Key takeaways
- Quitting smoking introduces many benefits within just one year
- One year smoke-free: Heart health improves significantly.
- One month: Skin appearance improves noticeably.
- Nine months: Asthma symptoms, breathing issues diminish.
- One year: Reduced coronary heart disease risk.
After 12 months of quitting smoking, you can be sure your body is already on its way to recovery. You’ve gone through the worst of nicotine withdrawals and your psychological symptoms are out of the door at this point.
For sure, you’re feeling well that your body is returning to excellent health after 12 months of quitting smoking.
Let’s see exactly what you’re feeling right now.
12 Months Smoke-Free: What Happens During the First Year
You should congratulate yourself after quitting smoking — it’s one of the most challenging things anyone can do for their health. We can tell you that 12 months of quitting smoking is no small feat.
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Truth be told, you get significant health improvements immediately after the first 20 minutes you quit smoking. Your blood pressure and heart rate has dropped minutes after — significantly reducing your risk of stroke.
Within six hours of stopping smoking, you have zero carbon monoxide in the body. That’s a lot of risks entirely reduced in your body. Carbon monoxide can cause dizziness, pain and confusion, among other more life-altering diseases.
By three days, your body will start adapting to zero nicotine in your system. Your body has cleared itself of nicotine at this point — and your struggle with severe nicotine withdrawals may have just begun at this time.
Within one week, you’ll find that food tastes better and your sense of smell is much sharper. The absence of smoke allows your taste buds and smell receptors to improve — so now your favourite food and snacks are tasting even better.
Now that you’re a month free from cigarettes, your skin has significantly improved with noticeably zero yellowing around your teeth and fingernails.
In three more months, your blood circulation is on a great roll. You’re also breathing better as your lungs have significantly recovered from the damage caused by cigarette smoke.
Within nine months, you have zero breathing difficulties and coughing.
You may notice you’re able to exercise more vigorously than you could when you smoked, or find you’re less out of breath completing day-to-day activities.
As you can see, your body has already undergone a number of positive changes within the last 12 months. You may have noticed some of these changes, while others may have passed you by.
Take a moment to congratulate yourself on taking a huge step towards a healthier lifestyle and future.
Now you’re at the one-year mark, what changes can you expect to see next?
12 Months After Quitting Smoking
At this point, noticeable changes will begin setting in, and your risk of disease reduces significantly.
The risk of coronary heart disease increases drastically if you smoke. So, 12 months after quitting smoking, are you still at major risk of coronary heart disease?
Incredibly, when you’ve gone 12 months without smoking, your risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) is half of what it was when you were smoking.
This means your risk of blood clotting and heart attack from CHD lowers, too.
You’ll also notice clear improvements in your lung function and stress levels, and you may notice weight gain or fluctuations.
Lungs After 12 Months of No Smoking
12 months after quitting smoking, you’re likely to experience less coughing and shortness of breath. This is because the cilia in your lungs begin to function normally again.
The cilia are very small, hair-like structures that line the lungs. Their primary role is to rid the lungs of debris, bacteria, and viruses so that we can breathe deeply and properly.
When you smoke, the chemicals within the cigarettes damage your cilia and collect in your lungs. The cilia then have to work harder to clear it.
This often results in a cough, known as the smoker’s cough.
Cilia regain movement immediately minutes after you’ve stopped smoking. These resilient parts of your lungs will regenerate and start cleaning your lungs free from smoke’s dangerous chemicals — that is, until you smoke another cigarette.
It is during sleep that cilia works better in clearing the chemicals of cigarette smoke from your body. This explains why your cough is worse in the morning, especially after you’ve just recently stopped smoking cigarettes.
One full year without smoking means your cilia is fully functional and have significantly healed. Without cigarette smoke to damage it, your lungs have a bigger reduction in the risk of toxic buildup and lung infections.
Stress After 12 Months Without Smoking
A research study found that people who quit smoking 12 months ago experienced fewer episodes of stress and restlessness.
It’s believed that people who quit experienced less stress overall because they no longer suffered from the nicotine withdrawal symptoms that occur in between each cigarette.
Cigarettes contain nicotine, which is a highly addictive chemical. When you smoke, your body becomes accustomed to receiving a regular dose of nicotine during the day.
If your body doesn’t receive the hit of nicotine it craves, you’ll begin to experience nicotine withdrawal symptoms.
These symptoms actually begin as soon as you put out your cigarette. When you haven’t smoked for a few hours, your body sends you signals that it’s craving nicotine.
You may start to feel anxious, restless, or irritable. These very symptoms prompt you to reach for your next cigarette.
At the one-year mark, you are no longer physically or emotionally dependent on nicotine. You will no longer be experiencing the stress and restlessness that occurred daily in between cigarettes when you smoked.
This significant reduction in your stress levels is beneficial for your overall mental and physical health.
Weight Gain After 12 Months Smoke-Free
Wondering why you’ve gained weight since stopping smoking 12 months ago? You aren’t alone.
Many people experience weight gain after they quit, however, in most cases, this is a sign that your body is returning to a healthy state.
The nicotine content in cigarettes speeds up the metabolism, which means your body burns calories quicker.
Nicotine also suppresses appetite. So, when you smoke, you’re likely eating less and burning more calories, which results in weight loss.
Of course, the weight loss you experience due to smoking is not an indication of health — it signals that the cigarette toxins are interrupting your body’s natural processes.
When you quit smoking, your metabolism slows back down to its normal rate. You may also feel hungrier because nicotine is no longer suppressing your appetite.
You might also be exercising more regularly due to better lung function, and eating more as a result. All of these changes can cause weight gain.
A study showed that smoking resulted in an average increase of 4 to 5kg in body weight 12 months after quitting. Most weight gain occurred in the first 3 months after quitting.
However, weight changes were varied among participants. 16% of quitters had actually lost weight 12 months after quitting, while 13% had gained more than 10kg.
While you may be frustrated by weight gain, in most cases, this signals your body is functioning normally again and returning to a healthy state.
For some people, food is used to cope with quitting smoking. If you feel this may be an issue for you, check in with your doctor.
They will be able to provide you with coping strategies to ensure you’re maintaining a balanced diet.
What Happens Next?
Fortunately, the longer you stay smoke-free, the more positive changes you’ll experience in your body.
You’ll see this effect throughout the timeline to quit smoking most motivated smokers go through.
After one year smoke-free, your risk of developing other cancers — including stomach, liver, colon, rectum, and pancreatic cancer — reduces significantly. You are also less likely to develop diabetes as your blood vessels begin to work better.
In fact, quitting smoking can add 20 years to your life. Quitting younger can reduce health risks even further. If you quit before the age of 40, your risk of dying from smoking-related diseases is reduced by 90%.
When you’ve gone five years smoke-free, your stroke risk is the same as the risk for a non-smoker.
At 10 years, your lung cancer risk is half of what it was when you were smoking.
At the 15-year mark, your heart disease risk is the same as that of non-smokers.
A Final Word
12 months after quitting smoking, your body is already reaping the rewards of a cigarette-free lifestyle.
At this point, your risk of coronary heart disease is already half of what it was when you smoked. Your lung function and stress levels are also significantly improved.
You have worked your way through the hardest period of quitting. From here, you can look forward to further health improvements and a reduced risk of disease.
If you also need help stopping smoking or need more information to do so, 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.
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