What Happens to Your Body When You Quit

Within 20 minutes of smoking that last cigarette, your body begins changing in beneficial ways that will continue for years.

20 minutes

• Blood pressure drops to normal
• Pulse rate drops to normal
• Body temperature of hands and feet increases to normal

8 hours

• Blood level of carbon monoxide drops to normal
• Blood level of oxygen increases to normal

24 hours

• Heart attack risk decreases

48 hours

• Nerve endings begin to grow
• Smell and taste sensitivity increases

2 weeks to 3 months

• Circulation improves
• Walking becomes easier
• Lung function increases up to 30%

1 to 9 months

• Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease
• Cilia, fine hairlike structures in the lungs, grow, increasing the lungs' ability to handle mucus and clean themselves
• Risk of lung infection decreases
• Overall energy increases

1 year

• Excess risk of coronary heart disease decreases to half that of a smoker

5 years and beyond

• Lung cancer death rate decreases to almost half that of a pack-a-day smoker
• Stroke risk decreases to that of a nonsmoker in 5–15 years
• Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases

15 years

• Coronary heart disease risk decreases to that of a nonsmoker