If you butt out now, 15 years from now your chances of dying from a heart attack will be the same as someone who has never smoked. But there are more immediate health benefits.
- Within 20 minutes of becoming smoke-free, your blood pressure returns to normal.
- Within eight hours your carbon monoxide levels drop and the oxygen level in your blood goes back to normal.
- After 48 hours your senses of smell and taste start to improve.
- After three days, all the nicotine that makes smoking addictive has worked its way out of your system.
The worst withdrawal symptoms occur in the first three weeks after you quit smoking.
From three months on, staying smoke-free gets a lot easier.
- Stopping smoking takes commitment and a plan. On a scale of 0 to 10, rate how important it is to you to quit smoking, how confident you are in your ability to quit, and how ready you are to quit.
Track your smoking each day for the next week. Use an elastic band to attach a chart to your cigarette pack and note the following information each time you smoke: the time of day, the activity you're doing at the time, your mood, the strength of your craving for a cigarette on a scale of one to five, and whether smoking that cigarette helped. This helps you become more aware of your smoking addiction. It also identifies which cigarettes you crave least, and will be the easiest to stop smoking as you cut down.
- Find a buddy. A successful ex-smoker or an understanding non-smoker who will provide support, help you create a plan of action, help you deal with cravings and is a good listener will help you remain smoke-free.
- Pick a quit date within the next two weeks. List your motivations for quitting; write down ideas for hobbies, exercise and other activities you can do instead of smoking when the craving hits. Tell family, friends and coworkers about your plan to quit. Start making changes to push smoking out of your life by making your house and car smoke-free, for example. Learn about nicotine-withdrawal symptoms and what is available to help you cope with them.
Take it one day at a time.
