What to Expect When You Quit Smoking?

If you dared and quit smoking, you must be ready and expect to experience some unpleasant feelings.

These changes have a short-term character and are nothing else but the reset of the organism to the normal functioning.

It should be noted at once, that the feelings do not have any threatening impact and do not lead to the terrible consequences.

Doctors call it “withdrawal syndrome” and it is usually the fear of this syndrome that prevents many smokers from quitting smoking.

However, a person who decided to give up smoking on his own realizes that its appearing is quite possible as well as discomfort and he is ready for it.

Let’s try to figure out what to expect when you quit smoking.

What negative consequences to expect when you quit smoking?

• Bad mood and irritation.

  A person, who quit smoking, is rather angry at this period and sometimes even aggressive.

  Moreover, the mood changes are also observed – a person can easily switch his anger to the tears and show symptoms of being very nervous and depressed.

  Sometime he has unjustified feeling of anxiety, which comes along with rapid heart beating.

  Everyone has these symptoms for different periods of time: some people have them for a week, some people – for a month, but still sooner or later they leave.

  They can seldom appear later – it depends a lot on the general health condition and how long the person had been smoking.

• Weakness and absence of mind.

  After you quit smoking, the level of glucose in blood will get lower for the first three-five days.

  It may lead to different kinds of weaknesses, such as dizziness, absence of mind and headache.

  These consequences appear on different level of complexity in every organism in a unique way and some time later they disappear.

• Put on weight.

  
  It is one of the most crucial factors (especially for women) when a person makes the decision to quit smoking.

  As a rule, after a person quit smoking, he puts on weight, around 5 kg.

  It is explained by the fact that when smoking, nicotine from the inhaled smoke blocks the stomach’s receptors and kills the appetite.

  When this impact is eliminated, the appetite and the feeling of starving restore and the former smoker puts on weight.

  Besides, many people who quit smoking overeat (as a rule, the sweets) in order to cope with the wish to smoke again.

  The researches have showed that the excess weight can be removed in 1-3 weeks and not all people put on weight when they give up smoking: in average 60% men and 51% women get extra weight.

• Cough.

  Cough often bothers those who quit smoking.

  As a rule, it lasts for the first 1-3 weeks and its duration depends on how long a person had this dreadful habit.

  Cough may be rather strong and very often lungs and trachea are in pain.

  However, it only signals that the organism “frees” itself from sage and resins, which piled there, and start to renew itself.

• Weak immune system.

  Nicotine from the smoke is a kind of dope for the immune system.

  When a person quits smoking, nicotine does not get in the organism anymore and the immune system needs time to restore itself.

  That’s why at this period the chance to fall ill or catch a cold is much higher.

• Stomatitis (inflammation of the mouth cavity).

  It may be another negative aspect of quitting smoking.

  It reveals itself by painful aphthaes in the mouth and on the lips.

  Such illness may also be the consequence of the weak immune system.

• Problems with skin.

  They usually appear as inflamed acne and pimples on the face.

  The skin is very irritated and sensitive.

  Most people who quit smoking overcome these changes within 100 days.

  Nevertheless, if a person has been smoking for 20 years, it’s very naive to expect that everything will come easily and quickly.

  Every organism needs time to restore.

What positive consequences to expect when you quit smoking?

A man who gave up smoking, regardless of the short-term discomfort, gains plenty of feelings, which he lost when he was smoking.

1. The risk of having various illnesses is greatly lowered.

   You prevent such of them:

   • cardiovascular system and everything connected to it – heart attack, ischemic heart disease, brain attack;
   • respiratory system – asthma, chronic bronchitis, oncologic pathology of breathing organs;
   • organs of digestion – gastritis and stomach ulcer, problems with kidney;

2. Genitor-urinary system – bladder cancer, reproductive depression.

   The level of oxygen in the organism is already in norm 8 hours after the last cigarette.

