Even after just one day: This is how your body changes when you quit smoking.

Smoking is deadly. Those who manage to quit are not only doing their wallets a huge favor, but above all, their health. Read here how the body changes after one day, one week, and one year.

It is common knowledge that quitting smoking is extremely beneficial. This isn't just something medical professionals are aware of: smoking is the number one preventable cancer risk. Tobacco smoke from cigarettes causes or contributes to almost 20 percent of all cancers. As if that weren't enough, the smoke also damages blood vessels, the respiratory system, bones, teeth, and gums over time. It can also impair erections and fertility.

Researchers have now discovered that smoking also leaves traces on the immune system, and these traces are more pronounced the longer and the more cigarettes are smoked. Smoking affected the innate immune system, including increased inflammatory responses. However, these effects were only temporary and disappeared when smoking was stopped. There were, however, lasting effects on the acquired immune response, which persisted for many years after smoking cessation and altered cytokine levels during infections and other immune challenges.

Quitting smoking offers significant health benefits, even for heavy smokers. It's astonishing how the body can recover despite the high potential for damage caused by smoking. If no permanent organ damage has yet occurred, quitting smoking can lead to a restoration of health.

Quit smoking: First positive effects after just a few minutes

Positive changes become noticeable quickly: The body begins to regenerate immediately after the last puff of a cigarette - and this applies to men and women alike.

The age at which you quit smoking matters: A study by Australian scientists has shown that people who quit smoking before the age of 45 can reduce their increased risk of cardiovascular disease by 90 percent.

The body changes and regenerates at the following pace:

Blood circulation improves within just a few minutes of quitting smoking.

Washing your hair and brushing your teeth eliminates the cigarette smell and bad breath, which smokers often don't even notice themselves. If you schedule a professional dental cleaning on your first day as a non-smoker, the yellowish-brown plaque that makes smokers' teeth unnaturally dark over time will also be removed.

While this is more of an aesthetic than a health-related change, it helps to resist the urge to smoke. Nicotine withdrawal can be very difficult in the first few weeks. Some doctors recommend that smokers who simply cannot resist their nicotine cravings initially switch to e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, or vaporizers like IQOS.

These are significantly less harmful than smoking conventional cigarettes because they only heat a liquid instead of burning a substance, as Professor Martin Storck, specialist in vascular surgery and director of the Clinic for Vascular and Thoracic Surgery at the Karlsruhe Municipal Hospital, explains. "This reduces the amount of released pollutants such as formaldehyde or carbon monoxide by an average of 95 percent."

Of course, complete abstinence from smoking is the healthiest option. Within minutes of the last cigarette, the body's first repair mechanisms kick in: After just 20 minutes, pulse and blood pressure return to their individual normal levels.

At the same time, blood circulation improves. This means, among other things, that the accelerated skin aging caused by smoking is stopped. Cold, poorly circulated hands and feet also become warmer.

After a day without cigarettes

The unpleasant smells and tastes caused by the harmful waste products of cigarettes are no longer present in the mucous membranes.

In the past, carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke displaced the oxygen in red blood cells. Now this situation is changing: the carbon monoxide level in the blood is decreasing, and the oxygen level is increasing. This allows for better oxygen supply to all organs and improves physical performance.

One week smoke-free

After 48 hours without a cigarette, the often impaired sense of taste and smell in smokers begins to improve. Perceptions of scents and flavors become more intense.

Breathing becomes easier after three days without tobacco cigarettes.

1-3 months without cigarettes

The body recovers. Lung function improves. It becomes easier to be physically active, whether in everyday life or during sports.

The skin benefits from improved blood circulation and will look rosier and fresher a month after quitting smoking, as it has regenerated on the surface. However, wrinkles caused by smoking cannot be reversed.

1 year as a non-smoker

Lung capacity increases, and the airways become clear. Deposits and mucus in the airways are gradually eliminated.

Symptoms typically experienced by smokers, such as coughing fits, blocked sinuses, or shortness of breath, decrease.

The probability of contracting infections decreases.

5 years without cigarettes

Now, ex-smokers are no longer worse off than non-smokers when it comes to many illnesses:

• 100 percent lower risk of stroke
• 100 percent lower risk of cervical cancer
• 50 percent lower risk of cancer in the oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, and bladder
• 50 percent lower risk of heart attack

10 years as a non-smoker

The risk of death from lung cancer is reduced by approximately half.

The risk of laryngeal and pancreatic cancer decreases.

15 years cigarette-free

The risk of coronary heart disease is ultimately no higher than that of a lifelong non-smoker.

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