with smoking is the amount of time it takes for you to reap the benefits once you quit. A lot of people are fooled into thinking that if you have smoked for years, that’s it – and you are never going to reverse all of the damage that has been done to your body.
Well, there can be ways back, and through the course of today’s article, we will show you a timeline of what can happen when you give up smoking for good.
The first 72 hours
This first section perhaps put into context just how quickly your recovery process can start. Again, a major misconception is that once you have started smoking, the effects are there forever.
As it turns out, within 72 hours, things have already started to improve.
For example, after just eight hours of giving up smoking, the nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in your body will have been slashed in half. Then, once we get to the 48-hour mark, those carbon monoxide toxins have been completely eradicated from your body.
While you can’t necessarily feel the above, after 48 hours, your senses will improve. You will be able to taste things more efficiently, while the same goes with smell.
Once you get to the 72-hour mark, some of you might experience a noticeable difference in your breathing.
The first year
If you make it to one year, a massive congratulations in order. As we’ve already said, this is a strict process – but the results are worthwhile.
For example, if you have made it to the one year mark, the risk of you suffering heart disease is now 50% lower than someone who hasn’t yet killed their habit.
Even if you haven’t quite got to this mark, the benefits have been building. For example, it might just take three months for some of you to experience fewer coughs, while around a tenth can boost the function of your lungs.
The long-term impacts
When we talk about the long-term effects, we are referring to ten or fifteen years after you have decided to quit. At the ten-year mark, the risk of you who has lung cancer has dropped in half when compared to someone who still smokes. At 15 years, the results are bordering on the incredible. It is here where you are just as unlikely to suffer a heart attack as someone who has never picked up a cigarette.
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