To put the effects of nicotine in perspective, a single drop of pure nicotine in unadulterated form is enough to cause the death of a person. So effective is its destructive powers that nicotine could feasibly be utilized as a pesticide for a field of crops. It is this same nicotine that millions of people, including children, are inhaling into their lungs multiple times throughout every day.
Armed with the knowledge that tobacco and nicotine have the capability of possessing an individual and keeping them captive and dependent upon the drugs, one would think that everyone would be anxious to find a way to quit the habit. Unfortunately, many truly believe they enjoy smoking or chewing tobacco, even though facts about smoking prove that it is addictive. Extra encouragement is needed to convince them that quitting is a positive step. The benefits to the health of the individual when stopping the consumption of the drug are numerous, and will begin immediately upon quitting.
The human body will begin the healing process within one day of quitting smoking or chewing. The nicotine level in your bloodstream will drop dramatically, carbon monoxide levels also drop. Damage that has been done to your heart and lungs will be assessed by your brain, and repair to those vital organs commences immediately. Just as healing from any injury takes time, so will the healing of your body from tobacco take time. People who quit generally feel worse for about a week before they begin to feel better; this is due to the depravation from the nicotine and also the concentration of all of your body’s efforts toward the healing process. There are definite bright spots during this time also, though. Your sense of smell will improve, as will your sense of taste.
Improvements within your body are taking place that will affect your overall health. Use these timelines to help keep your resolve as you adjust to your new non-smoking life:
●Blood pressure, pulse and temperature become normal again within 20 minutes of the last cigarette
●Chances of heart attack drops within 24 hours
●Nervous system repairs nerve endings within 48 hours
●Clearer lungs begin to function more than 25% better within a few weeks
●Breathing improves, with coughing, congestion and fatigue decreasing within a few months
●Risk of heart disease drops to around 50% less than that of someone still smoking within 1 year
●5 years and beyond: risks of cancers, stroke, and coronary heart disease continue to drop over the years.
There are no reasons to list that would make a viable argument for continuing smoking. No benefits exist to inhale noxious drugs into the body; yet numerous benefits tout the act of kicking the habit. If achieving better health, vitality and energy are not enough reasons to motivate a person to stop smoking or chewing tobacco, perhaps the monetary savings would. In the height of cigarette advertising and distribution in 1960, a pack of cigarettes would have cost a person around .35 per pack. Today, the cost for that same pack of cigarettes exceeds $5.00 per pack. Especially in the stressed economic times the world is currently enduring, quitting smoking would result in quite a savings for even a person smoking three packs each week.
Perhaps the knowledge of what tobacco and nicotine does to the body as well as what the cost of cigarettes will do to the pocket can help to discourage people from beginning the habit of smoking.