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Quitting Smoking
Reviewed by Medicinsk Expert•Last updated: 2026-10-22•Substance Use Disorders

Quitting Smoking

Quitting smoking is a vital step for your health that reduces the risk of cancer and other diseases while improving your overall quality of life.

What are the health risks of smoking tobacco?

Quitting smoking is important for your health. Besides being the leading cause of cancer in the United States, smoking tobacco harms most organs of your body and causes many other health problems.

Tobacco smoke contains many chemicals and can be harmful even if you don't smoke. Exposure to secondhand smoke can increase the risk of cancer and other diseases. If you're pregnant, it can harm your fetus.

It can be difficult to quit smoking because it causes an addiction to nicotine, a stimulant drug in tobacco. While nicotine addiction makes it harder to stop, quitting smoking can improve the quality and length of your life.

What are the benefits of quitting smoking?

Tobacco use is the most common preventable cause of death. The more years you smoke and the more cigarettes you smoke each day, the higher your risk. Quitting smoking can help reduce your risk of health problems as well as improve the quality of your life.

Some initial benefits of quitting include:

  • Lower heart rate and blood pressure
  • Less carbon monoxide in the blood (carbon monoxide reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen)
  • Better circulation
  • Less coughing and wheezing
  • Sense of smell and taste return

In the long term, quitting tobacco can help you live a longer life. Your risk of getting cancer decreases with each year you stay smoke-free.

How can I quit smoking?

There are many ways to quit smoking. Common methods include:

  • Counseling with a health care provider about your smoking habits, readiness to quit, and setting a quit date.
  • Smoking aids such as nicotine replacement products or medicines to help reduce nicotine addiction. These may not be right for you if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, a teenager, or if you have certain medical issues or take certain medicines.
  • Smoking reduction by slowly reducing the number of cigarettes per day, or stopping smoking altogether, often called "cold turkey."

You may need to try different things, but a mixture of counseling and quit-smoking medicine has been shown to be the best method.

Some people think that switching to e-cigarettes can help to quit smoking, but that has not been proven. Using an e-cigarette is called vaping. Researchers still have a lot to learn about the health effects of using e-cigarettes.

When you stop or cut back on smoking, you may have short-term effects such as irritability, anxiety, moodiness, weight gain, or trouble sleeping. These are called withdrawal symptoms. You can work with your provider to help reduce these symptoms and find the best way for you to quit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Your body begins to heal almost immediately. Within 20 minutes of your last cigarette, your heart rate and blood pressure drop. After 12 hours, the carbon monoxide level in your blood returns to normal, and after 24 hours, your risk of heart attack starts to decrease. Within two weeks to three months, your circulation improves and lung function increases. While coughing may temporarily worsen as your lungs clear out mucus, your sense of taste and smell typically returns within a few weeks.
The benefits vary by disease. For heart disease, your risk of coronary heart disease is cut in half just one year after quitting. For stroke, your risk returns to that of a non-smoker within five years. For lung cancer, the risk decreases over time but never drops completely to that of a non-smoker; however, quitting at any age reduces the risk of dying from lung cancer compared to continuing to smoke. The earlier you quit, the greater the reduction in risk for all tobacco-related diseases.
Nicotine withdrawal peaks within the first three days and usually subsides significantly within two to four weeks. To manage symptoms, stay hydrated, engage in light physical activity to release endorphins, and use distraction techniques when cravings hit. Nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) such as patches, gum, or lozenges can help reduce physical dependence, while prescription medications like varenicline or bupropion can target the brain's reward pathways. Combining medication with behavioral counseling or support groups significantly increases the likelihood of long-term success.
For most people, quitting abruptly (cold turkey) is just as effective as tapering off, provided you have a solid support plan. However, if you smoke heavily (more than a pack a day) or have a history of failed quit attempts, using nicotine replacement therapy or prescription medication can make the transition smoother. Tapering is generally not recommended as a standalone strategy because it often extends the period of addiction. Consult your healthcare provider to determine the best approach based on your smoking history and health status.
Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine

MedlinePlus brings together authoritative health information from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations.

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