Quitting Will Improve Your Health
Front of Cigarette Pack (representation only) | Back of Cigarette Pack (representation only) |
Smoking is known to cause harm to nearly every organ and system of your body. It even affects organs that have no direct contact with the smoke itself. 1,2 There is no safe level of tobacco use. 3
About half of regular smokers will die of a smoking related disease and will die earlier than non-smokers. 1,4
Quitting smoking at any age has short and long term health benefits. Quitting will reduce the risks for diseases caused by smoking and will help to improve your health in general. 1,4
Once you quit smoking, your body starts to recover in the following ways:
- 12 hours - almost all nicotine has been metabolised.
- 24 hours - blood levels of carbon monoxide have dropped dramatically. This means that there is more haemoglobin in red blood cells available to carry oxygen to the body's cells.
- Five days - most nicotine by-products have been removed. Your sense of taste and smell improve.
- Six weeks - risk of wound infection after surgery is substantially reduced.
- Three months - cilia begin to recover, meaning your lungs regain the ability to clean themselves, and overall lung function improves.
- One year - risk of coronary heart disease is halved compared to continuing smokers.
- 10 years - risk of lung cancer is less than half that of a continuing smoker and continues to decline.
- 15 years - risk of coronary heart disease is the same as a non-smoker. 1,2,4,5
- For women who quit smoking before pregnancy, or in the early months of pregnancy, their risk of having a low birthweight baby drops to the same level of risk as women who have never smoked.
- Stopping smoking slows the rate of loss of lung capacity in chronic airways disease.
- Improved appearance of skin and fitness.
- Saves money - based on one $10 pack of cigarettes per day, in one year the cost is $3650 and over five years $ 18,250. 4,5
The people you live with, especially your children, will also be healthier if you quit smoking. In addition, reducing children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke can lead to reduced school absence, improved school performance and reduced uptake of smoking by children. 8,9
Decided to quit? For help, talk to your doctor or pharmacist, call the Quitline on 131 848 or visit the Quitline web site at www.quitnow.info.au
Sources
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: what it means to you . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr_2004/consumerpiece/index.htm
- American Council on Science and Health. Cigarettes: What the warning label doesn't tell you. Second edition. New York, American Council on Science and Health, 2003.
- Health Foundation. Cigarette Smoking information sheet, 2002. http://www.heartfoundation.com.au/downloads/Cigarette_Smoking_Aug_2002.pdf
- Smoking Cessation Guidelines for Australian General Practice . 2004 Edition. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-publicat-document-smoking_cessation-cnt.htm/$FILE/smoking_cessation.pdf
- Fact sheet: Women and Smoking. Department of Health and Ageing. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-drugs-tobacco-women-and-smoking.htm
- The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the U.S. Surgeon General . Atlanta, Georgia. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr_2004/index.htm
- Tengs, T. and Osgood, N. The link between smoking and impotence: Two decades of evidence. Preventive Medicine 2001; 32(6): 337-452.
- NDS (National Drug Strategy) 2002. Environmental tobacco smoke in Australia. National Tobacco Strategy 1999 to 2002-03. Occasional paper. Canberra: Department of Health and Ageing. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/Publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-publicat-document-env_ets-cnt.htm/$FILE/env_ets.pdf
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2004. Australia's health 2004. Canberra: AIHW. www.aihw.gov.au/publications/aus/ah04/ah04-050222.pdf
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Smoking and your body
Tobacco use reduces not only your life expectancy but your quality of life. Many medical conditions caused by smoking can result not just in death, but in living for years with disabling health problems.
Quitters help
Quitting smoking can be one of the most difficult, yet rewarding things a person can do. Most smokers' say they would like to quit, and may have tried at least once. Some are successful the first time, but many other people try a number of times before they finally give up for good.
Health care professionals
Practical information on smoking cessation and effective strategies that general practitioners and other practice staff can apply to identify smokers and assist them to stop smoking.
Parents and smoking
Smoking causes many harms to your body but also to those around you that are younger. How does your smoking affect the ones you care for?