Were you one of the many smokers that kicked the smoking habit last Thursday during the Great American Smokeout? November 15, 2007 was this year’s Great American Smokeout day, an annual event held since the 1970s that challenges people to stop using tobacco. The event helps raise awareness about the various ways to stop cigarette smoking.

Tobacco use accounts for at least 30% of all cancer deaths and 87% of lung cancer deaths in the United States (Cancer Facts and Figures 2007). Smoking also damages nearly every organ in the human body and is linked to at least 15 different cancers.

Changing a long-standing health behavior is very difficult but the health benefits of stopping smoking are tremendous. How does quitting smoking improve your health? The American Cancer Society states that when smokers’ quit, the following health benefits can occur:

• 20 minutes after quitting: Your heart rate and blood pressure drops.
• 12 hours after quitting: The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.
• 2 weeks to 3 months after quitting: Your circulation improves and your lung function increases.
• 1 to 9 months after quitting: Coughing and shortness of breath decrease; cilia (tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs) regain normal function in the lungs, increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce the risk of infection.
• 1 year after quitting: The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker's.
• 5 years after quitting: Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker 5 to 15 years after quitting.
• 10 years after quitting: The lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker's. The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease.
• 15 years after quitting: The risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker's.