What happens if you quit smoking and how does the body react?

The decision to quit smoking is stressful for a person. Everything that happens to the body after quitting smoking manifests itself with severe symptoms on the part of all internal organs. Such changes can scare anyone. The first days without nicotine are especially difficult, when a withdrawal syndrome develops in response to the absence of the usual doping drug.

A smoker's diary can help patients cope with the situation in which the addict himself describes in detail everything that happens to him in dynamics, understanding cause and effect.

Pros and cons of quitting smoking

Nature is so wise that it has given man the possibility of compensatory recovery after diseases, injuries, stress. The regenerative potential of each is very high. Therefore, quitting smoking should be sure that they can get rid of the bad habit on their own or with the help of specialists, regardless of the duration of the addiction to tobacco smoke and the severity of the damage to the internal organs. The important thing is that you want to do it.

Positive points

Completely giving up tobacco significantly reduces the risk of many diseases: bronchitis, tracheitis, laryngitis, pneumonia, asthma, pneumonia, destructive pathologies of the bronchi. Varicose veins, thrombophlebitis, obliterating endarteritis, diabetic foot will subside. Cholesterol levels are normalized, along with this, the development of atherosclerosis of the large arteries that supply the brain and heart, kidneys and liver will be slowed down.

This will help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Tobacco smoke is a highly intoxicating substance. Cleansing the organs and tissues of its metabolites will enable the body to begin the process of self-healing. Clean blood flow will fill the cells with nutrients and oxygen, which will relieve headaches, fatigue, irritability and balance blood pressure. Since there are about 90 carcinogens in cigarettes, blocking and eliminating them will become cancer prevention.

Surprisingly, such changes will begin in the first hours without nicotine. His trace reaction will still be present for a while, but for some in a week, for some in a month, it will disappear without a trace. It is more difficult with the psychological attachment to the pleasure of nightshade poison.

We must deal with stress consistently and wisely. You can't neglect anti-smoking drugs, you need to organize rest, interesting free time. Sometimes it's good to put your feelings on paper.

It is so nice to know that you have "earned" yourself a trip or a visit to the theater by giving up buying tobacco products. Saving can be very useful.

Unpleasant details

It should be understood that it is very difficult to part with nightshade alkaloid due to the following points:

• Pyridine poison raises the emotional background, which in turn helps you to concentrate in difficult situations.
• The hormone of joy, produced in response to nicotine intake, relieves stress, helps to survive grief.
• Nightshade alkaloid creates the illusion of peace, gives self-confidence, causes moral satisfaction.

Such positive effects are hard to forget, even harder to part with.

Acetylcholine receptors, which are used to tobacco poison, require its presence. In protest, they induce withdrawal syndrome. If at the beginning of smoking, the pleasure of a cigarette lasts for several hours, then over time, such an emotional surge lasts for half an hour. So you have to increase the amount of doping.

Otherwise, the feeling of discomfort will significantly exceed the euphoria in strength and sharpness.

Abruptly parting with a cigarette makes the discomfort unbearable. It's a real vacation. It is necessary to somehow compensate for the deficiency of nicotinic acid, a metabolite of tobacco poison, otherwise it is impossible to cope with irritability, which transforms into aggression.

In addition, there are:

• Loss of attention.
• Craving for tobacco products.
• Strong feeling of hunger.
• Inability to sleep.
• Hyperhidrosis.

Only a specialist can help stop the withdrawal syndrome.

The body's reaction to the gradual and abrupt cessation of tobacco products

Every person is different and so is their decision to quit smoking. Some prefer immediately, others need time. The body reacts differently to the chosen method of quitting tobacco.

If we are talking about a chronic user of the nightshade alkaloid, then saying goodbye to nicotine will not work quickly, it will be a slow and painful process. A novice tobacco lover has a chance to simply stop communicating with cigarettes, his self-healing system will cope.

However, most often the reaction to the lack of habitual doping is manifested by withdrawal or withdrawal syndrome.

In fact, it is a restructuring of the entire organism, accompanied by:

• Strong desire for tobacco.
• Causeless nervousness.
• Conditions close to fainting.
• depression
• Loss of strength.
• Minor mood.
• Anxiety with the development of phobias.
• Bradycardia.
• Skin rashes.
• Aphthous lesions of the oral mucosa.
• Constant discomfort in the upper respiratory tract: shortness of breath, cough, sweating, rhinorrhea, lacrimation.
• Digestive system disorder up to colic.

Each of these symptoms can appear alone or as part of several disorders at the same time. The severity of symptoms varies from person to person.

Sometimes there is no restraint.

Stages of purification

The process of getting rid of nicotine metabolites is complex, but it starts from the first minutes of quitting cigarettes, passing through a series of stages.

