It may seem like an eternity between quitting and living smoke-free, but take heart that good health – and a longer life – begins just 20 minutes after putting out your last cigarette.

 

Just why we continue to burn smoke holes in our beautiful auras when we know that tobacco injures, maims and kills is a mystery as complex as human psychology itself.

But, like all complex problems, there are usually one or two gremlins at the root of it – no smoke without fire, so to speak. And no energy while the fire consumes all the air.

Self-help gurus Susannah and Leslie Kenton put it in a nutshell in Endless Energy. “Any bad habit drains core energy. Tobacco uses up nutrients like vitamin C, zinc and bioflavinoids which are necessary to preserve wrinkle-free skin and to maintain the good circulation that brings oxygen to organs and tissues all over your body.”

 “Because it is a form of addictive behaviour, smoking saps core energy in other ways too. It only helps to let off steam without positive payoffs. It can mask deeper dissatisfactions and blockages to the full development of your seedpower. You get trapped in vicious circles which lead you to feel more and more dead rather than more and more alive.”

Ready to ditch the cigarettes and start living from your soul again? There’s no easy transition, but concentrating on the health benefits of living smoke-free rather than medicating your smoker’s cough is a good place to start.

 

Countdown to Sparkling Health

20 minutes after your last cigarette

Your blood pressure, pulse rate and temperature of hands and feet return to normal. Your risk of a heart attack is already lower.

8 hours

While oxygen levels in your blood increase, carbon monoxide levels drop to normal. Your energy will gradually start to increase.

24 hours

Carbon monoxide will have left your body. You will perform better at sport, recover better and feel less tired after exercise.

48 hours

Damaged nerve endings begin to regrow and your sense of taste and smell are improving. You will start to crave food for its flavour – a sure sign that good health is intact. “When you are addicted to something your ability to experience the full range of sensory delight in what you do, see, touch, smell and taste is undermined,” explain the Kentons. “After all, you can only fully appreciate the smouldering bitterness of the finest chocolate when you are not a chocoholic.”

72 hours

All traces of nicotine have left your body. Chemical withdrawal is at a peak, but without nicotine, side effects like stomach upsets and likelihood of seizures start to disappear.

10 days – 2 weeks

Your bronchial tubes are starting to relax and as lung capacity increases, it becomes easier to breathe. Your circulation improves, your skin glows and walking is easier.

3 weeks – 9 months

Your overall lung function has increased by up to 30 percent. Chronic coughs, sinus congestion and fatigue disappear. Cilia have regrown in your lungs, increasing their ability to handle mucus, keep your lungs clean, and reduce infections.

1 year

Your risk of heart attack falls to about half that of a smoker.

10 years

Your risk of death from lung cancer has declined by almost half if you were an average smoker (one pack per day).  Your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat and oesophagus is now half that of a smoker’s.

15 years

Your risk of heart disease and stroke is the same as a person who has never smoked. Your risk of lung cancer drops from 80 to 90%. Your overall risk of death has returned to near that of a person who has never smoked.

 

 

Strategise

“Overcoming an addiction can be an exciting challenge on the way to claiming more of your personal power and releasing life energy. Denying yourself something which your body has come to depend on is never fun. But with the right approach you can transform the symptoms of withdrawal into steps that lead you towards richness and a sense of satisfaction in your life,” say the Kentons. Use the time you would normally waste on smoking to devise a practical plan, add a little imagination and you’re off to a good start.

1. Set a stop smoking D-Day about two weeks in advance – preferably a weekend. Mid-cycle for women, as premenstrual syndrome can intensify withdrawal symptoms. Try to get someone else to give up with you. Or join an e.mail support group.

2. Write down why you want to stop smoking. Be honest – you’ll be surprised how deep-rooted some of your insecurities are. According to the Kentons, “At the centre of most addictive behaviour lies a feeling of guilt and powerlessness. Both of these are massive energy drainers. Identifying your own addictions is a vital part of tapping into more potential life energy.”

3. Make a note of when and why you smoke and identify the times you are most likely to light up. Change your smoking routines.

4. Start cutting each cigarette in half and smoke only half of that. Use your opposite hand to hold the cigarette. After a week, start lighting a halved cigarette when you want one, but smoke only alternate ones.

5. Go on a dairy-free diet to minimise the mucus your body produces when it is trying to get rid of nicotine. Go easy on the meat and eat lots of fish – it’s easier to digest and will help your body deal with the transition.

6. Three days before you quit, stop smoking for 24 hours. If you are nervous, jittery and/or have a metallic taste in your mouth, then repeat the second week of preparation.

7. Book a massage for D-Day, and when you wake up, throw away all cigarettes, matches, lighters and ashtrays. Ponder on the minute-by-minute health benefits as the day progresses. If you feel like staying in bed the whole day – or the next – do!

8. Drink lots of water and herbal tea, especially mint and liquorice root, and eat cheese and broccoli when you feel a craving coming on. While these foods diminish the taste of cigarettes, meat, alcohol and caffeinated drinks seem to enhance the taste, a recent study done at Duke University Medical Centre in Durham, North Carolina, found.

 

Stay Stopped

* During the week, go for a walk whenever you feel nicotine cravings. Besides being a distraction, exercise triggers production of the mood-enhancing hormone dopamine. A recent study at University College London found exercise was as effective as a nicotine patch.

* You will feel sleepier and more short-tempered than usual, so focus on the positive. A stress-management programme like yoga will limit the risk of relapse. “Without my smoke breaks at work, I felt like the exclamation marks had gone out of my day. So I continued joining the girls outside, but instead of lighting up, concentrated on how awful they looked and smelt. By the end of the first week I discovered I quite liked myself,” says Anna Fraser, 40, who, after smoking 20 a day for 21 years, is still clean after six months.

* Eat regular meals, as hunger can make you want to smoke. To avoid putting on weight, snack on vitamin-rich vegetables. “A stick of celery or carrot were the perfect substitute for me,” says Fraser.

* Put all the money you save into a transparent jar. And start planning for a mega treat at the end of the year. “By the end of the year, I’ll be able to put a deposit on my dream house in Sri Lanka,” says Fraser.

 

Cut Health Risks

Osteoporosis. When researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health examined 14 000 rural people, they found that a pre-menopausal woman who lived with one smoker doubled her osteoporosis risk. If she lived with two or more smokers her risks tripled. The solution: Besides quitting, take manganese and calcium supplements to decrease your osteoporosis risk.

Sick children. Smoking during pregnancy could not only increase your baby’s chances of developing asthma, but you double your chance of losing your baby, suggest new research done at . “But if you can quit smoking in your first trimester, that risk gets wiped out completely.”

Another study which charted the health of a sample group of British children from birth to the age of 33 years shows that smoking during pregnancy may also increase children’s chances of diabetes and obesity in later life.

Vitamin deficit. Smoking lowers vitamin B6 and vitamin C levels. A recent Washington State University study found that as the amount of vitamin B6 in the diet increased, the number of DNA strand breaks decreased. Eat foods high in vitamin B6 like cereals, beef, chicken, fish, legumes, soy products and bananas.

 

Published in 2007 in Aquarius, Dubai. Copyright Sharon Marshall 2008.