You will feel the benefits of quitting immediately as your body repairs itself. Depending on the number of cigarettes you smoke, typical benefits of quitting are:

After twelve hours almost all of the nicotine is out of your system.

After twenty-four hours the level of carbon monoxide in your blood has dropped dramatically. You now have more oxygen in your bloodstream.

After five days most nicotine by-products have gone.

Within days your sense of taste and smell improves.

Within a month your blood pressure returns to its normal level and your immune system begins to show signs of recovery.

Within two months your lungs will no longer be producing extra phlegm caused by smoking.

After twelve months your increased risk of dying from heart disease is half that of a continuing smoker.

Quitting reduces the incidence and progression of lung disease including chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

After ten years of stopping your risk of lung cancer is less than half that of a continuing smoker and continues to decline (provided the disease is not already present).

After fifteen years your risk of heart attack and stroke is almost the same as that of a person who has never smoked.

Quitting smoking has major and immediate health benefits for men and women of all ages. These benefits apply to people with and without smoking-related diseases.

Quit for life and feel the benefits

"We don't smell anymore, we have saved money and most of all, it might improve my chances of conceiving as we have been trying to start a family."
Lita, 32, (and her husband) Quit for Life group Programme members