Senior Smokers: Quit Smoking and Stay Fit – Degenerative Diseases and Smoking
2017-04-26
If you love yourself and your loved ones, you should know about these! At the Stop Centres, we invite all smokers to take a moment and have a look.
20 Minutes after quitting
Your blood pressure drops to a level similar to that before your last cigarette.
8 Hours after quitting
The level of carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) in your blood drops to normal.
24 hours after quitting
Your risk of having a heart attack starts to drop.
2 Weeks to 3 Months after quitting
The airways in your lungs relax and you can get more air into your lungs and breathe easier.
1 to 9 Months after quitting
You cough less and your lungs are even stronger.
1 Year after quitting
Your added risk of coronary heart disease is half than that of a smoker's.
5 Years after quitting
You have the same chance of having a stroke as a non-smoker.
10 Years after quitting
Your chance of dying from lung cancer is much lower. So is your chance of getting cancer in your mouth, throat, oesophagus, bladder, kidney, and/or pancreas.
15 Years after quitting
Your risk of coronary heart disease is similar to that of a non-smoker.1
There is no doubt that smoking can have serious consequences for a person's health, but just how much effect can it have on your life expectancy? We take a look at some statistics.
Researchers at 'Action on Smoking and Health' have reported that a 30-year-old smoker can expect to live about 35 more years, whereas a 30-year-old non-smoker can expect to live 53 more years.2
To be more exact: every cigarette a man smokes reduces his life by 11 minutes. Each carton of cigarettes thus represents a day and a half of lost life. Every year a man smokes a pack a day, he shortens his life by almost 2 months.3
Therefore, if you want to live longer and enjoy a better quality of life: QUIT SMOKING!
1 Source: Health Canada (https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/healthy-living/road-quitting-guide-becoming-non-smoker.html#a3)
2 Source: Smokers urged to weigh the 'facts' during the 'Great American Smoke-Out,' Vital Signs, The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia, Nov. 14, 1993, written by June Russell, a member of Smoke-Free Charlottesville
3 Source: University of California, Berkeley Wellness Letter, April 2000
