Whether you’ve been smoking for one year or sixty, there are still ample (and some immediate!) benefits to quitting smoking.
- Quitting smoking can add years to your life expectancy. Stopping at the age of 60 adds an average of 3 years to your life expectancy. The number of years added to your life expectancy goes up the younger you are when you quit smoking (as high as ten years if you stop around age 30).
- If you live with or are frequently around children, quitting smoking dramatically decreases the risk that they might develop any illnesses and diseases associated with exposure to second-hand smoke. A few of these diseases include respiratory infections, ear infections, and asthma.
- Some positive effects of quitting smoking are nearly immediate. For example, within 20 minutes of quitting smoking, your heart rate and blood pressure stabilize. Within 12 hours of quitting smoking, your oxygen levels normalize.
- Additional positive effects of quitting smoking happen just a few years after you stop for good. At one year, your risk of stroke and heart disease lessens.
- The long-term benefits of quitting smoking are worth it! By ten years after quitting, your risk of heart disease is the same as that of a non-smoker. By 15 years, your risk of stroke is the same as a non-smoker.
If you needed a sign to stop smoking, this is it! The CDC has a myriad of resources to help you quit today.
