How Long Does a Smoker’s Lungs Take to Heal

Are you finding yourself out of breath after a short walk? Or do you have a persistent cough that just won’t go away? 

If you’ve been smoking for years, maybe even decades, don’t be shocked if your GP tells you that your lungs have seriously suffered during one of your routine check-ups.

You might feel like the damage is done and that there’s no point in quitting now. 

But here’s the good news: your lungs can actually heal if you stop smoking, even though it won’t happen overnight. 

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Today, we’ll explore how this works.

The Impact of Smoking on Lung Health

When you smoke, the harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke go straight to your lungs. 

This irritates your bronchial tubes and alveoli, and over time, the cilia—those tiny hair-like structures that help keep mucus from building up—start to break down from all that smoke.

One of the worst offenders is tar. You might already know about harmful substances like aldehydes, carbon monoxide, and heavy metals like cadmium that can lead to long-term health issues. 

But, tar is particularly bad because it sticks to your bronchial tubes and lung tissue.

Not only does it make breathing difficult, but tar also traps even more harmful chemicals from the smoke, which increases your risk of conditions like COPD, cancer, emphysema, and other serious problems.

How Long Does It Take Lungs To Heal After Smoking?

The average recovery time for your lungs to function normally again is about one year. This clearly shows how important it is to stop smoking to help your lungs heal and recover.

If you quit smoking at a certain age, your lungs can recover quite a bit and may even work like they did before you started smoking. This applies whether you’ve smoked for a decade or even longer.

Once you stop, the cilia in your lungs begin to regrow and clear out all the tar and toxic chemicals. This is why you might experience heavy, dry coughing fits for a few days to a week after quitting. 

Short-Term Effects of Quitting Smoking on Lung Health

Quitting smoking for at least one day helps your cilia recover and start cleaning your lungs. While you might not feel immediate relief by breathing better or making your cough disappear, your pulse will return to normal and your circulation will have already improved.

By the 6th day, you’ll definitely feel different. You might still have bouts of coughing and wheezing, but that means your cilia are becoming more efficient at cleaning away toxins and chemicals – it’s a good thing.

Remember, this is just the beginning of your recovery – and everything’s bound to get better as the days you’ve stopped smoking pile on.

Long-Term Recovery Timeline for Smoker’s Lungs

By two weeks of stopping smoking, your withdrawal symptoms will have weakened, and you’ll also be breathing a lot better by this time as your cilia will have removed a huge amount of dangerous chemicals from your lungs. 

Because your dopamine levels have reset, you will feel less mental and emotional strain from withdrawal symptoms and even enjoy new hobbies and activities if you’ve picked some up.

By a month, you can probably start some heavier exercises like jogging and hiking. You’ll feel far less tired taking a short flight of stairs too. You can expect this to get better and better as the months go by. 

Once you’ve reached the milestone of one year, you’ll surely feel a major difference in the way you breathe and feel about yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally. Your lungs may even have returned to their normal function by this time, as if you never smoked at all.

Summary

It takes a year and a few more months for the lungs to return to their reliable function after stopping smoking. But, quitting smoking is the hardest yet simplest step you can take, and the good news is that it’s easy to quit today with the help of a GP to monitor and guide you through the journey.

And if you need a little motivation to get through the two weeks of initial difficulty in quitting and beyond, we can help.

Smokefree Clinic gives you access to many medically reviewed and trustworthy resources that can inform and aid you in your path to wellness, so have a look around! 

If you’re ready to get started, Smokefree can connect you to friendly Australian healthcare professionals who excel in helping patients quit smoking for good, including via the use of pharmacy NVPs.

Click here to book in with a doctor today.

Link Reference:

• https://www.check4cancer.com/advice-and-awareness/blog/1697-lung-recovery-after-smoking
• https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/what-happens-to-your-lungs-from-smoking–3-things-to-know.h00-159540534.html