Timeline of what happens to your body when you give up vaping
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With New Year's just around the corner, many of you may be turning your attention to the habits you're hoping to kick in 2023.
Though some might be looking to take on Dry January or finally make use of that gym membership, with the slew of evidence suggesting vaping is a little more damaging than we initially thought, some might be hoping to get rid of their e-cigarettes for good.
If you fall into the latter camp, you might feel more motivated to do so when you hear about what happens to your body when you give up vaping.
Although plenty of studies have shown that using vapes is better than smoking cigarettes, there are still a number of chemicals and, of course, nicotine that can impact your health in the long run.
Thankfully, according to the experts, your body starts recovering pretty damn quick after quitting.
In fact, Nikola Djordjevic MD – project manager at Med Alert Help – told The Healthy that even after just 20 minutes, 'your heart rate returns to normal, your blood pressure drops, and your circulation starts to normalise'.
Your breathing may also improve, with Caleb Backe, a certified health and wellness expert for Maple Holistics, stating: "When you quit vaping, you should find that your breathing becomes less laboured and your airflow is clearer."
And if that weren't incredible enough, apparently your risk of heart disease falls within just 24 hours.
The outlet pointed to a 2018 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine which showed that people who smoked e-cigarettes nearly doubled their heart attack risk when compared with non-smokers.
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But fret not, as Djordjevic went on to say: "After just one day, your heart attack risk starts to decrease."
She explained that this is 'thanks to the lowering of blood pressure, rising blood oxygen levels, and reducing the negative influence on cholesterol levels and the formation of blood clots'.
After one month, the nicotine will be well out of your system – this takes around three days – and your lungs will start to recover.
Again, although vaping isn't as damaging to the lungs as regular cigarettes, it still involves breathing in chemicals and can therefore make breathing more difficult or make existing conditions worse.
It's yet another reason why kicking the habit may be worth doing sooner rather than later.
"After one month, your lung capacity improves," added Djordjevic. "There’s noticeably less shortness of breath and coughing.
"After nine months, lung health improves significantly thanks to the renewal of microscopic hair-like structures inside the lungs that help push out mucus and fight infections."
And after one year? Your risk of heart disease will have halved, according to the doctor.
She went on to outline the potential benefits after 10 to 15 years, stating: "After a decade, lung cancer risk is reduced by 50 percent, as well as the risk of pancreatic, mouth, and throat cancer.
"After 15 years, your risk of developing coronary heart disease becomes the same as a nonsmoker’s. The same goes for the risk of developing pancreatic cancer."
One of the major downsides of quitting is, of course, withdrawal symptoms, which will be more noticeable if you're vaping liquids with high nicotine content.
You may experience a variety of symptoms, such as cravings, trouble sleeping, difficulty concentrating, feeling restless, irritability, increased hunger and headaches.
Djordjevic said these will hit a peak on day three, 'and gradually decrease during the following three to four weeks'.
She added: "So it will take around a month to break the habit."
However, with the right strategy and with the health benefits in mind, there's no reason why you can't quit vaping in 2023 and beyond.
