Quitting smoking is one of the best decisions you can make to improve your overall health and well-being, however, you may wonder what happens when you quit smoking. Although it can be hard, the benefits are extensive and well worth the effort and knowing what to expect can make the process easier. Read on to learn what happens when you quit smoking.

Side Effects

What happens when you quit smoking initially depends on the method you use. The nicotine found in cigarettes is highly addictive and you will most likely experience withdrawal symptoms and cravings when you quit. If you quit cold- turkey, the side effects of quitting can be more intense than if you use the assistance of smoking cessation drugs. Withdrawal symptoms may include headache, intestinal distress, tingling of the extremities, sweating, insomnia, anxiety, irritability, and weight gain. Remember, these side effects are temporary.

Immediate Benefits

You may wonder what happens when you quit smoking in other areas of your life. Quitting brings about many immediate positive benefits. Your teeth will get whiter, your breath fresher and your skin will appear healthier. Your hair and clothes will no longer smell stale and smoky. In addition, your damaged sense of taste will begin to return to normal and you will enjoy eating food more. You also will no longer have to leave your family and friends to have a cigarette or worry about avoid exposing them to secondhand smoke.

Quit Smoking Timeline

The American Cancer Society has developed a timeline to show what happens when you stop smoking. Within the first 12 hours of quitting, your heart rate and blood pressure drop and carbon dioxide levels return to normal.

Within three months, circulation and lung functions increase. Within nine months, lung function is returning to normal. One year after quitting, the risk of heart disease is cut in half and within five years, the risk of oral, esophagus, and bladder cancers is cut in half and stroke risk is greatly reduced. Finally, ten years after quitting, lung cancer risk is also cut in half.

Other Benefits

In addition to the health benefits of kicking the habit, there are some other welcome benefits. Improved looks and not worrying about offending others when smoking may increase your self-esteem. Worrying less about your health can cause you to feel more relaxed. In addition, money once spent on cigarettes can now be put towards something else or saved. Putting that money away for retirement is a great option.

Of the many wonderful things that happen to you when you quit smoking, reducing the likelihood of stroke and heart attack should be high on anyone's list of useful benefits. Smokers are as likely to suffer a stroke as non-smokers after only 5 years off the cigarettes. Your chances of heart disease also plummet once you quit. In fact, after 15 years, the risks of heart disease in ex-smokers is as low as it is in non-smokers.

One final thing that happens to you when you quit smoking is the reduced likelihood of contracting cancer. Most people think that smokers only really run the risk of contracting lung cancer but there is more to it than that. Smokers run a seriously increased risk of throat cancer, mouth cancer, tongue cancer, oesophageal cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, bowel cancer, bladder cancer and stomach cancer. Many of them have very poor treatment rates and are very painful. Stopping smoking reduces the risks associated with all of these potential cancers.

So, what happens to your body when you quit smoking is pretty much all positive. There are reduced risks of smoking related diseases, which are nearly all fatal. There are improvements in general health through the improved environment that you body exists in when it is not puffing away on smokes. Finally, there are some other positives in the sense that your complexion will improve, the brightness of your eyes, the colour of your skin will improve and of course your bank balance will also have a positive. All in all, I can't think of a good reason why anyone should think about not quitting smoking.

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