Many smokers find it hard to quit because of what happens to your body when you quit smoking.
The symptoms of nicotine withdrawal usually includes decreased heart rate, difficulty concentrating, nervousness, headaches, increased appetite and weight gain, insomnia, irritability, and depression.
However, these symptoms are temporary and will be replaced with amazing health benefits.
You may not realize it but the healing process when you quit smoking starts 20 minutes after you smoked your last cigarette.
The blood pressure decreases, your pulse rate drops and the temperature of the hands and feet increases.
What happens to your body when you quit smoking after two days is the ability to smell and taste starts to improve, which can increase appetite.
Inside the body, the nerve endings begin to re-grow.
After 3 months of quitting smoking, the effects will already be felt as the circulation improves, lung function increases and waking become easier.
By the end of the first month of quitting smoking, the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal will slowly be fading away.
After a year of being smoke free, the risk for heart disease will be tremendously decreased and this ensures a healthier heart.
But what happens to your body when you quit smoking, and its long term effect? After 5 years of being smoke free, you will benefit from a decrease in stroke risk and your risk level will be the same as those who have never smoked before.
In ten years after your last cigarette, you will decrease the risk of having certain cancers such as lung, mouth, throat, esophagus, kidney, bladder and pancreas.
And if you had managed to quit smoking for 15 years, the risk of death returns to that of the level of someone who has never had a smoke in their life.
Knowing well what happens to your body when you quit smoking can be a strong contributing factor to your quitting success.
This will prepare you psychologically as you already know what to expect and you can plan ahead on ways to counter them.