Today is the annual Great American Smokeout! If you are a smoker, or other form of tobacco user, consider quitting, at least for the day. I know how hard it is, I quit smoking a few years ago after smoking up to 2 packs a day. Right now Hubby is trying to quit chewing tobacco – he is struggling with it, but really trying hard.
Some benefits to quitting smoking over time to help motivate you:
- 20 minutes after quitting your heart rate and blood pressure drops
- 12 hours after quitting the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal
- 2 weeks to 3 months after quitting your circulation improves and your lung function increases
- 1 to 9 months after quitting cough and shortness of breath decreases
- 1 year after quitting the excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s
- 5 years after quitting your stroke rise is reduced to that of a nonsmoker 5 to 15 years after quitting
- 10 years after quitting the lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker’s and the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease
- 15 years after quitting the risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker’s
The American Cancer Society has a couple of programs to help you including a countdown clock and craving stopper. When I quit a few years ago I used this fabulous program called Quit Keeper to help keep track of my time since quitting, money saved, lifetime saved, etc. and I highly recommend it!
