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Watch what happens when you give up smoking
Did you know that from the first day you stop smoking your health will start to improve? Even if you already have some health problems from smoking, you can still improve your health by quitting. Some of these problems might even get better or go away when you quit.
Watch the animation below to discover what happens to your body when you quit smoking, or read on to find out more.
Discover how your body changes when you stop smoking
How your body changes when you stop smoking| Watch in 1:54 minutes
When you stop smoking your body changes in a number of ways. Find out more in this short video.
What happens to your body when you stop smoking?
Just 20 minutes after you have your last cigarette, your pulse and blood pressure will start to reduce.
Within around eight hours, the amount of oxygen in your blood returns to normal.
In the same amount of time, the amount of carbon monoxide in your blood will be reduced by half.
By the second day, it will be gone completely.
After about two days, your sense of taste will start to get better.
As early as two weeks after you stop, your circulation starts to improve.
After one month, your complexion may improve and any wrinkles might be reduced.
You might notice you cough less and that your breathing improves.
Between three and nine months after quitting, your lung function can increase by up to 10%.
By the end of the first year, your risk of a heart attack will drop by half.
After ten years of not smoking, your risk of lung cancer goes down to half that of a smoker.
Your risk of getting other cancers like mouth, throat, oesophageal, bladder and pancreatic cancer also all decrease.
After 15 years of not smoking, your risk of having a heart attack is the same as someone who never smoked.
And it's not just your physical health that can benefit, stopping smoking may also improve your mental health.
Giving up smoking is associated with having a more positive mood, as well as feeling less stressed and less anxious.
The benefits within days of giving up
The first few days of stopping smoking are often the hardest. This is because you start to experience nicotine withdrawal. However, it’s good to remember that the benefits of quitting start from the very first day that you give up.
- Just 20 minutes after you have your last cigarette, your pulse and blood pressure will start to reduce.
- Within around eight hours, the amount of oxygen in your blood returns to normal.
- In the same amount of time, the amount of carbon monoxide in your blood will be reduced by half. By the second day, it will be gone completely.
The benefits within weeks of giving up
After you’ve stopped smoking for a few weeks, you’ll start to see even more benefits.
- After about two days, your sense of taste will start to get better.
- As early as two weeks after you stop, your circulation will start to improve.
- After a month, your complexion may improve and any wrinkles might be reduced.
The benefits within the first year of giving up
As you start to count months of not smoking, even bigger changes start to happen inside your body.
- As quickly as one month after giving up, you might notice that you cough less and your breathing improves.
- Between three and nine months after quitting, your lung function can increase by up to 10 per cent.
- By the end of the first year, your risk of a heart attack will drop by half.
You'll also be better off financially. The average person will save around £1,682 a year by not buying cigarettes.
Longer-term benefits of giving up smoking
If you manage to quit completely, your risk of some very serious health problems is greatly reduced.
- After 10 years of not smoking, your risk of lung cancer goes down to half that of a smoker. Your risk of getting other cancers, like mouth, throat, oesophageal, bladder and pancreatic cancer, also all decrease.
- After 15 years of not smoking, your risk of having a heart attack is the same as somebody who never smoked.
What happens to your body after you give up smoking? Click on the image below to download the PDF (PDF, 1.8 MB).
Support for stopping smoking
Giving up smoking can be difficult, but there are some things that can support you:
- Stop smoking services that offer one-to-one help, as well as group sessions.
- Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), such as patches or gum.
- Medicines such as bupropion or varenicline.
- Using e-cigarettes (also known as vaping). These are believed to be less harmful than smoking cigarettes and many people find them helpful, but they are not risk-free.
Forming healthy habits can also help you in your goal to stop smoking.
Do you know how healthy you truly are? Bupa health assessments give you a clear overview of your health and a view of any future health risks. You'll receive a personal lifestyle action plan with health goals to reach for a happier, healthier you.
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Sources Sources
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- Quitting smoking timeline. Action on smoking and health Wales. ash.wales, accessed 17 November 2021
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- Chéruel F, Jarlier M, Sancho-Garnier H. Effect of cigarette smoke on gustatory sensitivity, evaluation of the deficit and of the recovery time-course after smoking cessation. Tobacco Induced Diseases 2017; 15:15. doi: 10.1186/s12971-017-0120-4
- Smoking: harm reduction, Public health guideline [PH45]. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. www.nice.org.uk, updated 26 July 2013
- Stopping smoking. Action on Smoking and Health. www.ash.org.uk, published March 2020
- Adult smoking habits in Great Britain. Office for National Statistics and Public Health England. www.ons.gov.uk, released July 2020
- Mino Y, Shigemi J, Otsu T, et al. Does smoking cessation improve mental health? Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences 2000; 54(2):169–72. doi: 10.1046/j.1440-1819.2000.00654.x
- Kim SJ, Chae W, Park WH, et al. The impact of smoking cessation attempts on stress levels. BMC public health 2019; 19:267. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-6592-9
- Taylor G, McNeill A, Girling A, et al. Change in mental health after smoking cessation: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 2014; 348:g1151. doi: 10.1136/bmj.g1151
- Benefits of quitting. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. cdc.gov, last reviewed September 2020
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