Quitting Smoking Benefits

The first thing that needs to be understood about smoking is: Smoking kills. So the number one, greatest benefit of quitting smoking is simply that it will keep you from dying prematurely by a disease that was caused by smoking. The hardest part about quitting smoking is finding the motivation to quit, but there are so many benefits from quitting smoking that there really is no reason not to stop smoking now.  Try to quit smoking before it affects your health in a variety of negative ways.

Improving your Health

The most important benefit from quitting smoking is the improvement in your health. As mentioned before, smoking kills, and it does so slowly and painfully over a long period of time. You can significantly decrease the chance of getting a variety of smoking related illnesses like emphysema and lung cancer when you stop smoking. The risks for developing other cancers, stroke, heart attack and chronic lung disease also significantly decrease when you stop smoking. Pregnant women who stop smoking can gain additional benefits from quitting smoking, such as not giving birth to a baby with a low birth weight.

Other Important Benefits to your Body

Other benefits from quitting smoking are no less important. When you stop smoking, for example, you can improve your appearance. Smoking can cause premature skin wrinkling, bad smelling clothing, stinky breath, yellowing hair, brittle hair, and yellow fingernails. When smokers give up cigarettes, they can significantly decrease these effects on the body, and decrease the appearance of stained teeth and prevent the onset of gum disease, which are common results of long term smoking.

There are more benefits from quitting smoking than simply these. For example, when you stop smoking you will improve your quality of life because your sense of taste and smell will increase and improve. Foods will begin to taste better, and pleasant smells will be more pronounced than before. You will also regain your enjoyment of physical activities because you will no longer be out of breath once you stop smoking.

Social Benefits

There are also social benefits from quitting smoking, which are something to be happy about. The smoking habit is a truly expensive habit to maintain. If you stop smoking, you can have more money for dealing with other expenses. A pack a day smoker can save $35 or more a week from not buying cigarettes.  This money can be used for more groceries, or even a healthy treat for yourself every week. One of the best benefits from quitting smoking is simply avoiding the stress associated with the bad effects on your health and all of the consequences that smoking creates for your family, friends, personal life and work.

Any way you look at it, the benefits of quitting smoking far outweigh the benefits of keeping up the habit (which don't exist). No matter how long you have been smoking, as soon as you stop smoking you can increase your life expectancy, your quality of life, and your overall health in general.