Discoveries from Smoking Research
Research done by many groups, laboratories, government agencies, and other organizations have discovered quite a bit of information about the benefits of a stop smoking program. In fact, one of the most important discoveries of them all is that cessation will benefit a smoker of any age or of any duration. This means a lifelong smoker can still see dramatic results if they quit smoking.
Consider that the risks for developing the most common types of smoking associated cancers will decline along with the number of years that the former smoker has ceased to smoke. This simply means that each year without smoking brings a better chance of avoiding the cancers or other diseases that smoking will usually cause.
Within a single year of cessation of all smoking or exposure to regular amounts of smoke the individual is going to have half the chance of heart disease as that of a current smoker, and by five years after quitting the former smoker’s chances for a stroke are the same as a non-smoker. Additionally, the risks for development of such conditions as COPD, vascular disease, and advanced macular degeneration are cut dramatically by an end to smoking as well.
A former smoker will usually be in the same condition as a non-smoker after a fifteen year period in which they have refrained from smoking altogether. This, however, does not mean that they have undone the damages of smoking, and generally most people who have smoked for a large number of years will have actually shortened their life span by doing so. This means that the sooner someone quits, the better the results of their choice.
Quitting, as research has also determined, is extremely difficult due to the nicotine dependency that develops after even a short period of tobacco use. As the brain develops a taste for nicotine, the need for nicotine increases, and though roughly 80% of a cigarette’s nicotine is processed within two hours of smoking it, the half-life of the chemical will keep the remainder in the body for six to eight hours afterward. This leads to withdrawal in about eight to ten hours after the last cigarette is smoked.
Fortunately, researchers have scrutinized the ways that the body processes nicotine and have been able to come up many medications that are highly effective at supporting a person’s intentions of quitting smoking. There are over the counter patches, lozenges, gums, and sprays and there are also prescription medications that can help someone to break their dependency too.
