What Does it Feel Like When You Quit After Years of Smoking?

The effects of smoking are so numerous, and damaging to your health, that experts estimate you can take 11 minutes off your lifespan, for each cigarette you smoke. Of course, most people who smoke, already know this. The health warnings are everywhere; on billboards, commercials, posters, and literally every pack of cigarettes you buy. So what's holding smokers back, from finally quitting?

Other than the physiological addiction, that smoking causes, one of the biggest things that smokers worry about, is what it will feel like to quit. Will it hurt? Will it feel good? Will it be absolutely tortious for years on end? You know what smoking does to you, so how does it feel, when you quit? In short, it first feels terrible. But later, it feels amazing. Here's a rough timeline;

Day 1

Your respiratory system will start to repair itself, just twelve hours after you quit. The carbon monoxide from the cigarettes, will begin to unbind from your hemoglobin. You will have cravings.

Day 2

Your cravings will get worse. This is often when many smokers cave. Shaky fingers can happen. However, your risk of heart disease, has already been reduced. Your sense of taste, will also begin to return.

Day 5

The nicotine is out of your system, at this point, but cravings will still be high. You may experience headaches, nausea, and cramping.

1 week in

You may have improved energy levels, but those cravings, will still be there. If you exert yourself, you may feel nauseous. In general, you will feel warmer, because your circulation will have improved.

2-3 weeks in

Cravings should have subsided by now, and your lung capacity will have increased. It will be easier to breathe and exert yourself.

Several months in

After several months of not smoking, you should be finished, with withdrawal symptoms and cravings. Your lungs will be actively repairing themselves, and it will be much easier to breathe, run, and exert yourself. You'll be better able to concentrate, and you'll have reduced your risk of a heart attack, or heart disease by 50 percent. Your body will continue to heal from here on out.

It has been found, that non-smokers, live an average of 6.5 years longer than smokers. If you smoke, consider that for a moment. What could you do in 6.5 years? Well, if you want that time back, take heart, because there's something you can do; quit smoking today. Talk to your doctor. Buy some nicotine gum, or a patch kit, at your local pharmacy. Ask for help from your friends, and family. More than any other health habit, change you can make, quitting smoking will do the most. It can and will change your life.