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I stopped smoking on May 19th 2009 after 40 years of addiction. Over a year later I haven’t started again and I doubt I ever will now. I used electronic cigarettes to help me to quit and knowing that I have one at home tucked away in a drawer that just needs recharging has stopped me from being tempted to buy tobacco cigarettes at stressful times.
An initial outlay of £50 has now saved me over £1200 and paid for the laptop that I’m using, a new TV for my bedroom and a new cooker. It’s also saved my health.
Stopping smoking can be a very frustrating time in your life as one does not always realize the magnitude of the ‘hold’ nicotine has on your body until you try and stop. If you are looking at becoming healthier then look at the following benefits your body will have by stopping smoking.
Even if you have been a smoker for many years, it is never too late to stop smoking as the body is amazing in its resilience towards repairing itself. In fact, after 20 minutes of stopping smoking your body’s blood pressure and pulse rate drops whilst the temperature in your hands and feet increases! After 8 hours the level of oxygen in your blood normalizes and the level of carbon monoxide also decreases to within normal limits. By stopping smoking for 24 hours you have already reduced the chances of a heart attack. After 48 hours your taste and smell improves whilst nerve endings has already started re-growth.
The first 6-8 weeks after smoking is the hardest but by week 2 and 3 even walking becomes easier as your circulation and lung function increases. From 1-9 months significant improvements in your coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue and shortness of breath can be experienced. 30% of ALL heart disease deaths are directly linked to cigarette smoking, but your risk after stopping smoking for a year, has decreased by half! Stopping smoking for 5 years reduces your risk on strokes to the same level of people who have never smoked! By year 10 the risk of lung cancer drops to one-half of people who still continue smoking; cancer of the throat, mouth, bladder, esophagus, pancreas and kidneys drops as well as the risk of ulcers. By year 15 you now have the same risk of coronary heart disease and normal death compared to a person who has never smoked.
Stopping smoking is not only a physical process but also requires you mental state to be reprogrammed in order to overcome the psychological urges to pick up and smoke a cigarette. Every person is different; some may find it an excruciating process to stop where others could do it instantaneously without looking back. Whatever the situation, you will do your body, those close to you and the environment more good by quitting your smoking habits. The sooner the better, as you might not be so lucky to recover when you wait until emphysema or cancer has been diagnosed.
Governments have placed smoking bans in public places and heavy penalties are given to those businesses or people who refuse to abide by them. In fact smoking is so dangerous to non-smokers that some governments have banned smoking in vehicles where non-smokers such as children (even your own), are transported.
This article has focused more on the positive effects when stopping smoking habits and hopefully it has persuaded you to change your lifestyle for the better. If you are serious about following a healthier lifestyle and require assistance or more information on how to stop smoking, take a look around this site, we offer information about the different methods of stopping smoking to help you to take your first step in breaking the chains of addiction.
and you save a small fortune as well as your health!
I kept an online diary from the first day that I stopped smoking until my first year was up, you can check my diary out at http://smokersstop.co.uk/giving-up-smoking-1-year-without-tobacco
I did have a forum on this site, genuinely wanting to help others in their battle to quit smoking, but the spammers kept dumping porn, viagra and online pharmacy ads on to the forum. It wasted a lot of time removing it and I didn’t want crap like that on this or any of my websites so I removed the forum when I’d had enough.
