What happens when you stop smoking - No more blowing smoke

When you take the top off your 20 pack of cigs, and spark that smoking encounter, you’re sure to have your breath taken away, but as with anything, the moment passes and all you’re left with is a bitter taste in your mouth.

Whether in denial or not, you know, deep in your lungs that you’ve got yourself caught up in a toxic relationship. Even still, you force yourself to live with it because ultimately “you couldn’t imagine life without smoking cigarettes”.

This doesn’t reflect you as a person, you’re no fool to fall for such smoke and mirrors.

All you need to know is that once you dump cigarettes on their head, you’ll see your life transform for the better, and trust us the benefits will add up minute to minute. In short, nothing but benefit is in store for you, with cigarettes left shelved and begging for you to come back.

‘Cause at the end of the day, cigarettes need you more than you ever needed them.

What happens when you stop smoking - A comprehensive ‘timeline’ infographic 

Let’s rub it in cigarettes ashy face even more, and layout a timeline of how much life improves once quitting smoking.

The short and long-term effects of drinking alcohol - An overview

Generally speaking, the negative effects of alcohol can be split into two camps, short-term and long-term. We believe it’s essential to paint an all-encompassing picture that highlights the short and long-term effects that alcohol consumption on one’s physical and mental wellbeing.

By knowing the many plots of alcohol, hopefully, you’re more convinced to stop alcohol in its tracks.

20 minutes after having last smoked a cigarette - An overview

In the time it takes you to get through an episode of Friends you would have already started to experience the benefits of quitting smoking cigarettes. Cue the laugh track.

To begin with, your blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal levels, which being:

Normal blood pressure – 120/80mmHg
Normal pulse rate – 60 – 100 beats per minute

Additionally, the fibres that line your airways, specifically your bronchial tubes that were previously crippled, start to move around again. This movement allows the bronchial fibres to remove irritants and bacteria out of the lungs, a process that significantly reduces the risk of infection. 
Again, all that in 20 minutes.

8 hours after having last smoked a cigarette

It is recommended that we get 8 hours of sleep per day, which means to say that you can benefit from the second step of the timeline whilst catching Zzz’s and dreaming away.  
Carbon monoxide (CO) and nicotine are both predominant components of cigarette smoke.

Moreover, CO is an odourless and colourless gas that works to displace oxygen in the blood, and ultimately deprives the heart, brain, and other vital organs of their life source, oxygen. Sounds like a scene out of a SAW movie.

A pack of cigarettes can lead to a 3% to 6% level of CO in the blood, pretty scary to be honest.
When 8 hours have elapsed since your last cigarette, the CO level in the body reduces by half. As a consequence, oxygen can reclaim its throne and nourish the blood and subsequently vital organs. 
As with CO, the levels of nicotine are also reduced to half within this timeframe of 8 hours.

48 hours after having last smoked a cigarette

2 days have elapsed, your dedication is showing and you deserve to be rewarded, and so your lungs start the process of clearing your body of pesky mucus and hostile cancer-causing (carcinogenic) debris.

Further adding on to the 8 hour mark, the levels of CO and nicotine reduce to zero.

Additionally, many people begin to regain their previously dulled sense of taste and smell.

72 hours after having last smoked a cigarette

You’re three days in and cigarettes are on the ropes, swinging at nothing but fresh air.  
The bronchial tubes in the lungs have begun to relax, and open up. This means your lung capacity is greater than it was three days prior. This improved breathing gives you the extra air needed to KO cigarettes before they have an opportunity to comeback and hook you again.

2-12 weeks after having last smoked a cigarette

You’ve fought your way to 2 weeks cigarette-free, take it in your stride, ‘cause let us face it, at this point in the timeline, not only are you breathing better, but you’re also walking about more easily, stepping on the tarmac with a newfound swagger.

At the 4-week mark, you’ll sense your energy levels shoot through the roof and can expect to feel far less congested.

Your blood circulation begins to improve, making physical activity much easier. Over this period, your immune system is boosted, and additionally, this increased oxygen supply reduces headaches and tiredness.

3-9 months after having last smoked a cigarette

A sad reality of smoking cigarettes is that as a woman, your fertility and chances to conceive take a major hit. The good news, however, within three months of quitting, fertility begins to improve, and subsequently the chances to conceive increase, and if pregnant the chances of a premature birth drop drastically.

On top of this, reduced exposure to cigarette smoke and chemicals reduces inflammation, allowing for improvements in breathing and in turn reducing the annoyance of smoker’s cough and wheeze.

Additionally, you may also notice that you’re coughing up far less of the mucus and phlegm that you’ve become accustomed to as a smoker.

1 year after you last smoked a cigarette

I hope at this point you’ve realised that the grass is greener, and the newfound breath you’ve gained allows you to run laps like you never could before.

But what else is green and tied to cigarettes, let me give you a clue, I starts with “M”.
Money, moola, spondulicks, oh that doesn’t start with “m”. Whatever you wanna call it, just know at this point you would’ve saved thousands upon thousands, money that you could’ve invested or saved for a rainy day.
 
Additionally, the risk of heart attack falls to half of that which you would’ve been exposed if you continued blowing smoke.

10 years after having last smoked a cigarette - An overview

I hope at this point you’ve realised that the grass is greener, and the newfound breath you’ve gained allows you to run laps like you never could before.

15 years after having last smoked a cigarette

The risk of heart attack and stroke now falls to that of someone who has never smoked a day in their life, and once and for all cigarettes don’t have a thing on you.

Conclusion

The liver is the centre of alcohol processing where it is metabolised and eventually removed. The liver can become short-staffed and easily overburdened when the amount of alcohol needed to be processed gets too much. What happens when you’re overworked, eventually you’re bound to break, and in the case of the liver this presents as scarring (cirrhosis) of healthy liver tissue.

As of right now, there are no treatments available for the reversal of liver cirrhosis. Despite this, prompt abstinence from alcohol consumption can prevent further damage from occurring and becomes the only means of prolonging life expectancy in this regard.