The First 2 Days After You Quit Smoking

When you quit smoking, the health benefits begin within minutes of your last cigarette. According to the Surgeon General, physical improvements in your body begin within the first hour of smoking cessation.

Your Body Within the First 2 Days of Quitting

• After 20 Minutes: Your heart rate and blood pressure drop back to normal, and the circulation in your hands and feet starts to improve.
• After 12 hours: The carbon monoxide levels in your blood reduce, and the oxygen level in blood increases to normal.
• After one day: Your chance of having a heart attack decreases.
• After two days: Your sense of smell and taste improves as your nerve endings start to heal.

That's a lot of improvement for just 48 hours of smoking cessation.

The Immediate Benefits of Quitting

The chemicals in cigarettes affect you in more ways than you realize. When you quit and start to see changes in the discomforts you've been living with, like headaches, chronic sinus irritation, and fatigue, for instance, you start to put two and two together.  

That's not to say that every physical ailment can be traced to tobacco use, but you will probably be pleasantly surprised at some of the changes that take place once you stop smoking. Best of all, this is just the beginning. You can look forward to many additional improvements in the days and months to come.

Making the Decision to Quit

It takes courage to put down that last cigarette. Most people feel an intense combination of fear and excitement leading up to their quit date. Feeling afraid to quit smoking is completely normal and is a by-product of nicotine addiction.

But don't let that fear paralyze you. Pick your quit date and stick to it. The benefits you'll experience in the short and long term are well worth the work it takes to achieve.

Breaking the Dependence

Years of associating smoking with everything you do creates powerful links in the chain of psychological dependence you had on nicotine.

• You thought you enjoyed smoking.
• You convinced yourself that smoking calmed your nerves and helped you think more clearly.
• You thought of cigarettes as a friend, a companion, a buddy.
• You thought smoking helped you have more fun and enjoy life more fully.

Logically, you knew better, but addiction can make people rationalize and justify all kinds of crazy notions. You (understandably) like the feeling of relief you get when the nicotine level in your bloodstream is replenished.

The more time between cigarettes, the more severe the withdrawal, resulting in edginess, inability to concentrate, and even feelings of depression. It's a vicious, never-ending cycle.

That is an addiction, not enjoyment. You don't think of smoking as enslaving and self-destructive when you first start, but over time addiction quietly teaches you that you are weak and powerless. Most people want to stop long before they do.

Support for Your Quit Program

Support is a key ingredient to a solid quit smoking program. A smoking cessation support forum is a place to meet people who are going through what you are, or have been there and can offer constructive advice. Your resolve will be bolstered more than you can imagine just by being around others who have the same goals you do.

Remember that quitting tobacco is a process. It takes time. Your courage to take that first step and throw the butts away is a choice you'll never regret making. Your life will improve a thousandfold when you have kicked tobacco out, once and for all. You'll have even more benefits from two weeks to three months of quitting.