The health consequences of smoking range from chronic irritation of the bronchial tubes and weakening of the immune system to lung cancer. In Germany, the number of smokers has recently increased to almost 33 percent, as a long-term study shows. Every smoker knows that smoking is not good for your health, but getting rid of the fag is difficult for many. The facts speak in favor of quitting. According to the Federal Ministry of Health, 127,000 Germans die every year as a result of tobacco consumption. On average, heavy smokers lose ten years of their lifetime.
The good news is that quitting smoking has positive health effects at any age. Cigarette smoke contains over 4000 substances, including tar, chromium, benzene, arsenic and lead. They sometimes do a lot of damage to the body. Not reaching for the fag every day is one of the most important points to improve your own health. Among other things, it reduces the risk of twelve types of cancer, including liver, stomach, esophagus and lung cancer. Even after decades of smoking, the body manages to recover if no permanent organic damage has occurred. Statistically speaking, anyone who starts giving up nicotine at the age of 25 to 35 extends their life by ten years. Life expectancy after quitting smoking between the ages of 55 and 64 increases by four years.
Changes sometimes set in after a short time
New non-smokers can notice some effects relatively soon after the last cigarette: the food tastes better, the sense of smell normalizes, breath and hair smell better. The body needs a little longer for some effects, as a cohort study with 8770 participants from the USA shows. Almost 2,400 subjects were heavy smokers – if they stopped smoking, their risk of cardiovascular disease was reduced by almost 40 percent in the first five years without a cigarette. It took subjects 10, 15, and in some cases 25 years to have the same low risk as lifelong non-smokers and lifelong non-smokers. In the picture gallery we show what happens in the body and when after the last cigarette.
Sources:Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon General, cdc, American Cancer Society, Campaign smoke free, German Cancer Research Center 1, Lung doctors online, German Cancer Research Center 2, Study from the USA in Jama