Almost 30 percent of people over the age of 14 in Germany smoke. More than 80 percent of them try again and again to quit on their own. Quitting is extremely difficult because smoking is an indispensable relaxation ritual for many and, above all, because nicotine creates a strong addiction.
Quitting smoking is pure health protection
Not only physicians know how useful it is to stop smoking: Smoking is the most preventable cancer risk. Almost 20 percent of all cancers are caused by or are involved in the burning of tobacco from cigarettes.
As if that weren’t enough, cigarette smoke damages blood vessels, airways, bones, teeth and gums over the long term. Erection and fertility can also be disturbed.
The body can completely recover from smoking
With so much potential for harm, it’s even more amazing how much the body can recover from the rigors of smoking. As long as no permanent organic damage has occurred, stopping smoking will help you to regain your health.
However, it may take time to achieve this. That has a study at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee: Of the 9,000 subjects, around 2,500 had consumed at least one pack of cigarettes a day for more than 20 years. When these heavy smokers quit, their risk of cardiovascular disease decreased by nearly 40 percent in the first five years of not smoking. However, it took them ten, 15 and in some cases even 25 years before they again had the same, lower risk as lifelong non-smokers.
Regeneration from the first moment of life as a non-smoker
Many positive changes become noticeable much more quickly: the regeneration of the body begins the moment after the last puff on the cigarette – incidentally, there are no differences between the sexes. Women and men recover equally quickly and well.
The quitting age plays a role here: Anyone who manages to quit smoking before the age of 45 can eliminate 90 percent of their risk of cardiovascular problems. have that Australian scientists in a study determined.
And at this rate the body changes and regenerates:
Immediate effect on blood circulation
Washed your hair and brushed your teeth, the stale cigarette smell and bad breath that smokers themselves often don’t even notice are gone. Anyone who makes an appointment for professional teeth cleaning for the first day of non-smoking will immediately get rid of the yellow-brown plaque that over time makes smoker’s teeth unnaturally dark.
This is more of a visual-aesthetic than a health regeneration, but it helps to resist the craving for a cigarette. Because the nicotine withdrawal can be very nerve-wracking in the first few weeks. Some doctors recommend that smokers who cannot resist the craving for the addictive substance should often switch to e-cigarettes, heaters or vaporizers such as IQOS, at least as a first step.
Compared to smoking normal cigarettes, they are significantly less harmful because they only heat a liquid instead of burning a substance, as Martin Storck, Professor of Vascular Surgery and Director of the Clinic for Vascular and Thoracic Surgery at the Municipal Clinic in Karlsruhe, explains. “As a result, the quantities of released pollutants such as formaldehyde or carbon monoxide are reduced by an average of 95 percent.”
Of course, the healthiest thing is complete abstinence from smoking. Within minutes after the last cigarette, the body’s first repair mechanisms kick in: after just 20 minutes, the heart rate and blood pressure drop to their normal levels.
At the same time, blood circulation improves. This means, among other things, that the faster skin aging caused by smoking is stopped. Cold hands and feet with poor circulation also become warmer.
After a day, oxygen floods the body
The toxic waste products of the tobacco cigarette have disappeared from the mucous membranes and with it the unpleasant smell and taste that the fag leaves behind.
Where previously carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke displaced oxygen from the red blood cells, the situation is reversed: the carbon monoxide level in the blood falls, the oxygen level rises. All organs are better supplied with oxygen again and physical performance increases.
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Everything tastes better after a week
48 hours after stopping smoking, the sense of taste and smell, which is usually reduced in smokers, begins to recover. Scents and tastes are perceived more intensively.
After three days without a tobacco cigarette, it is easier to breathe deeply.
After one (to three) months, self-cleaning is in full swing
- The cycle stabilizes.
- Lung function improves.
- Physical exertion in everyday life and during sports is easier.
The often gray and sallow facial skin caused by smoking benefits from better blood circulation. And because it’s superficially renewed after 28 days, it looks rosier and fresher after a month. However, wrinkles as a sign of rapid skin aging in smokers can no longer be reversed.
After a year, smoker’s cough is a thing of the past
The lung capacity increases and the airways become free. They gradually free themselves from deposits and mucus.
Typical smoking complaints such as coughing fits, blocked sinuses or shortness of breath decrease.
The risk of infection is reduced.
After five years, cancer and heart risk decrease significantly
Now ex-smokers are no worse off than regular smokers for many diseases:
- 100 percent reduced risk of stroke,
- 100 percent lower risk of cervical cancer,
- 50 percent lower risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus and urinary bladder,
- 50 percent lower risk of heart attack.
After ten years, the lungs are fine again
The risk of dying from lung cancer is reduced by about half.
The risk of larynx and pancreatic cancer decreases.
After 15 years as fit as a non-smoker
The risk of coronary heart disease is finally no higher than that of a lifelong non-smoker.
