As of 2023, the total number of smokers in the mainland has reached 350 million, of which more than 90% are men. Many of these smokers started smoking at a young age and continue to smoke in old age.
But one day, when the lung function is significantly reduced, such as shortness of breath, coughing, and even coughing up blood, I want to make my body feel better by quitting smoking. But at the same time, I am worried that if I quit smoking suddenly, will it be harmful to my health?
If you also have such a struggle of thoughts, you should take a good look!
Is there more benefits or disadvantages for old smokers who have smoked for a long time to "quit smoking"?
Before answering this question, let's look at two sets of data:
According to statistics, long-term smokers will have a 74% chance of developing lung disease after the age of 60, while non-smokers will have only 4% of the probability of developing lung disease after the age of 60. There is also a report from the World Health Organization that found that smoking is associated with 85% of lung cancer cases.
This is for the lungs, and a number of studies have proved that smoking can harm the mouth, stomach, heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys and other tissues and organs.
When the body is exposed to the carcinogens in tobacco smoke for a long time, with the accumulation of long-term accumulation, once the gene mutation is induced, there is evidence that it will lead to the incidence of stomach cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, kidney cancer, esophageal cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer and other cancers.
So, for older people, or people who have been smoking, will suddenly quitting smoking be harmful to your health?
Of course not! It has been well documented that the sooner you quit smoking, the better, regardless of age. In addition, by quitting smoking, the increase in many diseases and cancers caused by smoking can be significantly reduced. To put it simply, no matter how long or short you have been smoking, as long as you start to quit smoking, your body's overall health will improve.
Even physical discomfort after quitting smoking, such as weight gain, depression, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, etc., is a normal quit response, and it is also the process of the body fighting tobacco cravings (nicotine and other harmful ingredients).
According to clinical investigations, such withdrawal reactions are only strongest in the first 14 days, and then slowly reduce until they disappear, and people who maintain it for a longer period of time usually for about 1 month, which is not too long.
So, does this also increase the signs of your efforts to quit smoking?
Finally, if you really want to quit smoking, in order to help you take the first step towards success, it is recommended that you take a step-by-step approach, starting with smoking less than one cigarette a day, smoking only half of each cigarette, not smoking in a confined space, etc.
If you feel that you are addicted to smoking, you can use a professional doctor to evaluate your nicotine addiction with a scale to help you quit smoking faster.