Smoking and your health
Find out more about the effect of smoking on your health as well as the benefits of quitting smoking.
How does Smoking impact your health?
Smoking is the leading cause of ill health and preventable death in the UK and kills around 80,000 lives a year in the UK. It will claim the lives of around 6,000 Londoners this year. On average they lose 10 years of life compared to non-smokers.
Cigarettes contain thousands of toxic chemicals, tar and produce carbon monoxide gas – a poisonous gas found in tobacco smoke, which reduces your blood’s ability to carry oxygen around the body. Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
However, the sooner you quit smoking, the sooner your body can begin recovering. You’ll look better, have more energy and feel healthier all around.
Stop Smoking London has lots of guides on how smoking impacts your health in different ways.
What are the benefits of stopping smoking?
When you give up cigarettes for good, you’ll find that your body and brain go through a series of positive changes, day by day, week by week. As well as reducing your risk of serious conditions such as lung cancer, you will enjoy multiple health benefits right away, have more money in your wallet and have better relationships with loved ones.
Within 24 hours, your body has flushed the carbon monoxide from your body, blood levels will return to normal, and your oxygen levels increase. Your blood circulation begins to improve, and you will already have started to reduce your risk of heart disease.
Within a few months your lungs will have started healing and you will have fewer coughing bouts and shortness of breath and will find it easier to exercise.
The mental health benefits of quitting smoking are huge; it can boost mood and help smokers experiencing stress, depression and anxiety.
Find out more about the benefits of stopping smoking
When you give up cigarettes for good, you’ll find that your body and brain go through a series of positive changes, day by day, week by week. You will reduce your risk of serious conditions, enjoy multiple health benefits right away, have more money in your wallet and have better relationships with loved ones.
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