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Ears
As one of the benefits of quitting, you may notice your hearing sharpens as it improves.
Mouth
Teeth are brighter, mouth is less stained, and overall mouth health improves. Within a week of quitting, your sense of taste and smell should improve too.
Eyes
By quitting, you can stop the damage smoking does to your eyes. After quitting, vision is restored, and night vision is improved.
Skin
Skin becomes clearer within a month of quitting, with fewer blemishes. Collagen increases as ageing of your skin slows to a normal rate, helping to prevent premature lines and wrinkles.
Smaller belly
After quitting smoking, your belly fat reduces. Your risk for diabetes will also decrease. For those who have diabetes, blood sugar control also improves.
Female hormones
Oestrogen levels will gradually return to normal after you quit smoking. Quitting will also have a positive impact on your fertility, increasing your ability to get pregnant, and to enjoy a healthier pregnancy.
Performance
Smoking alters the blood flow necessary for an erection, affecting not only sexual performance, but reproduction as well. Quitting smoking lowers your chances of erectile dysfunction. As for fertility, smoking lowers sperm count and volume, and increases the likelihood of sperm abnormality. By quitting, you can turn all that around.
Menstruation
If you smoke and take the contraceptive pill, you may be more likely to develop heart disease than women who do not smoke. By quitting, you will reduce that risk, while potentially experiencing fewer menstrual issues.
Menopause
Smoking may cause menopause at a younger age than women who do not smoke. When you quit, you may experience menopause at an age closer to that of a non-smoker, while feeling the effects with less severity.
White blood cells
After quitting, your white blood cell count returns to normal. These healthy cells can now better protect the entire body, as they no longer have to fight inflammation caused by tobacco.
Increased healing ability
Within three months of quitting, blood is less thick and sticky, improving blood flow. Getting important nutrients and oxygen to wounds becomes easier, allowing them to heal quicker.
Immune system
After you stop smoking, your immune system is no longer exposed to tar and nicotine, and within a week, you will have higher blood levels of protective antioxidants such as vitamin C. Within three months, your immune system will begin to recover, allowing it to repair itself and work harder to protect against future illness.
Reduced cancer risk
Quitting smoking completely will mean your risk of developing most cancers will generally decrease. Why? When you quit smoking, the damage to your DNA stops, while DNA that has already been damaged has the chance to repair itself.
Prevent emphysema
While there is no cure for emphysema, quitting smoking now will halt the damage to the delicate air sacs in your lungs, reducing the risk of developing emphysema.
Cilia return
Not long after you quit smoking, cilia start to regrow, regaining their ability to clear foreign particles and defend your body against illness. While you may notice you cough more than usual when you first quit, this is actually a sign the cilia are starting to function again.
Damage stops
Can your lungs recover from smoking? While scarring of the lungs is not reversible, you can stop further damage as soon as you quit. After two weeks, breathing and exercise is easier. In two months, your lungs will no longer be producing extra phlegm caused by smoking, and in three months, your lung function and blood flow will be markedly improved.
Blood
When you quit, your blood thins and is less likely to form blood clots. Your heart will not have to work as hard, moving blood around your body more easily.
Cholesterol
When you quit, the levels of cholesterol and fats circulating in your blood should diminish, which will help to slow the buildup of new fat deposits in your arteries.
Heart health
Immediately after quitting smoking, blood pressure and heart rate are lower, with your risk of experiencing a heart attack decreasing within 24 hours. After just one year, your risk of heart disease will have halved. After five years, your risk of a stroke will have dramatically decreased. After 15 years, risk of heart disease is the same as that of a person who has never smoked.
Healthy muscles
After quitting, the oxygen in your blood increases and creates healthier muscles, allowing them to become stronger over time.
Strong bones
Bones will also become stronger after quitting, which means your risk of fractures or breaks should decreas, and the risks of osteoporosis.
Pregnancy
While quitting earlier is best for you and your baby, quitting any time will give your baby the opportunity for a healthier start to life — reducing risks of complications at birth.
Oxygen
Reduced amount of carbon monoxide in your blood, allowing for increased oxygen levels, which is important for the healthy growth of your baby.
Toxic chemicals
Cigarette smoke contains more than 7000 chemicals, such as hydrogen, cyanide and carbon monoxide. When you quit, your body starts to get rid of these chemicals immediately, which is good for both you and your baby.
Placenta
The improved blood flow you experience after quitting smoking means your placenta receives more nutrients, allowing it to better feed and nourish your baby.
Breastfeeding
After quitting smoking, the toxic chemicals found in cigarette smoke are no longer passed onto your baby through your breast milk.
Miscarriage
Quitting smoking reduces your risk of miscarriage, while also decreasing the chance of other serious complications and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).