QUITTING SMOKING TIMELINE

In just 20 minutes, your blood pressure and pulse (heart rate) should start to return to their normal levels

8 hours in and the harmful carbon monoxide levels in your blood should have now halved. This can also see your oxygen levels recover and start to return to their normal levels.

You made it to the end of a full day without smoking! All traces of carbon monoxide have usually left the body and your lungs start to clear.

Day 2 of no smoking and your taste and sense of smell should be improving.

Reach day 3 with no smoking and you should find breathing easier as your bronchial tubes start to relax. As breathing becomes easier you may also find your energy levels are starting to increase.

From 2 weeks after quitting smoking and over the coming months, you may notice that exercise and other physical activity is easier. This is because, at this stage, your lung function increases and your circulation improves, with blood flowing through to your muscles and heart much better. Your immune system should receive a boost too, so your body can fight off colds and flu better. Finally, you may feel up to putting up that shed, painting the hallway or anything else on your to-do list!

The breathing problems and wheezing you might have experienced when you were smoking should now be improving. That’s because around this point your lung function increases by up to 10%.

The air sacs in your lungs – known as cilia – should have regrown, healing some of the damage caused by smoking. Smoking related tiredness should now have disappeared.

You’ve made it to a year without smoking! Take some time to give yourself a well-earned pat on the back. A year in and your risk of heart disease, attacks or a stroke is now half that of a smoker. Hopefully you feel much healthier – and wealthier, given what you’ve saved by not buying cigarettes for 12 months.