South Carolina Tobacco Collaborative

Cessation

Quitting smoking reduces a person's risk of lung cancer, heart attack, stroke, age related dementia, COPD, emphesyma, erectile dysfunction and fertility problems, as well as cancers of the mouth, throat, stomach, bladder, pancreas, breast and colon.   Read below to see how a smoker's body starts to heal within 20 minutes of quitting smoking.

Quitting also reduces the likelihood of the nonsmokers in a smoker's life contracting life threatening illness. Secondhand smoke exposure is risk for lung cancer, heart attack, breast cancer, age related dementia, and other illnesses.

The South Carolina Tobacco-Free Collaborative supports a variety of community programs designed to help smokers quit. By serving as a referral source to these programs and participating as workshop providers, we support cessation efforts with the goal of reducing our state’s 22% adult smoking rate.

It is never too late to quit smoking.

Benefits of Quitting

When smokers quit, the benefits begin to accrue within twenty minutes of smoking that last cigarette.

At 20 minutes after quitting:

• blood pressure decreases
• pulse rate drops
• body temperature of hands and feet increases

At 8 hours:

• carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal
• oxygen level in blood increases to normal

At 24 hours:

• chance of a heart attack decreases

At 48 hours:

• nerve endings start regrowing
• ability to smell and taste is enhanced

Within 2 weeks to 3 months:

• circulation improves
• walking becomes easier
• lung function increases

Within 1 to 9 months:

• coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath decreases

1 year after your last cigarette:

• excess risk of coronary heart disease is decreased to half that of a smoker

5 to 15 years after your last cigarette:

• risk of stroke is reduced to that of people who've never smoked

10 years after your last cigarette:

• risk of lung cancer drops to as little as one-half that of continuing smokers
• risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decreases
• risk of ulcer decreases

After 15 years:

• risk of coronary heart disease is now similar to that of people who have never smoked
• risk of death due to smoking-related causes returns to nearly the level of people who never smoked