Skip to content

Better Health Starts After the Last Cigarette

I quit!

Congratulations for taking steps to improve your health! After the last cigarette, the road to better health starts within minutes and continues for years. Here are the changes your body experiences along that journey.


Graph of benefits of quitting smoking

20 Minutes after Your Last Cigarette

In less than half an hour, blood pressure, pulse rate and body temperature all drop to normal levels.

Graph of benefits of quitting smoking

8 Hours after Your Last Cigarette

In less than a day, the carbon monoxide and oxygen levels in the blood become normal, and "smoker's breath" disappears.

Graph of benefits of quitting smoking

24 Hours after Your Last Cigarette

In one day, your chances of a heart attack decrease.

Graph of benefits to quitting smoking

48 Hours after Your Last Cigarette

Within two days, nerve endings start to regrow.

Graph of benefits to quitting smoking

Within 3 Months after Your Last Cigarette

Graph of benefits to quitting smoking

Within 9 Months after Your Last Cigarette

In less than a year, coughing, sinus congestion, tiredness and shortness of breath decrease.

Graph of benefits to quitting smoking

1 Year after Your Last Cigarette

After 12 smoke-free months, your risk of coronary heart disease is decreased to half that of a smoker.

Graph of benefits to quitting smoking

5 Years after Your Last Cigarette

After five years, your stroke risk is reduced to that of someone who never smoked, and your risk of mouth, throat and esophageal cancer is half that of a smoker.

Graph of benefits to quitting smoking

10 Years after Your Last Cigarette

Within one decade, your risk of cancer drops to as little as 50 percent of smokers; the risk of developing ulcers decreases; and the lung cancer death rate is similar to a nonsmoker.

Graph of benefits to quitting smoking

15 Years after Your Last Cigarette

A smoke-free decade and a half returns your risk of coronary heart disease and death to nearly same level of someone who never smoked.


Approved by Thomas Ylioja, PhD, December 2019