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No matter how old you are, how long you have
smoked, or even if you already have a smoking-related disease, smoking
cessation has major and immediate health benefits for men and women,
including:
- 20 minutes after quitting your pulse rate slows
down and blood pressure drops towards normal.
- Within hours the level of carbon monoxide in your
blood drops, enabling your blood to carry more oxygen.
- Two days after quitting, nerve endings begin to
recover and your sense of smell and taste begin to improve.
- Lung volume increases within 72 hours.
- Within months after quitting, shortness of breath
diminishes.
- In the first year, the risk of heart attack attributed
to smoking declines for both men and women.
- Two to three years after quitting, the risk of
heart attack attributed to smoking is virtually gone.
- After 10 years, the risk of developing cancer
is about the same as for nonsmokers.
(Information excerpted from Smoking Cessation brochure provided
by France Avenue Family Physicians)
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