What happens if you quit smoking and how does the body react?

The decision to quit smoking is stressful for a person. Everything that happens to the body after quitting smoking is manifested by severe symptoms from all internal organs. Such changes can scare anyone. The first days without nicotine are especially difficult, when an abstinence syndrome develops in response to the lack of the usual doping drug.

A smoker's diary can help patients cope with the situation, in which the addict himself describes in detail everything that happens to him in dynamics, understanding cause and effect.

cigarette butts and changes in the body when you quit smoking

The pros and cons of quitting smoking

Nature is so wise that it gave a person the possibility of compensatory recovery after diseases, injuries, stresses. The regenerative potential of each is very high. Therefore, quitters should be sure that, on their own or with the help of specialists, they can get rid of a bad habit, regardless of the duration of their addiction to tobacco smoke and the severity of damage to internal organs. The important thing is to want to do it.

Positive points

Complete rejection of smoking significantly reduces the risk of many diseases: bronchitis, tracheitis, laryngitis, pneumonia, asthma, pneumonia, destructive pathology of the bronchi. Varicose veins, thrombophlebitis, obliterating endarteritis, diabetic foot will recede. Cholesterol levels are normalized, along with it, the development of atherosclerosis of the large arteries that feed the brain and heart, kidneys and liver will slow down.

This will help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Tobacco smoke is a powerful intoxicant. Cleansing the organs and tissues of its metabolites will enable the body to begin the self-healing process. Clean blood flow will fill the cells with nutrients and oxygen, which will relieve headaches, fatigue, nervousness and balance blood pressure. Since there are about 90 carcinogens in cigarettes, blocking and removing them will prevent cancer.

Surprisingly, such changes will begin in the first hours without nicotine. His trace reaction will still be present for some time, but for someone in a week, for someone in a month it will disappear without a trace. More difficult with the psychological connection to the pleasure of night poison.

Stress must be dealt with consistently and wisely. You can not neglect anti-smoking medicine, you need to organize rest, interesting free time. Sometimes it's good to put your feelings on paper.

It's so nice to know that you've "earned" a trip or a trip to the theater by giving up buying tobacco products. Saving can be very useful.

Unpleasant details

It should be understood that it is very difficult to part with night alkaloid due to the following points:

  • Pyridine poison increases the emotional background, which, in turn, helps to concentrate in difficult situations.
  • The hormone of joy produced in response to nicotine intake relieves stress, helps to survive grief.
  • Nightshade alkaloid creates the illusion of peace, gives self-confidence, causes moral satisfaction.

Such positive effects are hard to forget, and even harder to part with.

Acetylcholine receptors, which are accustomed to the poison of tobacco, require its presence. In protest, they cause withdrawal syndrome. If at the beginning of smoking the pleasure from a cigarette lasted several hours, then over time such an emotional uplift lasts half an hour. So you have to increase the amount of doping.

Otherwise, the feeling of discomfort will significantly exceed the euphoria in strength and sharpness.

A sharp breakup with a cigarette makes discomfort unbearable. This is a real vacation. It is necessary to somehow compensate for the lack of nicotinic acid, a metabolite of tobacco poison, otherwise it is impossible to cope with irritability, which turns into aggression.

In addition, there is:

  • Loss of attention.
  • Desire for tobacco products.
  • A strong feeling of hunger.
  • Inability to sleep.
  • Hyperhidrosis.

Only a specialist can help stop withdrawal syndrome.

The body's reaction to the gradual and immediate cessation of tobacco products

Every person is different, as is their decision to quit smoking. Some prefer immediately, others need time. The body reacts differently to the chosen method of quitting smoking.

If we are talking about a chronic consumer of the night alkaloid, then saying goodbye to nicotine will not work quickly, it will be a slow and painful process. A novice smoker has a chance to simply stop communicating with cigarettes, his self-healing system will cope.

However, more often the reaction to the absence of ordinary doping is manifested by withdrawal syndrome or withdrawal.

In fact, this is a restructuring of the entire organism, accompanied by:

  • Strong desire for smoking.
  • Unreasonable nervousness.
  • Near fainting conditions.
  • Depression.
  • Loss of strength.
  • Little humor.
  • Anxiety with the development of phobias.
  • Bradycardia.
  • Redness of the skin.
  • Aphthous lesions of the oral mucosa.
  • Constant discomfort of the upper respiratory tract: shortness of breath, cough, sweating, wheezing, lacrimation.
  • Disorder of the digestive system up to abdominal pain.

Each of these symptoms can appear individually or as part of several disorders at the same time. The severity of symptoms varies from person to person.

Sometimes there is no abstinence.

Cleaning stages

The process of getting rid of nicotine metabolites is complex, but it starts in the first minutes of quitting smoking, passing through a series of stages.

