Quitting smoking: Deciding to quit

Whether you’re thinking about it or you’ve already decided to quit smoking, prepare for success by reading about what to expect. You have the power to make it happen.

On this page

• Reasons people smoke
• Benefits of quitting
• Doubts about quitting
• Sexual health and fertility

Reasons people smoke

Everyone has their own reasons for smoking. You may:

• smoke as a result of a habit or addiction, or both
• like how it makes you look or feel
• feel like it helps you relax or boosts your energy
• think it gives you time to yourself
• feel smoking helps you control your weight

Smoking could also be something that you share with others, or for other personal reasons.

Whatever you feel smoking gives you, you likely already know that it takes away much more. Smoking is deadly, killing half of all people who smoke daily over the long-term^{Footnote 1}. It can lead to serious, chronic diseases that drastically impact your health and life.

Learn more about

• health effects of smoking

Is it too late to quit? It’s never too late! In fact, people of all ages experience immediate and long-term health benefits from quitting smoking. People who have smoked for many years just as those who started more recently can reap the health and financial benefits of quitting.^{Footnote 2}

Benefits of quitting

Quitting smoking is the single best thing you can do to improve your life and health. You will start seeing health benefits soon after your last cigarette.^{Footnote 3}

After quitting, within:

• 20 minutes: your blood pressure drops to a level similar to what it was before your last cigarette
• 8 hours: the level of carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) in your blood drops to normal
• 24 hours: your risk of having a heart attack starts to drop
• 2 weeks to 3 months: the airways in your lungs relax and you can get more air into your lungs and breathe easier
• 1 to 9 months: you cough less and your lungs work even better
• 1 year: your added risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a person who smokes
• 5 years: you have the same chance of having a stroke as someone who has never smoked
• 10 years: your chance of dying from cancer is much lower
• 15 years: your risk of coronary heart disease is similar to that of someone who has never smoked

Even those who have developed smoking-related problems like heart disease or cancer can benefit from quitting. Compared to continuing to smoke, people who quit smoking after having a heart attack can reduce their chances of having another heart attack by as much as 50%^{Footnote 4}.

Doubts about quitting

You may be worried about:

• how hard it might be
• failing
• reactions from friends or family who still smoke
• giving up time for yourself
• gaining weight
• losing a part of who you are

The prospect of dealing with nicotine withdrawal symptoms or changing your routine can be additional sources of stress. On the other hand, worrying about the impact smoking has on your health or that of your family and friends can also be very stressful.

Having doubts about quitting is natural but smoking itself also causes stress. Nicotine causes your heart rate and blood pressure to rise, adding more stress to your body^{Footnote 5}.

Positive ways to overcome stress

There is no single way to cope with stress because everyone is different. Here are some suggestions:

• find someone who you can talk to about stressful situations and discuss solutions with
• relax by listening to soft music, reading a good book, doing yoga or taking a walk
• give yourself regular rewards to celebrate your accomplishments
• maintain a healthy diet
• become more physically active to help release the body's natural calming chemicals (endorphins) and to promote better sleep

Learn more about coping with stress

Want to quit smoking but are worried and stressed?

• You don’t have to do it alone. Talk to a quit coach, support group or loved-one. You can be proud to ask for help, knowing that by doing so you’ve increased your chances of success.
• Building a plan ahead that includes several quitting methods can also give you peace-of-mind.

Sexual health and fertility

Over time, smoking affects your nervous, endocrine (hormones) and vascular systems, in ways that can affect sexual function and fertility^{Footnote 6}. Males who smoke are twice as likely to experience erectile dysfunction or impotence^{Footnote 7}. Cigarettes may cause sexual impotence due to decreased blood flow to the penis. This can prevent you from having an erection. However it is possible to fully or partially recover erectile function by quitting smoking.^{Footnote 8}

Learn more about impotence and smoking.

By quitting smoking, females can reduce their risk of ^{Footnote 9}:

• painful and irregular menstruation^{Footnote 10}
• infertility
• early menopausal symptoms
• risk of miscarriage, pregnancy complications, and premature birth

Deciding to quit during pregnancy 

Quitting smoking before the first prenatal visit can reduce your risk of complications during pregnancy to the same levels as those of persons who don’t smoke. Although quitting early in pregnancy is better, quitting later in pregnancy still benefits your own health, your fetus’s health and the health of your newborn.^{Footnote 11}, ^{Footnote 12}

By quitting smoking, you can also reduce:

• the risk of having a preterm baby, still birth, spontaneous abortion, or a low birth weight baby
• the chance of your newborn having infections or sudden infant death syndrome
• the chance of passing on the harmful chemicals from cigarettes to your baby through breastmilk
• the chance of your child having long-term memory and learning problems

Learn how to quit smoking when pregnant or nursing

Related Links

• Publication: Quitting Smoking During Pregnancy and Post Partum