More Benefits Of Smoking Cessation

A new study shows that young adults who stop smoking for at least two weeks may have fewer respiratory symptoms like coughing. A study of 18 to 24 year olds who stopped smoking was detailed in Pediatric Allergy, Immunology and Pulmonology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Study authors Karen Calabro, DrPH and Alexander Prokhorov, MD, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. It compared self-reported respiratory symptoms which were gathered from two groups of college students who were active participants in smoking cessation programs.

As the study progressed a group achieved smoking cessation for two weeks but one group failed to stop smoking. Students who participated in the study smoked 5 to 10 cigarette sticks in a day for 1-5 years.

The researchers further explain that the benefits of quitting smoking does not appear after years of quitting but rather within just days to weeks of stopping. There are many benefits of totally quitting smoking like improved blood pressure, increased energy, improved cognitive thinking, reduction of tar deposits in teeth and probably one of the most impacting is a noticeable improvement in breathing. This study hopes that health care providers everywhere can correctly counsel young smokers of the amazing benefits of smoking before the inevitable damage to the body systems are done.

This study is supported by Harold Farber, MD, MSPH, Editor of Pediatric Allergy, Immunology and Pulmonology. He is also an associate professor of pediatrics, Section of Pulmonology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX.

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