BENEFITS OF QUITTING SMOKING

Breathe Easier
• The carbon monoxide level in your bloodstream increases with smoking. This robs your body of necessary oxygen. After quitting, carbon monoxide levels will decrease and oxygen levels will return to normal within in eight hours.
• Bronchial tubes will relax within three days and lung capacity will increase.
• Cilia in lungs will grow back within six to nine months. Cilia clean the mucus out of your lungs. Lung function, resistance to infection, and energy level will increase.
A Healthy Heart
• Increased blood pressure and pulse rates return to normal within 20 minutes of your last cigarette.
• Constricted blood vessel return to normal. Body temperature of hands and feet increases to a normal level also within 20 minutes.
• Risk of heart attack decreases within 24 hours.
A Healthy Environment for Friends and Family
• Breathing the cigarettes smoke of others can cause disease, including lung cancer, even in healthy nonsmokers.
• Children of parents who smoke experience more illnesses at all ages including respiratory infections, bronchitis, pneumonia and asthma.
• A teenager is almost as likely to be a smoker if one or both parents smoke.
Freedom From Addiction
• In five to seven days, addicting nicotine is gone from your body.
A Healthy Fresh Feeling
• Clothes, hair, breath, even your car will have a clean, fresh smell free of cigarette smoke.
• Teeth and fingers will be free of tobacco stains.
Money in your Pocket
• Save $2,920 per year* if you smoke two packs a day ($14,600 in five years)! *estimate at $3/pack

If you are interested in a Smoking Cessation Program please call Vernon Memorial Healthcare Community Health Educator at 637-4298.

American Lung Association of Wisconsin
1-800-LUNG-USA/800-586-4872