Sometimes people have concerns that health problems will occur as the result of stopping smoking. On the contrary, for people who smoke there is no one thing that they can do that will provide more health benefit than stopping smoking. Cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemicals, and smoking can damage nearly every organ in the body. The benefits from stopping begin immediately and will accrue over time. However the perception that stopping will bring about health problems is persistent.
I think there are a number of reasons for this. People sometimes stop smoking when they are feeling ill. An underlying health problem may emerge or be diagnosed coinciding with quitting, but not caused by the absence of cigarette smoke in the body. Sometimes stories on the internet may describe studies of populations of smokers compared with non-smokers that can be misinterpreted as showing a comparative health benefit for those who smoke. Another possible reason is that stopping smoking can cause withdrawal symptoms or other physical sensations that can be interpreted as unhealthy.
Don’t let any concern about health stall your efforts to stop stopping smoking. Cigarette smoke is toxic. Not ingesting the smoke allows your body to heal and grow healthier each and every day.
