A new report from the World Health Organization links 1.9 million deaths every year to tobacco use, either through personal use or from secondhand smoke. The good news is that quitting smoking has immediate health benefits.
For example, within 20 minutes of your last puff, your heart rate drops. Give up that smoke for 12 hours, and the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal. Give it up for just two to 12 weeks and your lung function improves. In one year your risk of coronary heart disease is cut by about half of someone who still smokes.
If you give up smoking for 15 years, the risk of coronary heart disease becomes equal to that of a nonsmoker’s. Quitting smoking also reduces the chances of impotency and difficulty in getting pregnant.
SOURCES:
VOA September 29, 2020
WHO 2020