Quit Smoking and Feel Better

Smoking's bad for your health, but exactly how does quitting make life better?

More cash
If you smoke 20 cigarettes a day, quitting will save you over £2,000 a year.

Better sex
Stopping smoking improves the body's blood flow, so improves sensitivity. Men who stop smoking may get better erections and women may find their orgasms improve and they become aroused more easily. It's also been found that non-smokers are three times more appealing to the opposite sex than smokers (one of the advantages, perhaps, of smelling fresh).

Improved fertility
Non-smokers find it easier to get pregnant. Quitting smoking improves the lining of the womb and can make men's sperm more potent. Becoming a non-smoker increases the possibility of conceiving through IVF and reduces the likelihood of having a miscarriage. Most important of all, it improves the chances of giving birth to a healthy baby.

Younger looking skin
Stopping smoking has been found to slow facial aging and delay the appearance of wrinkles. The skin of a non-smoker gets more nutrients, including oxygen, and can reverse the sallow, lined complexion that smokers often have.

Whiter teeth
Giving up tobacco stops teeth becoming stained and means you'll have fresher breath. Ex-smokers are also much less likely than smokers to suffer from gum disease and lose their teeth prematurely.

Better breathing
People breathe more easily and cough less when they give up smoking because their lung capacity improves by up to 10% within nine months. In your 20s and 30s, the effect of smoking on your lung capacity may not be noticeable until you go for a run, but lung capacity naturally diminishes with age. In later years, having access to maximum lung capacity can make all the difference between having an active, healthy old age and wheezing when going for a walk or climbing the stairs.

Longer life
It's common knowledge that half of all long-term smokers die early (half of them by middle age) from smoking-related diseases including heart disease, lung cancer and chronic bronchitis. Men who quit smoking by 30 add 10 years to their life. People who kick the habit at 60 add three years to their life. In other words, it's never too late to benefit from stopping. Quitting not only adds years to your life, it greatly improves the chance of a disease-free, mobile, happier old age.

Less stress
Scientific studies show that people's stress levels are lower after they stop smoking. Nicotine addiction makes smokers stressed from the ‘withdrawal' between cigarettes; the pleasant feeling of satisfying that craving is only temporary and is not a real cure for stress. In addition, the improved levels of oxygen going through the body means ex-smokers can concentrate better and have increased mental well-being.

Improved senses
Kicking the smoking habit gives your senses of smell and taste a boost as the body recovers from being dulled by the hundreds of toxic chemicals in cigarettes.

More energy
Within two to 12 weeks of stopping smoking, the circulation improves, making all physical activities, including walking and running, much easier. The boost to the immune system from quitting will make it easier to fight off colds and flu. And the increase in oxygen in the body makes ex-smokers less fatigued and less likely to suffer from headaches.

You can find a host of articles to help you with all aspects of quitting smoking in the Stop Smoking section of the NHS Choices website at http://www.nhs.uk/stopsmoking/.

NHS Choices ( http://www.nhs.uk/ ) is the digital information service of the NHS - an NHS accredited website that gives ordinary people the tools to make better, more informed choices about their treatments, health and wellbeing. It includes more than 80,000 pages of content, including video, interactive tools, daily news service and lifestyle features. Users can also check and compare hospital and doctors' profiles and performance on-line.