Smoking damages nearly every organ, and stopping brings the risk down at any age. Most people who stop have tried several times first; that is the normal pattern, not failure.
What happens after you stop
- Within a day: carbon monoxide clears and oxygen in the blood returns to normal.
- Within weeks: breathing and circulation improve, and the cough often settles.
- Within a year: the excess risk of heart disease is roughly halved.
- Within five to ten years: stroke risk approaches that of someone who never smoked.
- Money, immediately. Add up a week of it.
What makes stopping work
- Pick a date within two weeks and tell people.
- Stop completely on that date. Cutting down gradually works less well than a clean stop for most people.
- Clear out cigarettes, lighters and ashtrays the night before.
- Know your triggers, after meals, with coffee, with alcohol, with certain friends, and plan what you will do instead for the first weeks.
- Ask about nicotine replacement, patches or gum, at a pharmacy. It roughly doubles the chance of success and is far safer than smoking.
- Get someone to do it with you, or someone to tell each evening.
The first two weeks
Cravings peak in the first few days and each one passes in a few minutes, whether or not you smoke. Irritability, poor sleep, hunger and difficulty concentrating are withdrawal, they are temporary, and they are a sign of the body adjusting. Drink water, walk when a craving comes, and keep your hands busy.
If you slip
One cigarette is a slip, not the end. Most people who eventually stop had slips on the way. Look at what triggered it, plan for that trigger, and carry on from the same day rather than starting again next month.
Other forms
- Shisha is not safer. A session delivers far more smoke than a cigarette, and the pipe is often shared.
- Smokeless and chewed tobacco causes mouth cancer and gum disease.
- E-cigarettes are not harmless and are not recommended for people who do not already smoke.
Around other people
Second-hand smoke causes chest infections and asthma in children and heart disease in adults. If stopping is not possible yet, smoke outside, never in a room or vehicle with children, and never near a pregnant woman.
See a clinician if
- A cough lasting more than two weeks, or coughing up blood.
- Increasing breathlessness, or chest pain.
- Unexplained weight loss.
- Hoarseness lasting more than three weeks, or a mouth ulcer that does not heal.
