Everyone knows that it's obviously healthier for you to quit smoking than it is to continue your addiction to nicotine. But there are more than just long-term health benefits. Your body is immediately improved when you start inhaling clean air as opposed to the smoke from a cigarette.

Within 20 minutes after you quit smoking your last cigarette, changes begin to take place in your overall health. Your heart rate and blood pressure drop to a healthier level. Half a day later, your blood shows normal levels of carbon monoxide.

Just a couple of months after you quit smoking, you'll notice your lung function increases. Maybe you can now walk up a flight of stairs without gasping for air. Plus, your circulation is improved.

During the first nine months after you quit smoking, you'll notice you no longer cough as much and you're capable of taking deep breaths. This is because the cilia in your lungs are able to move the mucus out of your lungs so they function better to clean them out and clear out infections.

When you're celebrating your first year after quitting smoking, you should toast to the fact that your risk of coronary heart disease is cut in half from what it was when you were labeled a smoker.

Over the course of the next five years and decade after you quit smoking, your stroke risk is reduced, too. Lung cancer death rate is half that of a smoker's and other cancers, such as those of the throat, mouth, bladder, and pancreas are cut as well.

While health is obviously an important factor in why people quit smoking, there are other immediate benefits as well. Tobacco may have damaged your physical appearance, such as causing premature aging, yellowing of the nails and teeth, and a foul odor clinging to your hair and clothes.

When you quit smoking, your skin immediately begins to repair itself and the bad smell goes away. Your breath smells fresh and you can take action to whiten your teeth using over the counter teeth whiteners.

You'll also notice improvements in other areas of your life after you quit smoking. For instance, you'll be able to taste food better than before and your sense of smell will be sharpened. Your reasons may be listed within this article, or you may have your own personal reasons to quit smoking. Either way, you'll reap the rewards of your efforts once you say goodbye to tobacco for good.

6 Major Conclusions of the Surgeon General Report
Smoking is the single greatest avoidable cause of disease and death. In this report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General, the Surgeon General has concluded that:

1. Many millions of Americans, both children and adults, are still exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes and workplaces despite substantial progress in tobacco control.

2. Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke.

3. Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS, acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma. Smoking by parents causes respiratory symptoms and slows lung growth in their children.

4. Exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer.

5.The scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

6. Eliminating smoking in indoor spaces fully protects nonsmokers from exposure to secondhand smoke. Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate exposures of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.

The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General was prepared by the Office on Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Report was written by 22 national experts who were selected as primary authors. The Report chapters were reviewed by 40 peer reviewers, and the entire Report was reviewed by 30 independent scientists and by lead scientists within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services. Throughout the review process, the Report was revised to address reviewers' comments.
Citation
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health 2006.