Welcome back, everybody. The benefits of quitting are numerous but motivation to quit is all about identifying how quitting can provide personal and lasting benefits to you specifically, everyone wants to feel healthy, right? So how about feeling amazing, or being able to breathe deeply without coughing, or having an abundance of energy? Well, it's not impossible. In fact, your body starts to heal within just a few minutes of busting out that last cigarette. Your challenge is to explore the benefits of quitting specific to you write them down on your personalized quit plan provided, stick them in a place that will remind you of your reasons for choosing this path of recovery.

In this video, we will explore just a few of the benefits, but there are many more we haven't mentioned. So just sit back and take it all in. This is all about you. Within just 20 minutes of putting out your little Cigarette, your heart rate drops to within a normal level. within eight hours carbon monoxide levels in the blood decrease and oxygen levels increase to normal. All parts of our body require a good oxygen supply to remain healthy.

Even our skin hair requires oxygen. And when supply is limited, our skin can wrinkle quicker, and hair will be more brittle. Within 48 hours, your sense of smell and taste improves, healthy food will taste amazing. And you will smell better personally and your nose will be able to smell better as well. Within 72 hours, it becomes easier to breathe. This is a big one because nothing else matters if you can't catch your breath.

Within two to three days, nicotine has cleared your body and that's where celebrating. Now it's not the nicotine that causes harm to our body. It's all the other 4700 plus Polls found in a lit cigarette the cause harm, but the nicotine is what keeps people using tobacco. Nicotine gets to our brains in just seven to 10 seconds and causes the receptors to release dopamine. Dopamine is what makes us feel good. But over time those receptors change and as a result, we need to smoke more and more often to feed this addiction.

Within three months, circulation improves, and lung function increases by up to 30%. That's substantial, and more oxygen will be traveling to all parts of your body. Within six months, coughing, sinus congestion, tiredness, and shortness of breath start to improve. Within one year, your risk of developing heart disease is half that of a smoker. We're talking about eliminating the risk factor not just decreasing it, but getting rid of that risk factor completely. But that's not all quitting prevent illness and disease and you likely already know this but preventing health issues before they even start is the best way to notice lasting good health.

Here are some specific examples I think you will love. Don't forget to write down the ones that apply to you on your personalized quit plan. Let's start with a big one. diabeetus smoking is harmful to everyone. But if you have diabetes and smoke you face even greater risks. Just like high blood sugar levels, the noxious chemicals found in cigarette smoke, attack blood vessels.

This can accelerate hardening of the arteries and impair the Bloods ability to pump through the body and carry oxygen to where it's needed. This causes further damage to the heart, brain, eyes, kidneys, and nerve endings, all organs and tissues that can already be compromised in diabetes. In GERD or gastro esophageal reflux disease now Katrina's thought to relax the ring of muscle in the lower esophagus that keeps acid in the stomach where it belongs. When that ring relaxes acid can trickle up and cause that really painful burning sensation. Many people don't realize that there are chemicals in the tar of tobacco smoke that affect the metabolism of other medications often used in mood disorders. These hydrocarbons in the tar can cause some drugs to be metabolized quicker, and therefore a higher dose is often required.

Quitting smoking means that often the dose of some antidepressants and other mood disorder meds can be lowered, and who doesn't want to take a lower dose of their prescription meds to reduce side effects. Also, often people use cigarettes to deal with stress or anxiety. The truth however, is that there is nothing in that cigarette that reduces stress. In fact, the up and down levels of nicotine in the body can bring on stress and anxiety because as soon as that nicotine and dopamine wear off, our body is already in crave mode. Looking for that next fix. Quitting smoking prior to surgery decreases the risk of lung heart and mooned related complications including infections.

So surgical clients require good lungs to absorb anesthetic as well. And quitting six weeks prior to surgery is the best, but quitting anytime before surgery will improve the success of the surgical procedure. healthcare providers have known for a long time that smoking can increase the risk of developing kidney disease in diabetics, but smoking can cause changes to the kidney and otherwise healthy individuals as well. Higher albumin in the urine and delayed creatinine excretion are early signs of abnormal kidney function. But since these conditions don't usually cause symptoms, most people don't even know they may be starting to have kidney issues. Putting Smoking means a decreased blood pressure and heart rate, which decreases the pressure on the kidneys.

Improved blood flow to the kidneys, a decrease in the narrowing of blood vessels in the kidney, better chance of survival after a kidney transplant, and smoking we know increases the risk of bladder cancer by four to seven times. In Ms. Smoking can aggravate the symptoms of MS simply by damaging a person's heart and lungs. And research now suggests that lighting up may in fact increase the risk of even developing ms in the first place. Smoking is also directly linked to progression of the disease. Not only were smokers more likely to advance from relapsing ms to primary MS and to secondary progressive ms, they typically had a far more extensive damage to the brain due to atrophy.

There is however, evidence that quitting may slow the process And help preserve key cognitive functions in MS including the memory, abstract reasoning and verbal skills. In COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, quitting smoking is the only way to eliminate the symptoms from getting worse. For the disease from getting worse, it prevents further irreversible damage to the lungs, the inhaler your inhalers will work better, and in some cases, the dose or need for inhalers may be reduced by quitting and the symptoms may improve. In cancer, many chemo therapies are metabolized extensively by the liver and therefore the chemicals in the tar of cigarette smoke may cause them to be metabolized quicker than expected, meaning a higher dose is needed or the effectiveness of the care of chemotherapy is reduced. There is a greater chance that secondary cancers will not occur if quitting is achieved. And there is a decrease In the severity of pain options for therapy are better than non smokers including things like administration of stem cells.

And if surgery is required to remove the cancer cells, there is less chance of infections or complications from the surgery. Within 10 years, your chance of dying from lung cancer is cut in half. additional benefits in med include sperm quality and quantity is enhanced and symptom reduction in men with erectile dysfunction in women enhance fertility, fewer wrinkles and reduced risk of osteoporosis. In oral health well, you'll realize fresher breath, clean and healthy teeth and gums and decreased risk of oral cancers. In eye health. There's a reduced risk of macular degeneration which can lead to blindness, cataracts, dry eyes and impaired night vision.

Last but not Heart disease, what better way to treat uncontrolled blood pressure, but by quitting smoking, plus good cholesterol in your body will increase, your cholesterol meds will work better. And you may be able to reduce the dose of both high blood pressure and cholesterol medicines, or eliminate the need altogether. Within 24 hours, blood pressure and the pulse drop to normal levels, and there is a decreased risk of heart attack. Now, we've already talked about this a bit, but there is little benefit in using all of those expensive skin creams and anti wrinkle formulas, and even expensive hair treatments if you continue to smoke, skin and hair or oxygen deprived when tobacco use continues. It's amazing how our body can heal itself with a little love and attention. You deserve to feel healthier and more energetic and you will.

Now what about the money? What about the time takes to smoke a cigarette. Let's do the math. If you smoke a pack a day, and if that pack cost $15 you would save $5,475 in one year. Write down what you would like to do with that extra money. If you smoked 20 cigarettes in a day, and that takes you about seven minutes per cigarette, you would save 51,100 minutes in one year.

That's 852 hours you would be able to spend on doing things that you really love, like spending time with your family, or going to the gym or going for a walk. What would you really love to do? Great everybody. Give yourself a big hug. Show yourself some love. You are worth this change.