Can Quitting Reverse the Adverse Long-Term Health Effects of Smoking?

Since nicotine is an addictive substance, it can be challenging for individuals to stop smoking. However, the short and long-term benefits of quitting smoking are significant, and quitting improves the health status of those who smoke and who are exposed to secondhand smoke.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Quitting smoking:

• improves health status and enhances quality of life.
• reduces the risk of premature death and can add as much as 10 years to life expectancy.
• reduces the risk for many adverse health effects, including poor reproductive health outcomes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cancer.
• benefits people already diagnosed with coronary heart disease or COPD.
• benefits the health of pregnant women and their fetuses and babies.
• reduces the financial burden that smoking places on people who smoke, healthcare systems, and society.

While quitting earlier in life yields greater health benefits, quitting smoking is beneficial to health at any age. Even people who have smoked for many years or have smoked heavily will benefit from quitting.

Quitting smoking is the single best way to protect family members, coworkers, friends, and others from the health risks associated with breathing secondhand smoke.

Over time, people who quit smoking see many benefits to their health. After you smoke your last cigarette, your body begins a series of positive changes that continue for years.  Below is a graph from the CDC that outlines the short and long-term benefits of quitting smoking.