Time of failure	Changes in the body
Half-hour	Tachycardia passes, blood pressure begins to normalize, kidneys work more intensively, preparing to remove toxins.
A few hours	The kidneys remove the metabolites of pyridine poison from the blood.
half day	The blood is saturated with oxygen, carbon monoxide is removed from the lungs. The kidneys continue to remove the nicotine and a withdrawal symptom develops.
day	The nightshade alkaloid is completely removed, there is no substitute for it, and withdrawal occurs.
After few days	The lungs begin to clear the tar and toxins from the cigarette. A cough appears - a natural reaction to accumulated soot.
On the third day	Purification of the lungs continues. A strong feeling of hunger develops because the tobacco poison has stopped blocking the brain's satiety center and it recovers, causing a person to have an appetite. In addition, blood pressure normalizes, which causes, due to the saturation of neurons with oxygen and blood flow to the brain, tinnitus.
Fourth day	Circulation normalizes. The mucous membrane of the digestive tract regenerates, the pancreas begins to work normally. Sticky sputum comes out.
Fifth day	Intense wet cough with rusty sooty sputum continues, taste restored.
Sixth day	Agonizing cough and irritation due to lack of nicotine. He wants to go back to smoking.
A week	Metabolites and toxins are removed. Organs and tissues have partially recovered or are beginning to recover. The liver synthesizes endogenous nicotine again, the physiological need for it is satisfied. The debilitating cough continues.
eighth day	Taste and smell receptors are also restored, food acquires meaning, becomes tasty. One eats a lot and gets better. The vessels are still not stable, spikes in blood pressure are disturbing. The nervousness gradually disappears.
Ninth day	The stomach restored the secretion. The intestines are in the process of doing this, there is pain in the lower abdomen, problems with stools. At this time, aphthous stomatitis, herpes, acute respiratory infections can develop.
Ten days	The cough continues. Immunity begins to recover. The emotional state is difficult. You need help and support from loved ones.
11-14 days	Vascular tone is restored, blood flow is normal, due to active saturation with oxygen, dizziness and trembling of the hands appear. The lungs are cleared. He has trouble sleeping.
The second half of the month	The mucous membranes of the bronchi regenerate, the cough subsides, the immune system works at full capacity, the skin acquires a normal shade, the pressure is normal, there is no dyspepsia. Many people decide that it's over and you can try a cigarette. If that happens, it's all back to the early days of withdrawal.
the next three months	Starting from the second month, the work of the body levels off. Systems work in harmony. Toxins are eliminated in all natural ways. Hair, skin, nails become much better. The lungs continue to recover. Metabolism and blood pressure normalize, weight stabilizes. But the withdrawal is still felt.
half a year	The hematopoietic system is completely restored. The cough stops. Sleep is normal. The liver is regenerated. In order to accelerate the cleaning of the lungs, physical exercises are associated.
ten months	This is a milestone when a collapse is possible due to the fact that: smokers begin to dream of cigarettes, in the morning there is a strong desire to take a sip of a tobacco product, sleep is disturbed. So there is a restructuring of brain activity without nicotine. Here the connections are restored, the voice takes on its usual timbre. Teeth whiten, bad breath disappears.
year	Almost all organs and tissues are updated. The lungs may still be recovering. Potency is excellent, reproductive function is normal. Almost no desire to smoke. "Tobacco diseases" are disappearing.
Two years	The lungs have recovered. The brain is well fed. The body is so clean that an accidentally smoked cigarette will be perceived as smoked for the first time. You can plan a pregnancy.
Five years	The risk of stroke is compared to that of non-smokers.
A decade	The likelihood of developing lung cancer is the same as that of those who have never held a cigarette in their mouth.
Fifteen years	The risk of heart attack is compared to that of non-smokers.

Many changes in the body are irreversible and over time become triggers for cell malignancy.

They include:

• Destruction of the alveoli of the lungs, unable to get rid of resins and carcinogens.
• Long-term non-regenerating burn of the oral mucosa, capable of transforming into lip hyperplasia and cancer.
• Toxic damage to the oropharynx resulting in cancer of the larynx, throat.

Warning: what not to do?

It is not recommended during the first three months of breaking the bad habit:

• Take medicines without vital necessity.
• Refuse to smoke during menstruation - real weight gain is guaranteed.
• Leave the diet unchanged. The body needs vitamins and minerals.

Quit Smoking Calendar

To help anyone who decides to get rid of nicotine addiction, psychologists recommend keeping a proper diary of their feelings, emotions, thoughts.

The structure of these records consists of several sections:

• The first is dedicated to the changes that occur in the body every day. Describes in detail the disappearing symptoms of tobacco poisoning related to each system: nervous, cardiovascular, digestive, pulmonary, endocrine, reproductive, genitourinary. In addition, the appearance of new symptoms, both negative and positive in dynamics, is noted.
• The second is about emotions, thoughts. Here, an analysis is carried out at the sensory level of everything that happens to the patient, self-hypnosis, self-control is used.
• The third section is physiology. What the patient is attracted to, what you want to eat, where it hurts, what kind of sleep, how the skin looks, the degree of shortness of breath and the severity of the cough. All that worries at the level of physiological transformation.
• The fourth section is the doctors' recommendations and how they are implemented.
• Fifth - recipes from traditional medicine and their application.
• The sixth is physical exercise, what works, what doesn't, the result.
• The seventh section is the help of relatives. Their advice, requests to them. Planning strategy and tactics of behavior for the future.

Many who have broken with a harmful addiction emphasize the usefulness and necessity of such a journal.

How to speed up cleansing?

Although the body is a self-regulating system, there are ways to speed up the recovery process from nicotine intoxication:

• sport. Movement is life, so dosed physical activity is shown to smokers from the first day of parting with the bad habit. Running, for example, will strengthen the contractions of the diaphragm, stimulate the lymph flow, that is, it will help to remove poisons from the body. Cardio will also affect blood pressure. Breathing exercises will saturate the lungs with oxygen and help cleanse them of resins, carcinogens and toxins. I feel much better.
• Cleansing drugs. Ascorbic acid, vitamins of group B, folic acid compensate for the lack of trace elements and biologically active substances necessary for normal metabolic processes. Help them in this: chromium, zinc, nickel, selenium, manganese. Amino acids will support the synthesis of immunoglobulins. Vitamin A will act as an immunostimulant.
• Food. Cranberries, ginger, spinach are natural stimulants of hematopoiesis and blood supply to the lungs in the process of their recovery.

There are many helpers here that can facilitate the difficult process of saying goodbye to nicotine, restore health and prolong life.