Why should you quit smoking?
The negative effects of smoking on our health, including passive smoking, are undoubtedly very serious and widely known.
The anti-smoking campaign worldwide, through which the medical community is trying to combat it, is mainly based on these effects. The World Health Organization characterizes smoking as a disease and as such we should treat and treat it.
All of these are arguments that unfortunately hardly discourage a smoker from quitting smoking, especially a young one. In addition to the many and very aggravating effects, we should focus on the immediate and long-term benefits of quitting smoking, which are proven and begin immediately with quitting. So let’s look at them in detail.
From the moment we quit smoking:
- In the first twenty minutes, heart rate and blood pressure improve.
- After the first eight hours of quitting, carbon monoxide levels drop significantly, while oxygen levels increase.
- Within the first 24 hours, the risk of a coronary event decreases.
- After two days of quitting, the smoker’s sense of taste and smell improves.
- In the first trimester, the feeling of shortness of breath on exertion is greatly reduced.
- The annoying and sometimes excruciating cough of the smoker decreases and sometimes disappears, in the first nine months.
- Speaking of the long-term benefits, one year after quitting, the risk of heart disease is reduced to half, as well as the risk of stroke (S.E.E.) reaches the same levels as the risk of someone who has never smoked after 5 years of quitting.
- After 10 years of quitting, the risk of death from lung cancer is reduced by half, as is the risk of other smoking-related cancers, such as mouth, larynx, bladder, and others.
Quitting smoking has multiple benefits and does not only concern reducing the risk of disease. Restoring taste, smell, and improving the appearance of the skin are some of the many positive elements that arise.
Quitting smoking means taking my life back, giving myself a gift of life, claiming more and better years.
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