How might my health improve after I quit smoking?

The positive effects of quitting begin very soon after you stop using tobacco and continue long after you've quit.

Short-term Benefits

• Your blood pressure, pulse, and body temperature, which were abnormally elevated by nicotine, return to normal. If you take blood pressure medicine, continue doing so until your doctor tells you otherwise.
• Your body starts to heal itself. Carbon monoxide and oxygen levels in your blood return to normal.
• Your chance of having a heart attack goes down.
• Nerve endings start to regrow. Your ability to taste and smell improves.
• Your breathing passages relax, lung capacity goes up, and your breathing becomes easier.
• Your circulation improves and your lungs become stronger. It is easier for you to walk.
• In your lungs, the cilia (hairlike structures on the lining) begin to regrow, making it easier for your lungs to handle mucus, to clean themselves, and to reduce infection. Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease. Your overall energy level increases.

Long-term Benefits

• As a former smoker, your chance of dying from lung cancer is less than it would be if you continued to smoke.
• Your chance of getting cancer of the throat, bladder, kidney, or pancreas also decreases.

For free one-on-one help with quitting, call the National Cancer Institute's Smoking Quitline at 877-448-7848.

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