Health Benefits of Quitting Smoking Over Time
It’s never too late to quit using tobacco. The sooner you quit, the more you can reduce your chances of getting cancer and other diseases.
Within minutes of smoking your last cigarette, your body begins to recover:
20 minutes after quitting |
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Your heart rate and blood pressure drop. |
12 hours after quitting |
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The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal. |
2 weeks to 3 months after quitting |
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Your circulation improves and your lung function increases. Your risk of a heart attack starts to decrease. |
1 to 9 months after quitting |
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Coughing and shortness of breath decrease. |
1 year after quitting |
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Your risk of heart disease is cut in half. |
2 to 5 years after quitting |
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Your risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder is cut in half. Your stroke risk drops to that of a person who doesn't smoke. |
10 years after quitting |
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You are half as likely to die from lung cancer than a person who is still smoking. Your risk of cancer of the pancreas and kidney decreases. |
15 years after quitting |
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Your risk of coronary heart disease is the same as someone who doesn’t smoke. |
These are just a few of the health benefits of quitting smoking, but there are others, too.
Quitting smoking lowers your risk of other cancers over time, including cancers of the stomach, liver, cervix, colon, and rectum as well as acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Quitting also lowers your risk of heart and lung problems such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung infections, and circulation around your heart and other body parts.
People who quit smoking can also add as much as 10 years to their life, compared to people who continue to smoke.
Quitting while you're younger can reduce your health risks more (for example, quitting before the age of 40 reduces the risk of dying from smoking-related disease by about 90%). But quitting at any age can give back years of life that would be lost by continuing to smoke.
Are there other benefits of quitting that I’ll notice right away?
Kicking the tobacco habit offers other rewards that you’ll notice right away and some that will show up over time.
Right away you’ll save the money you would have spent on tobacco. You may also notice these benefits:
- Food tastes better.
- Your sense of smell returns to normal.
- Your breath, hair, and clothes smell better.
- Your teeth and fingernails stop yellowing.
- Ordinary activities (like climbing stairs or light housework) leave you less out of breath.
- You can be in smoke-free buildings without having to go outside to smoke.
- Written by
- References
Developed by the American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team with medical review and contribution by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
American Lung Association. Reasons to Quit Smoking. Lung.org. Accessed at https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/i-want-to-quit/reasons-to-quit-smoking on August 23, 2024.
Rigotti NA, Kruse GR, Livingstone-Banks J, Hartmann-Boyce J. Treatment of Tobacco Smoking: A Review. JAMA. 2022;327(6):566-577.
Smokefree.gov. Reasons to quit. Accessed at https://smokefree.gov/quit-smoking/why-you-should-quit/reasons-to-quit on August 21, 2024.
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Smoking and Tobacco Use: Benefits of Quitting. 2020. Accessed at https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/about/benefits-of-quitting.html on August 21, 2024.
US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health. Smoking Cessation. A Report of the Surgeon General. 2020. Accessed at https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2020-cessation-sgr-full-report.pdf on August 21, 2024.
US Department of Health and Human Services. What you need to know about quitting smoking: Advice from the Surgeon General. Accessed at https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2020-cessation-sgr-consumer-guide.pdf on August 21, 2024.
World Population Review. Cigarette Prices by State 2024. Accessed at https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/cigarette-prices-by-state on August 23, 2024.
Last Revised: October 28, 2024
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