Not a lot of folks know this but within 2 weeks to 3 months after you quit smoking, your lung functions increase by up to 30%, and continues to improve each month thereafter.
When I quit smoking, I have to say that I felt physically better just 2 days into stopping and that's no bull.
My smoking became so bad that I couldn't stop coughing.
I coughed all day long and all night.
Sometime I woke myself up coughing.
But despite all the coughing and early morning spitting, I still loved to smoke.
I was a prisoner to nicotine.
Tobacco was my master, and I thought I was in control, that is until I tried to stop on my unaided will.
My dear aunt died of lung cancer because she smoked, and my Grandfather died of emphysema because he smoked, and one day I woke up with the usual cough and throat clearing ritual, and just said to myself I don't want to die of a smoking related disease.
Among other things, smoking increases the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), also called chronic obstructive lung disease and I just had a feeling that was the direction I was heading in as my lungs were having to work harder to breathe as time passed by.
While I'm writing about the joys of smoking, I may as well throw in that it can also lead to mouth and throat cancer and heart disease.
Then there's asthma and emphysema.
So let's not forget that it has very severe respiratory problems, and it's not only the common threat of lung cancer that smokers should be aware of.
Smokers are also more likely to get breast cancer, bronchitis and many more complaints besides.
Since quitting, I have more energy and lung capacity and can now run up the very same steps that use to have me huffing and puffing all the way to the top.
I can taste my food better and my days are not spent obsessing about the next smoke break.
It took a while to quit, but by golly I'm so glad I did.
I don't know if you've ever seen the before and after pictures of a smokers lung, but if you have, that alone should be enough to make you at least think about quitting.
The before shot is of a healthy pink lung and the after is of a disgusting, dirty black, unhealthy one.
The good news is that when a smoker quits, the lungs begin to slowly clear over time.
Medical experts say that between just two weeks to three months off the fags, and you begin to lower your risk of heart attacks, and your lung function improves noticeably.
Smoking-related deaths caused by such diseases as lung cancer heart attacks, and strokes have been falling in men, but they have been increasing in women.
In the first half of the 20th century, lung cancer in women was extremely atypical.
I was a chain smoker and lived for smoking, well almost, so if I can quit, anyone can.
There are so many helpful aids around these days to reduce the physical cravings of those early days of abstinence.
Let me just finish by saying cigarette smoking causes 87% of lung cancer deaths, raises the risk of heart disease, contributes to high blood pressure, and vascular disease, and increases those risks for other people by exposing them to second hand smoke.
Be good to yourself and those around you and at least think about the health benefits of quitting.