Reasons to Quit Smoking

We all know that smoking is bad for us, yet many people continue to smoke. Even though your brain knows about the reasons to quit smoking, your body is telling you to reach for another cigarette.

Smokers have become addicted to nicotine, which is a powerful brain stimulant. The brain becomes accustomed to regular doses of nicotine, and when it is deprived for any length of time, you will feel a strong craving for cigarettes.

This is especially true when you try to quit smoking. You know all the reasons to stop smoking, and you know you should not have another cigarette, but your brain does not care about the reasons to stop smoking because it wants its regular dose of nicotine.

Don't Get Discouraged

Many people have lapses when they try to quit smoking, and if this happens to you, don't get discouraged! Each time you renew your resolve to stop smoking it increases your chances that you will succeed.

It is a fact that smoking is bad for our health, but we don't often hear about the specific benefits of quitting smoking. Here are some facts from the US Surgeon General's report that may give you extra reasons to stop smoking.

The benefits of quitting smoking start almost immediately. Twenty minutes after smoking your last cigarette your blood pressure returns to normal. Just eight hours after smoking your last cigarette all of the carbon dioxide has been eliminated from your system.

Three Months Later

Three months after quitting smoking your lung capacity increases by 30%. One year after stopping the habit your chances of having a heart attack are half that of a regular smoker.

Those are all good reasons to stop smoking, but the accumulated health benefits increase the longer you refrain from smoking.

Five years after you have quit smoking your risk of stroke is the same as the non-smoking population. And 10 years after stopping your risk of lung cancer has fallen to 50% that of a regular smoker.

It doesn't matter what age you are when you quit smoking - the benefits are the same. That is perhaps one of the best reasons to quit smoking - even if you are 60 years old and have been smoking for 40 years, you will benefit almost immediately from quitting the habit.

Of course, if you are younger, there will be less accumulated damage to your body, so you are likely to regain your health sooner.

But no matter what, quitting smoking is the best decision you will ever make.