Although millions of Americans have been able to give up tobacco use, smoking cessation can prove to be an especially daunting task for many people. This is because your body develops a dependency to nicotine, a highly addictive drug found in tobacco.
Nicotine draws you in by boosting your mood, relieving depression, decreasing your appetite (resulting in subsequential weight loss), and stimulating your memory and alertness. However, recent studies have shown that nicotine addiction can begin to occur after only smoking a few times. Addiction is characterized by showing symptoms of withdrawal after only two to three hours without a cigarette. Once an addiction is formed, smoking cessation becomes significantly more difficult.
Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms
Symptoms of nicotine withdrawal include: intense cravings for nicotine, anxiety, depression, drowsiness, trouble sleeping, nightmares, irritability or frustration, headaches, increased appetite, and problems concentrating. Though these symptoms can start to appear within the first few hours of smoking cessation, they will usually get increasingly worse for two to three days.
Nicotine Withdrawal Timeline
- 20 minutes
You will almost immediately start to reap the benefits of smoking cessation; in less than an hour, your heart rate will begin to drop back to normal levels. - 2 hours
The good news is that your blood pressure will be lowered to almost normal levels by this time, and your circulation will improve as well, resulting in the tips of your fingers and toes to feel warmer. The bad news is that some early withdrawal symptoms will already begin to affect you. These include: intense cravings for nicotine, anxiety, drowsiness, trouble concentrating, irritability, frustration, and increased appetite. - 12 hours
After half a day without your nicotine fix, the excess carbon monoxide in your body will decrease to much lower and healthier levels. This means that your blood oxygen levels will start to rise to a more normal level. - 24 hours
Just one day into smoking cessation, your risk for heart attack will start to drop. On average, smokers have a heart attack rate that is about 70% higher than nonsmokers. - 48 hours
At this point, nerve endings that are stunted by smoking will start to recover. This means that your ability to smell and taste will be greatly enhanced, as compared to the deadened senses that are a common consequence of smoking. - 3 days
This is the hardest hump to overcome, since this is when the nicotine has completely cycled out of your body. Your withdrawal symptoms will be at their peak by three days in. In addition to the initial symptoms experienced after two hours of smoking cessation, you might also start to experience other symptoms such as: intense headaches, nausea, depression, trouble sleeping, nightmares, and cramps. - 2 to 3 weeks
At this point, your lung function will have significantly increased. This means that you will start to breathe easier, allowing you to exercise and be more physically active without feeling sick or winded. If you can hold out this long, you might also find that your nicotine withdrawal symptoms have either partially or completely dissipated. This is the case for most smokers, depending on how often and how long you smoked. - 1 to 9 months
Even for the heaviest of smokers, all nicotine withdrawal symptoms will dissipate no more than a few months after smoking cessation. Your lungs will also be significantly repaired by this point, meaning that any coughing or shortness of breath will be decreased dramatically. - 1 year
Congratulations on making it this far! You will be happy to know that according to the CDC, your risk for heart disease has been lowered by 50%! - Long-term benefits
The CDC has published many statistics about the benefits of quitting smoking. Five to fifteen years after smoking cessation, your risk of having a stroke is the same as nonsmokers. After 10 years, your risk of cancer of the lung, mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas all decrease to about half that of a smoker’s. Fifteen years after quitting, your risk of heart disease will be on the same level as someone who doesn’t smoke.
The American Heart Association states that nonsmokers live, on average, 14 years longer than smokers. Despite how difficult nicotine withdrawal can be to overcome, your decision to quit could significantly affect the length and overall quality of your life.
