Health Giving up smoking
Stoptober?
Are you ready for
If you’ve decided this is the last summer you’ll smoke, why not get ready to take part in Stoptober, the annual quitting campaign that takes place every autumn?
Every year smokers around the country join the challenge to not smoke for 28 days during October. The event, called Stoptober, is organised by Public Health England, and the idea is that if you can stop smoking for 28 days you’ll be much more likely to quit for good. So with October just around the corner, now’s the ideal
time to find out what help is available and how you should prepare for your quit attempt. First, think about the reasons you want to quit smoking. Many people want to give up to improve their health.
Indeed, stopping smoking reduces your chances of developing a smoking-related illness such as heart disease or a respiratory problem such as lung cancer. Giving up smoking can help protect the people around
you too. That’s because secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including arsenic, benzene, cyanide and 50 known cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens). Children are believed to be especially vulnerable to the effects of these chemicals because their airways, lungs and immune systems aren’t as well developed as those of adults.
What happens when you quit? You shouldn’t have to wait long to see some of the benefits of giving up smoking. After just 20 minutes of having your last cigarette your pulse rate will start going back to normal, and after eight hours your oxygen levels will begin returning to normal too. At this point the carbon monoxide levels in
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your blood will be half what they were when you were smoking (carbon monoxide is a toxic gas found in tobacco smoke that affects your breathing and increases your risk of coronary heart disease). After 48 hours without smoking your body will have
flushed out all the carbon monoxide, your lungs will be starting to clear out mucus and your sense of taste and smell will start to improve. Three days later your breathing will feel easier, thanks to the fact that your bronchial tubes will have started to relax. And because you’ll be breathing better, you may feel you have more energy too. According to the NHS, some of the other major benefits of giving up smoking include:
• After 2 - 12 weeks: better circulation • After 3 - 9 months: better lung function • After 12 months: heart attack risk becomes 50 per cent lower
• After 10 years: terminal lung cancer becomes 50 per cent lower
• After 15 years: heart attack risk becomes the same as that of someone who’s never smoked
As well as reducing your risk of having several serious conditions, giving up smoking can make life more enjoyable because you’ll feel less stressed, you’ll enjoy a better sex life and improved fertility, your skin will look younger, your breath will smell fresher and your teeth will look whiter.
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