Cigarettes contain toxic chemicals and every cigarette you smoke damages your body, increasing your risk of serious illness and death.

By stopping smoking you are taking a positive step to increase your chances of living a longer and healthier life. From the day you quit, you will start to feel the benefits, enjoying better health, improving your appearance and saving money.

Benefits for your health

Although smoking seriously damages your health, your body can begin to repair the damage once you stop and within days you will start to feel the health benefits of quitting as your heart rate drops, the carbon monoxide levels in your blood return to normal and your senses of taste and smell improve.

The health benefits continue over the next few weeks as your risk of sudden death from a heart attack is reduced. You will also notice an improvement in lung function and less coughing as you breathe more easily.

In the longer term, you will significantly reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, vascular disease and respiratory disease, as well as a whole range of cancers. Your life expectancy will be longer and you will notice an improvement in the symptoms of smoking related diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

All of which will help you to live your life to the full. You will be fitter and more able to enjoy physical activity. The improvement in your health and appearance will also help to improve your mental health and wellbeing.

Saving money

Smoking is expensive and prices are continuing to rise as inflation and taxes go up. If you’re smoking 20 cigarettes a day, it’s likely that you’re spending almost £4,000 a year, based on an average cost of £10.80 for a pack of 20 cigarettes.

Try our cost calculator to see how much you spend on smoking and how much you could save by quitting.

Second hand smoke

When you give up smoking, you are also protecting the health of your friends and family by no longer exposing them to harmful secondhand smoke.

This will benefit babies and young children in particular, who are at risk of;

• sudden and unexpected death in infancy (SUDI)
• respiratory illnesses and infections
• reduced lung function, middle ear disease and asthma attacks

Children are also much more likely to become smokers if they see their parents smoking. By quitting you are protecting them from the long term risks of smoking, as well as the immediate dangers of breathing in secondhand smoke.