Sunday, August 2, 2015

By the Numbers: Counting Down Health Benefits of Quitting Smoking



There's no denying that habits are hard to break, especially if they're part of what you feel is your comfort zone. However, if these habits are harmful to your body, then the sooner you break them, the better. Smoking is one such harmful habit that seems particularly hard to break.

There are several methods you can use to help make quitting easier, with exercise, quit smoking hypnotherapy Adelaide and eating more healthfully being some examples.

Given how withdrawal symptoms can cause you to reach for the lighter again, additional motivation is welcome – and there's no better motivation than seeing how quickly your body repairs itself. Here's a quick look.

1. Within 20 minutes, your pulse rate and blood pressure start to go back to normal levels. Temperature in your hands and feet start normalising as well.

2. Within 8 hours to a day, there's an almost 95% drop in nicotine levels in your bloodstream, including what nicotine breaks down into. You have lower carbon monoxide levels, and an increase in blood oxygen levels.

3. Within a week, your sense of taste and smell will improve, and you'll find breathing easier as your lungs recover and start to clean themselves better. Bronchial tubes also will have begun relaxing, for further ease of breathing. Your body will be 100% free of nicotine by this time, too.

4. Within 2 weeks, you'll be coughing and wheezing less. Antioxidants like Vitamin C will also have increased by now, and your risk of heart attack begins to drop.

5. Within a month, walking is easier as blood circulation continues to improve, and your insulin resistance will start normalising. If you were suffering from a sinus condition related to smoking, it will have dropped, or is less likely to occur, and you have more energy.

6. By the time you reach the 1 year mark, risk of coronary heart disease and stroke will be half that of a smoker's, and you'll be at a healthy weight compared to when you were smoking.

Staying away from cigarettes for 2 years or more only means more health benefits.

Whether you join a support group, or seek help through hypnotherapy for weight loss, which can be adapted to help you quit smoking, it doesn't matter. As long as you do break the habit and see these benefits for yourself.