It’s like October but without the cigarettes. Last October 160,000 people stopped smoking for 28 days.
What happens when you stop smoking according to the smoking timeline:
Within 20 minutes: your blood pressure, body temperature and pulse rate will drop to normal.
Within 8 hours: smoker’s breathe disappears, the carbon monoxide in your blood levels drops and the oxygen levels rises to normal.
Within 24 hours: your chances of heart attack decreases.
Within 48 hours: your nerve endings start to regroup. Your ability to taste and smell improves
Within 3 days: breathing is easier, you can run without wheezing.
Within 2 to 3 months: your circulation improves. Walking becomes easier. Your lung capacity improves by 30%.
Within 1 to 9 months: sinus congestion and shortness of breath decreases. Cilia that sweeps debris from your lungs grow back, increasing your lungs’ ability to handle mucus, clean the lung and prevent infection. Your energy increases.
Within 1 year: your excess risk of coronary disease is half of that of a person who smokes.
Within 2 years: your heart attack risk drops to near normal.
Within 5 years: lung cancer death rate decreases by almost half. Your risk of having a stroke reduces, your risk of developing mouth, throat and oesophageal cancer is half of that of a smoker.
Within 10 years: lung cancer death rate is similar to that of a person who does not smoke. The precancerous cells are replaced.
Within 15 years: your risk of coronary heart disease is the same of that of a person who has never smoked.
For more information on benefits on stopping smoking see https://stoptober.smokefree.nhs.uk/