Quitting smoking has many health benefits, some of which happen right from the first minutes after quitting. Here are a few examples.
Time since quitting | Health benefits |
|---|---|
20 minutes | Your blood pressure and heart rate return to normal level. |
8 hours | The rate of carbon monoxide (CO) in your blood decreases until it is back to normal. |
24 hours | Your risk of coronary heart disease begins to decline. |
Between 2 weeks and 9 months | Your breathing capacity will increase. |
1 year | Your risk for heart disease decreases by half. |
5 to 15 years | Your risk of having a stroke lowers. After 15 years, this risk is comparable to that of a person who has never smoked. |
10 years | Your risk of developing lung cancer is about two times less than a smoker. |
Quitting smoking is beneficial regardless of:
- Your age at the time you quit smoking
- Your age when you started smoking
- The amount of cigarettes you smoke a day
Quitting smoking has many advantages, including:
- Improvement of your overall health
- Lower risk of a smoking-related death
- Increased life expectancy compared to someone who continues smoking. For example, if you quit smoking:
- Between 25 and 34, your life expectancy increases by about 10 years
- Between 35 and 44, your life expectancy increases by about 9 years
- Between 45 and 54, your life expectancy increases by about 6 years
Help and resources
If you wish to stop smoking, the following free services are available to help you:
- Quit Smoking Centres
- iQuitnow helpline: 1-866-527-7383
- iQuitnow website
- The Quit to Win! Challenge
Some pharmaceutical products that can help you quit smoking are covered by the public prescription drug insurance plan. To learn more, read the section on smoking-cessation products on the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ)’s Prescription Drugs Covered page.
Last update: August 29, 2018
