World No Tobacco Day : 11 things that happen to your body when you quit smoking cigarettes

World No Tobacco Day 2024 is a global campaign held on May 31st every year to raise awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco use and to encourage people to quit smoking. Thus, to commemorate the day, in this article, we have mentioned why one should quit smoking and what happens to your body when you quit smoking. 

Let's understand what Nicotine is

Nicotine is the most addictive substance, and very difficult to quit. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disease worldwide. When a person burns a cigarette, he gets exposed to nicotine, carbon monoxide and other gases including tar which is potentially carcinogenic for the lungs, colon, liver and urinary bladder. Smoking causes respiratory disease leading to a condition called COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and can also cause lung cancer, which debilitates the person—cardiac changes like high BP, coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral arterial diseases.
Smoking affects the eyes causing retinopathy, and also negatively affects reproductive health leading to erectile dysfunction, infertility and birth defects.

It's never too late to stop smoking or tobacco abuse. Every person who has quit tobacco will experience the benefits of quitting, improving the quality of life and life expectancy. 

When we spoke to Dr Gopi Krishna Yedlapati, Sr Consultant Interventional Pulmonologist & Clinical Director, Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad, regarding the same, he said, "How quickly and well the body heals depends on the number of cigarettes smoked in a day and how long is the smoking history."

The timeline after quitting the benefits  people see are:

1. As early as 20 minutes after the last cigarette the BP and the pulse rate will go down and become normal.
2. In 4 to 5 hours breath smells good, there might be some amount of irritability and anxiousness but we can overcome this situation.
3. In 24 hours, the immediate risk of heart attack starts to reduce, the carbon monoxide in the blood drops and the oxygen level improves significantly.
4. In 7 days, the body will have higher levels of vitamin C And other antioxidants which scavenge the free radicals in the body and help in healing. And the ability to smell and the sense of taste improves.
5. In 2 weeks, the exercise capability improves and the blood circulation and oxygen levels improve.
6. After 1 month, the nicotine withdrawal effects will stop and the healing capacity will improve.
7. In 3 months, the exercise capacity improves and the lungs start healing by regaining the cilia the natural cleaning system by removing tar, mucus and dust from the lungs.
8. In 6months, the cough becomes better.
9. In 1 year, the risk of cardiac disease is halved.
10. In 10 years, the risks of cancers will be half and all the abnormal cells in the lungs will be normalised.
11. In 15 to 20 years, the risk of stroke or cardiac disease is the same as a non-smoker.

Quality of life improves drastically after quitting tobacco and also it aids in financial advantage in saving money, helps in saving family members from becoming a victim of second-hand smoke and also helps in saving the environment from pollution.

ALSO READ: World No Tobacco Day 2024: Date, theme, history, significance and more