cut in half in about five to 10 years, according to the ACS.
In another study published in the journal JAMA Network Open recently, researchers from the ACS and others found that smoking was associated with at least twice the all-cause death rate of never smoking. Quitting, especially at younger ages, was associated with a significant decline in relative excess deaths.
Quitting smoking makes you look better
Among the beauty improvements of quitting are clearer skin and less wrinkling, smokefree.gov notes.
As your teeth and fingernails stop yellowing, your breath will be fresher, and your hair and clothes won’t smell like smoke anymore, according to the ACS.
Some other tangible benefits are better-tasting food and a better sense of smell.
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It’s better for brain health, too
Mental decline was also lower for those who quit, especially if they gave up tobacco by middle age, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
The researchers used a one-question self-assessment survey to gauge subjective thinking declines among 136,000 current and former smokers.
“The association we saw was most significant in the 45-to-59 age group, suggesting that quitting at that stage of life may have a benefit for cognitive health,” said study author Jeffrey Wing, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University.