Health Tip: Quitting Smoking Has Immediate Benefits

(HealthDay News) - Most people know that in the long term, quitting smoking offers enormous health benefits.

But within weeks -- and even hours -- after quitting smoking, your body has already shown health improvements.

The Canadian non-profit organization Tobacco Facts lists some of the immediate health benefits when you quit smoking:

• Within eight hours, the level of carbon monoxide in the body drops, while oxygen levels rise to normal.

• After two days, taste and smell is enhanced, and the risk of heart attack decreases.

• Breathing becomes easier within three or four days, because of increased lung capacity.

• After two weeks, no nicotine is left in the body, and blood flow is improved.

• Within three months, circulation and lung function are improved, and physical activity is significantly easier.

• Within nine months, coughing, congestion, fatigue and shortness of breath are significantly reduced.