Stopping smoking brings many health benefits: in the long term, it reduces the risk of developing certain cancers. However, other benefits are visible from the first days of smoking cessation.
It’s never too late to quit. In France, tobacco is the leading cause of so-called avoidable mortality, and represented, in 2022, 13% of the country’s mortality. Faced with the 12 million daily French smokers, the Ministry of Health and Public Health France have launched, since 2016, the annual “tobacco-free month” operation.
This action invites smokers to give up cigarettes during the month of November, especially since quitting smoking has short and long term health benefits.
improvements from the first day without tobacco
People who stop smoking can, within twenty minutes, see their blood pressure and heart rate return to normal. A few hours after stopping smoking, carbon monoxide decreases and allows cells to be oxygenated.
In just one day, the body no longer contains nicotine. Thus, in the following days, taste and smell improve significantly. Finally, after a few weeks, fatigue decreases, as does coughing, and lung function increases.
Within a few months, the cilia in the bronchi that clear mucus begin to return to normal function, which reduces the risk of infection.
the risk of heart attack decreases in the first year
From the first year, the risk of heart attack decreases considerably: as the National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT) points out, “the excess risk of coronary heart disease is half as high as in a person who still smokes”.
After five years without smoking, the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus and bladder is reduced by half. After ten years without cigarettes, the risk of dying from lung cancer is halved compared to a person who still smokes.
In general, you have to wait fifteen years after quitting for the risk of coronary heart disease to be that of a non-smoker.
…and savings
Smoking is a major cause of death, disease and impoverishment worldwide: there are 8 million deaths each year linked to nicotine. If 7 million are due to direct tobacco consumption, some 1.3 million are non-smokers, involuntarily exposed to tobacco smoke.
In addition, according to the French Federation of Cardiology, stopping smoking represents a saving of around 300 euros per month, for 20 cigarettes per day, or in total, 3,600 euros per year.
