Smoking Facts.

The Good News:

The health benefits of stopping smoking are immediate and on-going.

• 20 minutes. Blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal.
• 8 hours. Nicotine and carbon monoxide levels reduce by half and oxygen levels return to normal.
• 24 hours. Carbon Monoxide eliminated from the body. Lungs begin to eject mucus and other smoking debris.
• 48-72 hours. The body is free of nicotine. Sense of taste returning to normal
• 72 hours. Breathing becomes easier. Bronchial tubes begin to relax. Energy levels increase.
• 2-12 weeks. Circulation improves.
• 3-9 months. Coughs, wheezing and breathing problems alleviated. Lung function increased by up to 10%

The bad news.

• A 20 cigarette habit a day sends about £1,650 per year up in smoke.
• A 20 cigarette habit a day over an average lifetime will, allowing for inflation, cost around £100,000!
• Two thirds of all smokers want to give up but think they can't.
• Patches have to be worn for weeks, there can be unwelcome side-effects, and they are only 16% successful. They are also expensive when worn for weeks or months.
• Gums are even less successful at about 10%
• Will power accounts for just a 7% success rate.
• Zyban is ineffective unless it is combined with psychological intervention. A report by Glaxo-Welcome states that 1 in 1,000 people taking Zyban could experience convulsions that could lead to death.
• Smoking causes over 120,000 deaths a year in the UK - that is 330 per day.
• Smokers in their 30s and 40s have five times the amount of heart attacks as non-smokers of the same ages
• One half of all smokers die prematurely.
• Smoking can damage your ability to have children.
• Smokers have about 10 times as many wrinkles as non-smokers.
• Over a third of smokers have trouble getting an erection, according to NetDoctor's recent 'Sex and smoking' survey. Our investigation re-inforces the well-known but little-publicised link between erectile dysfunction (ED) and smoking.