Your Heart & Cardiovascular System

When you smoke. Smoking attacks your heart and circulatory system on many fronts. It raises blood pressure and stresses your heart, which over time can weaken it and make it less effective. Your blood becomes thick and sticky, which also makes it harder to pump.

You’re also more likely to develop blood clots in your leg, lung, heart and brain. Add in blood vessel damage, and your risk for a heart attack or stroke increases. In fact, smoking is the leading cause of heart attacks and heart disease.

And there’s more. Smoking increases levels of unhealthy cholesterol and other fats circulating in your blood. Over time, this plaque can build up and narrow the walls of your arteries. This, too, blocks normal blood flow.

Finally, the cigarette smoke you inhale contains carbon monoxide, which supplants oxygen in your bloodstream, further taxing your heart.

When you quit. Many of these heart risks are reversed when you quit. Your blood pressure and heart rate should lower almost immediately. Your risk of a heart attack declines within 24 hours. Your blood will become thinner and less likely to form clots, and your heart won’t have to work as hard.

Although quitting can’t remove plaque, you will lower the levels of cholesterol and fats circulating in your blood and slow the buildup of new fatty deposits.

Your Lungs

When you smoke. Smoking causes inflammation in your lungs. You’re likely to first feel tightness in your chest, wheezing and shortness of breath. As inflammation progresses, you develop permanent scar tissue and other changes to your lungs and airways that can make breathing more and more difficult.

Smoking also permanently destroys the tiny air sacs, or alveoli, in the lungs where carbon dioxide and oxygen are exchanged. This damage leads to a lung disease called emphysema, which causes severe shortness of breath and even death. Smoking is also the top risk factor for lung cancer.

Years of lung irritation can give you a chronic cough. Because smoking also harms the cilia, or tiny hairs lining your airways meant to clear lungs of mucus and debris, it also raises your risk for colds and respiratory infections.

When you quit.There is no cure for emphysema, so the sooner you quit—before years of damage has occurred—the better your chances of preventing it. Within two weeks of quitting, you should be breathing more freely.

Cilia do grow back and can regain normal function very quickly after you quit—coughing more than usual when you first quit is often a sign of cilia regrowth. Soon, you should be better able to fight off colds and other infections.

Your DNA

When you smoke. Smoking damages DNA, the genetic material that directs cell growth and function. After enough damage, cells can grow out of control and create a cancerous tumor.

A third of all cancer deaths are caused by tobacco. And lung cancer isn’t the only type—bladder cancer is a risk and, in female smokers, there’s also an elevated risk of cervical cancer and kidney cancer, among others.

When you quit. Quitting smoking will stop this DNA damage and help repair damage already done. It’s also the best way to lower your cancer risk.

Your Skin

When you smoke. Smoking harms your skin in obvious ways. Skin can lose elasticity, become dry, dull and gray and show wrinkles early in life—as early as your 30s, making you look old.

When you quit. When you quit smoking, you stop further skin damage.

YOUR Endocrine System

When you smoke. Your risk of type 2 diabetes increases and, once you develop diabetes, smoking makes it harder to control—uncontrolled diabetes puts you at risk for very serious complications, such as blindness, heart disease, kidney failure and nerve damage, which can lead to having your feet amputated.

When you quit. Quitting lowers your risk of diabetes. If you already have diabetes, quitting will make it easier for you to manage the disease.

Your Hormones

When you smoke. In women, smoking lowers estrogen levels, which can lead to dry skin and thin hair as well as cognitive issues, like poor memory.

In childbearing years, smoking makes it harder to get pregnant and have a healthy baby. It can also cause you to start menopause early, in turn increasing your risk of developing heart disease, among other illnesses.

In men, smoking increases the risk of ED (erectile dysfunction), the inability to get or keep an erection. It can also damage sperm, leading to infertility or even genetic defects in your baby.

When you quit. In a woman, estrogen levels will slowly return to normal along with the chances of a healthy pregnancy in the future. In men, the chances of erectile dysfunction will go down as the chances of having a healthy sexual life go up.

Your Immune System

When you smoke. Your white blood cell count rises because your body is fighting the inflammation and damage from tobacco. A count that stays high for a long period of time has been linked with an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and cancer.

The high levels of tar and other chemicals in cigarette smoke also weaken your immune system, meaning that you’re more likely to get sick. This can make you more vulnerable to chronic autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

When you quit. Over time, your white blood cell count returns to normal. Once your immune system is no longer exposed to tar and nicotine, it will become stronger and better able to protect you from illnesses.

Your Muscles & Bones

When you smoke. Less blood and oxygen get to your muscles, which then tire more easily. You may have more aches and pains than people who don’t smoke.

Smoking also affects the normal bone rebuilding process. Over time, you’re likely to experience bone thinning and a loss of bone density—osteopenia and osteoporosis.

