
Within 20 minutes of your last cigarette, your body begins a series of changes that will continue for years. Within 20 minutes after quitting cigarettes, your heart rate drops. Within 12 hours after quitting, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal. Within 2 weeks to 3 months after quitting, your heart attack risk begins to drop and your lung function begins to improve. Within 1 to 9 months after quitting, your coughing and shortness of breath decreases. After 1 year of quitting, your added risk of coronary heart disease is half of that of a smoker. Within 5 years after quitting, your stroke risk is reduced to that of a non smoker. Within 10 years, your lung cancer death rate is about half that of a smoker and your risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decreases.
As you can see the body is an amazing machine and it truly can heal itself after you stop pumping your body full of toxins and chemicals contained in cigarettes. So the next time you think about what happens after you quit smoking, think about all of these positive points above. Don’t you think it’s time to stop smoking!
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