Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Benefits of Not Smoking

The following is an article from the American Lung Association. It is almost impossible not to smoke in Egypt. The majority of Egyptian men smoke either cigarettes or sheesha, and a lot of women smoke in private (in their homes, salons, etc.).

When smokers quit, within twenty minutes of smoking that last cigarette the body begins a series of changes.

At 20 minutes after quitting:

blood pressure decreases
pulse rate drops
body temperature of hands and feet increases

At 8 hours:

carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal
oxygen level in blood increases to normal

At 24 hours:

chance of a heart attack decreases

At 48 hours:

nerve endings start regrowing
ability to smell and taste is enhanced

The first year after quitting:

At 2 weeks to 3 months:

circulation improves
walking becomes easier
lung function increases

1 to 9 months:

coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath decreases

1 year:

excess risk of coronary heart disease is decreased to half that of a smoker

Long-term Benefits of Quitting

At 5 years:

from 5 to 15 years after quitting, stroke risk is reduced to that of people who have never smoked.

For more information please visit www.lungusa.org

Ma'salaam,

~Marian

7 comments:

Living Away said...

i copy your post and i sent it to a friend of mine who lives in cairo and smokes like crazy!
i hope it will make some effect!
thanks for sharing it!

Marian said...

You're welcome. I use this as my motivation. It is so difficult to not smoke while living in Egypt. It was never a problem in my life until I moved here. oh well.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this. I love this fact sheet... I gave it to my dh for motivation to quit but it wasn't enough. Nothing has been enough.

Wallahi I don't know if our marriage can survive if he doesn't quit. It was a condition that I put on him when we married but he has not yet kept his promise to quit. You'd think he could do it for the sake of Allah, not me, but I guess neither reason is good enough for an addict.

Subhan'allah

Jane said...

Lovely blog, Maria. Thanks for posting this - a motivation to everyone!

Marian said...

Anonymous - I hope this gives your husband more information about quitting. The benefits are immediate although they cannot always been felt immediately due to the withdrawal of the nicotine and other chemicals. Let me know how it goes.

Expatkat - Thanks! Yes we all need motivation at times - if it's not smoking it's exercise, and so on.

JaCk said...

Greetings from Italy :D

April said...

I just realized we are both from PA. InShallah, when you visit again we can get together. MaSalaam, April