   It improves the heart’s work, returns your pressure and the work of the internals to normal.

3. Already on the second day after you quit smoking it gets easier to breathe.
4. Two-three days later your taste perceptions get better, because they are not blocked by nicotine anymore and start to function well.

5. Together with taste improvement recovers your sense of smell.

   It happens when epithelium villi, which are located in the nose, larynx and bronchi, gradually restore.

6. A week later the face color is becomes normal again and you may expect the skin structure to improve.

   Bad smell is also eliminated from mouth, hair, skin and clothes.

   Your teeth will eventually become whiter.

7. You get rid of constant exhaustion and improve your working efficiency.

   Moreover, you get the desire to lead active lifestyle – camping, sports.

   Your mood is also excellent.

8. The wish to sleep is lessened, because your general tone is raised.
9. Your memory and speed of thinking become better and it’s much easier to concentrate.

10. Besides, you add at least two free hours for your activities.

    It’s the time you spent on smoke breaks.

11. You eliminate everyday financial expenses on cigarettes, which are the lion’s share of all your purchases.

What to expect when you quit smoking: organism’s restoring in days and months

For those who are interested what happens to the organism, when a smoker gives up this harmful habit, we’ll answer: the organism is restored and it happens approximately like this (though the process may be different for everyone):

• Day 1: the concentration of the carbon monoxide in blood is lowered, while the level of oxygen is raised; the appetite is decreased; you feel weakness and may even expect having bad sleep.
• Day 2: the lungs’ epithelium work better – they have less mucus; the cells in stomach and intestinal tract are renewed; you start coughing and should expect a rash on the skin.
• Day 3: the bronchi’s mucous membrane is also renewed when the admission of the air to heart and brains is strengthened; the tone of the blood vessels is better and the appetite is rapidly growing.
• Day 4: the blood flow to the brains returns to normal – you can expect the noise in your ears and little dizziness; antidiuretic hormone is produced again.
• Day 5: you have stethocatharsis; your sense of taste is restored and the micro injuries of the tongue are healed.
• Day 6: the work of the stomach sweetbread and gall bladder are renewed; you sweat more and may expect fits of nausea.
• Day 7: you still have stethocatharsis and start realizing your addiction to smoking on the psychological level.

This is the approximate image of what will happen during the first week of organism’s repairing.

Perhaps, these days won’t be so noticeable.

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However, a month will pass and you’ll definitely experience qualitative changes.

Besides, the people around will also notice them.

Describing the process of restoration by months, one may say you should expect something like this:

• Month 1 – the restoration happens on the cells’ level (the epithelium is renewed; the process of absorption in intestinal tract returns to normal; you may expect depression).
• Month 2 – skin is restored (you get rid of the yellow color from your face and fingers; your skin is not so dry anymore).
• Month 3 – your blood vessels are completely restored as well as your nervous system (the least vulnerability to stresses); the appetite is higher than usual, but your sleep is healthy.
• Month 4 – the skin on the face returns to normal (you finally get rid of exfoliation); your stomach produces enough hydrochloric acid.
• Month 5 – the lungs are still recovering, as well as kidney’s cells; your organism appropriately reacts to the physical load (though you should wait with running a marathon).
• Months 6-8 – the process of blood enriching with oxygen becomes normal; kidney’s regeneration is still processing; your weight comes back to normal; you may expect your senses of taste and smell to be completely restored.
• Month 9 – almost whole organism is renewed but the temptation to smoke again may be expected.
• 1 year – you can cope with physical loads of any type; the risk of falling ill with the diseases that are caused by smoking is 90% lower.

All people who could fight this bad habit have never regretted their choice!

Be among them and never doubt the accuracy of your choice.

Moreover, you should never think what to expect when you quit smoking.

Be patient, because everything has its price, which must be paid, and all those unpleasant feelings are just temporary.

However, the illnesses, which can be caused by smoking, bring much more problems and sufferings to your organism.