Why give it up?

Your health starts to improve - immediately!

• 20 minutes after giving up smoking - blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal, circulation improves in hands and feet

• 8 hours after - nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in blood fall by half; oxygen levels return to normal. Chances of heart attack start to fall

• 24 hours after - carbon monoxide is eliminated from your body, your lungs start to clear out mucus

• 48 hours after - body is free of nicotine, smell and taste improve

• 72 hours after - you should be breathing more easily. Energy level increases

• 2-12 weeks after - circulation improves, making walking easier

• 3-9 months after - lung function increases by up to 10%. This means less coughing, wheezing and breathing difficulties

• 5 years after - heart attack risk is reduced by half

• 10 years after stopping - the risk of lung cancer is now half that of a smoker and of having a heart attack is the same as if you'd never smoked.

  Just a few facts that might help persuade you...  

• There are now over 11 million ex-smokers in the UK. If they can give it up, so can you!

• The World Health Organisation says smoking is a greater cause of death and disability than any single disease. It’s also the cause of at least 25 diseases

• Smoking greatly increases your chances of having heart attacks, strokes and developing heart disease, diabetes and lung cancer

• There are over 4,000 chemicals in tobacco, the main three being carbon monoxide, tar and nicotine. Carbon monoxide is a poison which is emitted from car exhaust pipes and reduces your oxygen levels, tar sticks to your lungs and often leads to breathing problems, and nicotine is a powerful drug which ensures you remain addicted to smoking

• If you think smoking only affects your health, check out www.stayinghard.info and www.uglysmoking.info for other nasty side-effects

• Giving up smoking will improve not only your health, but that of those around you

• Although the health risks of smoking are worse the more you smoke, giving it up shows immediate health benefits, regardless of age or the length of time you have been smoking

• Financially, you’ll be much better-off