It’s Been Seven Years!!

Seven years ago, I smoked my last cigarette.  It is amazing how quickly seven years go by.  Actually it is about 12% of my life to date.  Hey that is kind of good news….12% of my life smoke-free (unless you count second hand smoke).  That’s good, I am reasonably sure I didn’t smoke the first 13 years of my life.  Adding 13 and 7 gives me 20 so since I will be 60 in the first half of 2010, I have actually been a non smoker about 1/3 or 33.33% of my life.  Not great, but on the day I quit 7 years ago, I had been a smoker a bigger percentage of my life so a lot of numbers are improving.

What else has improved??

20 minutes after quitting:  heart rate and blood pressure drops.

12 hours after quitting:   The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

2 weeks to 3 months after quitting:  Your circulation improves and your lung function increases.

1 to 9 months after quitting:  Coughing (my cough was actually gone in 4 days) and shortness of breath decease; cilia (tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs) regain normal function in the lungs, increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce the risk of infection.

1 year after quitting:  The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s.

5 years after quitting:  Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker 5 to 15 years after quitting.

10 years after quitting:  The lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker’s.  The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease.

15 years after quitting:  The risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker’s.

That is whole lot of good stuff going on!!



YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!