Failure time Changes in the body
Half an hour Tachycardia passes, blood pressure begins to normalize, kidneys work more intensively, preparing to remove toxins.
A few hours The kidneys remove pyridine poison metabolites from the blood.
half a day The blood is saturated with oxygen, carbon monoxide is removed from the lungs. The kidneys continue to remove nicotine and a withdrawal symptom occurs.
day The nocturnal alkaloid is completely removed, there is no replacement for it, and abstinence occurs.
In a few days The lungs begin to clear the tar and toxins from the cigarette. A cough appears - a natural reaction to accumulated soot.
On the third day Cleansing the lungs continues. A strong feeling of hunger develops, as the poison of tobacco has stopped blocking the satiety center of the brain and it returns, causing a person's appetite. In addition, blood pressure returned to normal, which causes, due to saturation of neurons with oxygen and blood flow to the brain, tinnitus.
The fourth day Circulation returns to normal. The mucosa of the digestive tract regenerates, the pancreas begins to work normally. Sticky sputum comes out.
The fifth day An intense wet cough with sputum rusty from soot continues, taste returns.
The sixth day An irritating cough and irritation due to the lack of nicotine. There is a desire to return to cigarettes.
A week Metabolites and toxins are removed. Organs and tissues have partially recovered or are beginning to do so. The liver again synthesizes endogenous nicotine, the physiological need to be met. The debilitating cough continues.
the eighth day Taste and smell receptors are also restored, food acquires meaning, becomes delicious. A person eats a lot and gets better. Vessels are still not stable, blood pressure jumps are worrying. The nervousness gradually disappears.
The ninth day The stomach returned the secretion. The intestines are in process, pain appears in the lower abdomen, problems with stool. At this time, aphthous stomatitis, herpes, acute respiratory infections can develop.
Ten days The cough continues. Immunity begins to recover. The emotional state is difficult. You need help and support from loved ones.
11-14 days Vascular tone has returned, blood circulation is normal, due to active saturation with oxygen, dizziness and hand tremors appear. The lungs are being cleared. He has trouble sleeping.
The second half of the month The mucous membranes of the bronchi are regenerated, the cough subsides, the immune system works at full capacity, the skin takes on a normal shade, the pressure is normal, there is no indigestion. Many people decide that everything is over and you can try a cigarette. If that happens, it's all back to the early days of withdrawal.
the next three months Starting from the second month, the work of the body is leveled. Systems work in harmony. Toxins are eliminated in all natural ways. Hair, skin, nails become much better. The lungs continue to recover. Metabolism and blood pressure normalize, weight stabilizes. But abstinence still makes itself felt.
half a year The hematopoietic system was completely restored. The cough stops. Sleep is normal. The liver has regenerated. In order to accelerate the cleaning of the lungs, physical exercises are connected.
ten months This is a historical moment when a breakdown is possible due to the fact that: smokers begin to dream of cigarettes, in the morning there is a strong desire to smoke a tobacco product, sleep is disturbed. So there is a restructuring of brain activity without nicotine. Here, the ligaments are restored, the voice acquires its usual timbre. Teeth whiten, bad breath disappears.
year Almost all organs and tissues are updated. The lungs may still be recovering. Power is excellent, reproductive function is normal. Almost no desire to smoke. "Smoking diseases" disappear.
Two years The lungs have recovered. The brain is eating well. The body is so clean that an accidentally smoked cigarette will be perceived as smoked for the first time. You can plan a pregnancy.
Five years The risk of stroke is comparable to non-smokers.
Decade The chance of developing lung cancer is the same as that of those who have never taken a cigarette in their mouth.
Fifteen years The risk of heart attack is comparable to non-smokers.

Many changes in the body are not subject to restoration and over time become the cause of cell malignancy.

This includes:

  • Destruction of lung alveoli, unable to get rid of resins and carcinogens.
  • A long-term non-regenerative burn of the oral mucosa, capable of turning into lip hyperplasia and cancer.
  • Toxic damage of the oropharynx resulting in cancer of the larynx, throat.

Warning: what not to do?

It is not recommended in the first three months of breaking up with a bad habit:

  • Take medicines without vital need.
  • Quit smoking during menstruation - real weight gain is guaranteed.
  • Leave the diet unchanged. The body needs vitamins and minerals.

Quit Smoking Calendar

To help all those who decide to get rid of nicotine addiction, psychologists recommend keeping a suitable diary of their feelings, emotions, thoughts.

The structure of this data consists of several sections:

  • The first is dedicated to the changes that occur in the body every day. It describes in detail the withdrawal symptoms of tobacco poisoning related to each system: nervous, cardiovascular, digestive, pulmonary, endocrine, reproductive, genitourinary. Moreover, the appearance of new, negative and positive symptoms in the dynamics is observed.
  • The second is about emotions, thoughts. Here, an analysis is made at the sensory level of everything that happens to the patient, self-hypnosis, self-control is used.
  • The third section is physiology. What the patient is attracted to, what do you want to eat, where does it hurt, what kind of sleep, what does the skin look like, the degree of shortness of breath and the severity of the cough. All that disturbs at the level of physiological transformation.
  • The fourth section is the doctors' recommendations and how they are implemented.
  • Fifth - recipes of traditional medicine and their use.
  • The sixth is physical exercise, what works, what doesn't, the result.
  • The seventh section is the help of loved ones. Advice, their requests to them. Planning strategy and behavioral tactics for the future.

Many who have separated from a harmful addiction emphasize the usefulness and necessity of such a journal.

How to speed up cleaning?

Although the body is a self-regulating system, there are ways to speed up the recovery process from nicotine intoxication:

  • Sport. Movement is life, so moderate physical activity is shown to smokers from the first day of separation from a bad habit. Running, for example, will strengthen the contractions of the diaphragm, stimulate the lymphatic flow, that is, it will help to remove poisons from the body. The cardio load will also affect the blood. Breathing exercises will saturate the lungs with oxygen and help them to be cleansed of resins, carcinogens and toxins. You feel much better.
  • Detergents. Ascorbic acid, B vitamins, folic acid compensate for the lack of trace elements and biologically active substances necessary for normal metabolic processes. Help him in this: chromium, zinc, nickel, selenium, manganese. Amino acids will support the synthesis of immunoglobulins. Vitamin A will act as an immunostimulant.
  • Food products. Blueberries, ginger, spinach are natural stimulators of hematopoiesis and blood supply to the lungs in the process of their recovery.

Here are many helpers that can facilitate the difficult process of saying goodbye to nicotine, restore health and prolong life.