When bones become weak and brittle, they’re more likely to fracture—and take longer to heal.

When you quit. Quitting smoking brings more oxygen to your muscles, making them stronger and healthier. You’ll also reduce your risk of bone fractures, both now and later on.

Your Senses

When you smoke. Smoking can lead to both sight and hearing losses. Smoking can threaten your vision in general and your night vision in particular. It also raises your risk of cataracts and macular degeneration, both of which can progress to blindness.

In terms of hearing, smoking reduces the oxygen supply to the cochlea, the snail-shaped organ in the inner ear. This can cause mild to moderate hearing loss.

When you quit. Quitting will improve your night vision, preserve your overall vision and keep your hearing sharp.

Your Oral Health

When you smoke. Smokers have more oral health problems than non-smokers, like mouth sores, ulcers, gum disease and cavities, not to mention stained teeth. You risk losing teeth at a younger age and, more seriously, have a greater risk of mouth and/or throat cancer.

When you quit. Your oral health risks will start declining and your teeth will be brighter.

9 Days To Go
Tell The Important People In Your Life

Quitting is easier with support from those closest to you. Let them know about your plans and tell them how they can help. Let them support you. They really want to.

8 Days To Go
Write Out Your Reasons For Quitting

Whether it’s for better health, the desire to stop your loved ones’ exposure to secondhand smoke, save money, remove the stale smell of smoke in your home or all of the above, everyone has their own reasons for quitting smoking. Seeing the advantages you’ll gain in black and white will help motivate you to stop.

7 Days To Go
Identify Your Smoking Triggers

One important aspect of quitting is being able to recognize situations that trigger your need to smoke, whether it’s an activity, like after dinner at a restaurant; an emotion, like stress; or even a person, like a friend who lights up.

6 Days To Go
Understand The Effects Of Withdrawal

Breaking a nicotine addiction involves a period known as withdrawal— when your body learns to adjust to no longer having nicotine in your system. This period can be rough at first. You may experience seemingly insurmountable cravings for a cigarette, but it’s possible to fight them. Keep the faith.

5 Days To Go
Quit Smoking Products That Help Cravings

Talk to your health professional about the best option for you, especially if you were unsuccessful quitting in the past, and read the products patient medication guide to make sure there aren’t any contraindications to the option you choose.

Whatever you choose, be sure to have a supply on hand before your quit day. There are many over-the-counter and prescription items that can help wean you off nicotine. The Mayo Clinic has some good information on this topic.

4 Days To Go
Choose A Support System

Person-to-person support from a professional counselor, a support group of others trying to quit or both, or a combination of counseling and medication can help keep you motivated. Ask your health professional to help you find someone.

3 Days To Go
Set Up Other Communication Support Tools

Telephone, Apps & Text Messaging can offer tips and tricks that can help you any time you need a boost. Take a look before you quit.

2 Days To Go
Set Up Rewards For Milestones

Quitting smoking happens one minute, one hour, one day at a time. Reward yourself with a new piece of clothing, or enjoy a night at the movies or any other tobacco-free activity, but especially an activity that won’t trigger a craving. If possible, avoid alcohol.

1 Day To Go
Remove All Tobacco Paraphernalia

Throw out everything associated with tobacco. Since the smell of cigarettes can cause a craving, freshen up your home, office, even your car. Don’t save anything “just in case.” Get plenty of rest and eat healthy—a lack of sleep and too much sugar can trigger you to smoke.

We’d love to know how you are doing. Please send us an email: concerned@selfchec.org

• Build pleasant moments into your day to compensate for not lighting up. Try reading a magazine or listening to music.
• In the evening: Go to dinner at your favorite smoke-free restaurant, go to a movie or plan a game night with non-smoking friends. Make sure that, whenever you go, smoking isn’t allowed by law, so you and those with you won’t light up.

In 1 to 9 months: Coughing and shortness of breath decrease as the cilia (tiny hair like structures on the surface of the cell) in your lungs start to regain normal function to clear mucus and reduce the risk of infection.

In 1 year: Your risk of coronary heart disease drops to half that of someone who smokes.

In 5 years: Your risk of mouth, throat, esophagus and bladder cancers is cut in half. Your cervical cancer risk is about equal to that of a non-smoker. Within 2 to 5 years, your stroke risk should fall to that of a non-smoker.

In 10 years: Your risk of dying from lung cancer is about half that of a smoker. Your larynx (voice box) and pancreatic cancer risks decrease.

In 15 years: Your risk of coronary heart disease is now equal to that of a non-smoker.

Long-term: Quitting also lowers your risk of diabetes and boosts heart health and lung health in many ways. The younger you are when you quit, the greater the benefits to your health, but quitting at any age can give you years of life that will be lost if you continue to smoke.