Smoking has a very large number of ill effects on health. It affects various systems of the body, including the respiratory system, digestive system, urinary system, nervous system brain. It is a known fact that even though smoking affects health very adversely, quitting this habit can reverse most of the damage that has been done, especially if the individual has not already been affected by cancer or some such other ailment.
What happens when you quit smoking?
Quitting smoking and tobacco is possibly the best gift you can give yourself. When you quit smoking, you are giving yourself another chance to live a more healthy life. The short and long term benefits of quitting are many, but there are some unpleasant experiences you may go through right after you quit.
It is essential that you know what all you will experience once you quit smoking, both positive and negative. Only if you are armed wit this information will you be prepared enough to quit and stay quit for good.
The most important part of quitting is dealing with withdrawal. Although the intensity of withdrawal symptoms may vary from person to person depending on the duration and amount of usage, every smoker who quits experiences them. Cravings are the most important part of withdrawal and can drag the individual back to smoking if he/she is not aware of all the effects of quitting.
Some other effects of quitting
- Blisters, mouth ulcers and inflammation are common as your mouth is used to all the chemicals in the cigarette and will take a while to get used to their absence.
- You may face problems concentrating and may be very irritable for the initial few days or weeks.
- You may also start coughing up dark colored phlegm a lot as this is the natural mechanism employed by the body to rig your lungs of accumulated toxins due to smoking. It helps get more fresh air into your body.
- You may also experience sleep disturbances due to the above mentioned side effects. Also, as smoking is believed to increase alertness, you may feel drowsy during the day for a while.
These effects are very temporary and worth experiencing for the long term benefits of quitting smoking. These include:
- better lung capacity
- reduction in risk of cancer and heart disease
- better stability in circulation, body temperature and blood pressure, and a lot many more.
The risks keep getting cut down as the amount of time you stay quit increases. Within a few years’ time, your risks for a variety of diseases will be the same as that of a non-smoker. It is worth the pain to quit so that you can live a better, longer and healthier life.
